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sarahcullen's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
laraze's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
5.0
thebobsphere's review against another edition
4.0
Lately I’ve been watching The Netflix series, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. For those who do not know what it’s about, the premise is simple: a teenager is kidnapped in the 90’s and kept in a bunker for 15 years in a doomsday cult. When she emerges, Kimmy discovers that the world has changed, especially with the World Wide Web becoming a fixture of society. Throughout the four seasons there are tons of references to memes, internet celebrities or people who were called out through the internet, at times Kimmy learns that it is a powerful tool.
In a way, Patricia Lockwood’s No One is Talking about this follows the same meme overload. The book is structured like a Twitter feed and each paragraph contains a nod to a gif, meme, Reddit story or Twitter thread. Some references you’ll get, some you won’t. I had to consult Google quite a bit.
The book is divided into two sections, the first part is about an influencer who spends most of her day on the internet , here called The Portal, hence the multitude of internet culture in jokes. The narrator also travels around the world talking about The wonders of The Portal as well.
For those who think that this section is just the author showing off, it’s an incorrect assumption. The memes and gifs all capture the internet zeitgeist, it also displays how the current generation think, even the book’s use of tweet sized paragraph embraces this new way of communicating. Patricia Lockwood is making a statement – on the lines of ‘this is the current generation. This is what we’ve got and this is how we are going to use it’. As an aside there are hints that social media use helped with Trump’s election so things are not presented that optimistically.
There’s more though because Patricia Lockwood is also showing us that it is easy to get sucked in The Portal world and ignore reality.
Thus what would happen is a real life situation occurs? will the portal world keep us sucked in.
That is what the second half of the book is about.
The narrator’s sister gives birth to a child with Proteus Syndrome. Despite the tough birth, in which the narrator merges with a couple of memes. The child survives and the narrator starts to bond with it, shedding the false world. If one thought that Lockwood can only deliver soulless, reference heavy passages, think again? the aunt/niece paragraphs are some of the sweetest passages in the book. One can feel the love that the narrator is cultivating. This relationship is further developed but i’ll let you read that. All that I’ll say is that it gets pretty emotional.
As someone who is Gen Z (actually I’m part of the lost generation but there’s no need to go into specifics) I thought it would be difficult to understand all the subtexts but No One is Talking about this adds an emotional element to the book, especially in the more ‘human’ second half and this gives the book an extra dimension.
Will No One is Talking about this divide readers? – the answer is most definitely. However, I will say that I can see a lot of younger authors using this format. Already the bite sized paragraph is gaining popularity, but what makes this book something of it’s era is that it uses elements of internet culture to explain salient points – Toxic masculinity, feminism and sexual liberation are underlying topics in the memes mentioned and THAT is what I think younger writers will pick up on. To my knowledge Patricia Lockwood is the first author to use memes in order to put across big points and, although in ten years time they may be forgotten I am sure there will be a steady stream of authors keeping up this style.
In a way, Patricia Lockwood’s No One is Talking about this follows the same meme overload. The book is structured like a Twitter feed and each paragraph contains a nod to a gif, meme, Reddit story or Twitter thread. Some references you’ll get, some you won’t. I had to consult Google quite a bit.
The book is divided into two sections, the first part is about an influencer who spends most of her day on the internet , here called The Portal, hence the multitude of internet culture in jokes. The narrator also travels around the world talking about The wonders of The Portal as well.
For those who think that this section is just the author showing off, it’s an incorrect assumption. The memes and gifs all capture the internet zeitgeist, it also displays how the current generation think, even the book’s use of tweet sized paragraph embraces this new way of communicating. Patricia Lockwood is making a statement – on the lines of ‘this is the current generation. This is what we’ve got and this is how we are going to use it’. As an aside there are hints that social media use helped with Trump’s election so things are not presented that optimistically.
There’s more though because Patricia Lockwood is also showing us that it is easy to get sucked in The Portal world and ignore reality.
Thus what would happen is a real life situation occurs? will the portal world keep us sucked in.
That is what the second half of the book is about.
The narrator’s sister gives birth to a child with Proteus Syndrome. Despite the tough birth, in which the narrator merges with a couple of memes. The child survives and the narrator starts to bond with it, shedding the false world. If one thought that Lockwood can only deliver soulless, reference heavy passages, think again? the aunt/niece paragraphs are some of the sweetest passages in the book. One can feel the love that the narrator is cultivating. This relationship is further developed but i’ll let you read that. All that I’ll say is that it gets pretty emotional.
As someone who is Gen Z (actually I’m part of the lost generation but there’s no need to go into specifics) I thought it would be difficult to understand all the subtexts but No One is Talking about this adds an emotional element to the book, especially in the more ‘human’ second half and this gives the book an extra dimension.
Will No One is Talking about this divide readers? – the answer is most definitely. However, I will say that I can see a lot of younger authors using this format. Already the bite sized paragraph is gaining popularity, but what makes this book something of it’s era is that it uses elements of internet culture to explain salient points – Toxic masculinity, feminism and sexual liberation are underlying topics in the memes mentioned and THAT is what I think younger writers will pick up on. To my knowledge Patricia Lockwood is the first author to use memes in order to put across big points and, although in ten years time they may be forgotten I am sure there will be a steady stream of authors keeping up this style.
zelinacarstens's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
ellieavery's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
sidharthvardhan's review
4.0
"Our mothers could not stop using horny emojis. They used the winking one with its tongue out on our birthdays, they sent us long rows of the spurting three droplets when it rained. We had told them a thousand times, but they never listened—as long as they lived and loved us, as long as they had split themselves open to have us, they would send us the peach in peach season.
NEVER SEND ME THE EGGPLANT AGAIN, MOM! she texted. I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU’RE COOKING FOR DINNER!"
"Previously these communities were imposed on us, along with their mental weather. Now we chose them—or believed that we did. A person might join a site to look at pictures of her nephew and five years later believe in a flat earth."
The first half of this book tries to encompass the modern life in so fat as it involves excessive use of internet and social media. The continuous change in very universe we move around in - from real life to internet chats to some article to some article; not to mention the short attention span issues it causes. Its as well the book is written in vignettes. There is something to be said about how little literature has, as yet, explored the impact of literature on how we perceive reality.
"Previously these communities were imposed on us, along with their mental weather. Now we chose them—or believed that we did. A person might join a site to look at pictures of her nephew and five years later believe in a flat earth"
"Every day we were seeing new evidence that suggested it was the portal that had allowed the dictator to rise to power. This was humiliating. It would be like discovering that the Vietnam War was secretly caused by ham radios, or that Napoleon was operating exclusively on the advice of a parrot named Brian."
The author touches a number of these elements of internet life - trends, gifs, emojis, images etc. While the theme is original enough in among my personal reading experience; the treatment it received was somewhat amateurish except for a few brilliant moments. The vignettes start like a random collection and it is only slowly that a story arc appears - this was very well done I think.
The second theme - caring after a dying baby and dealing with its death.
*
"Lol, her little sister texted. Think if your body changes 1-2 degrees . . . it’s called a fever and you can die if you have one for a week. Think if the ocean has a fever for years . . . Lol."
NEVER SEND ME THE EGGPLANT AGAIN, MOM! she texted. I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU’RE COOKING FOR DINNER!"
"Previously these communities were imposed on us, along with their mental weather. Now we chose them—or believed that we did. A person might join a site to look at pictures of her nephew and five years later believe in a flat earth."
The first half of this book tries to encompass the modern life in so fat as it involves excessive use of internet and social media. The continuous change in very universe we move around in - from real life to internet chats to some article to some article; not to mention the short attention span issues it causes. Its as well the book is written in vignettes. There is something to be said about how little literature has, as yet, explored the impact of literature on how we perceive reality.
"Previously these communities were imposed on us, along with their mental weather. Now we chose them—or believed that we did. A person might join a site to look at pictures of her nephew and five years later believe in a flat earth"
"Every day we were seeing new evidence that suggested it was the portal that had allowed the dictator to rise to power. This was humiliating. It would be like discovering that the Vietnam War was secretly caused by ham radios, or that Napoleon was operating exclusively on the advice of a parrot named Brian."
The author touches a number of these elements of internet life - trends, gifs, emojis, images etc. While the theme is original enough in among my personal reading experience; the treatment it received was somewhat amateurish except for a few brilliant moments. The vignettes start like a random collection and it is only slowly that a story arc appears - this was very well done I think.
The second theme - caring after a dying baby and dealing with its death.
*
"Lol, her little sister texted. Think if your body changes 1-2 degrees . . . it’s called a fever and you can die if you have one for a week. Think if the ocean has a fever for years . . . Lol."
bhnmt61's review against another edition
5.0
“This did not feel like real life exactly, but nowadays what did.”
“It was a mistake to believe that other people were not living as deeply as you were. Besides, you were not even living that deeply.”
“Still in every airport she visited, there was a small nameless brown bird flying end to end, dipping and gliding through the tree trunks of passengers…”
This is a novel about being online, and how vital that can be to who you are, and yet at the same time, the people you love in real life are your real life. It is a) the first novel of b) a poet, and you can tell both a) and b) in ways that are good and not so good. It is brilliant and poignant and moving, crass and hilarious and transcendent. You never know quite what is coming next. It’s not very long, so you could probably sit down and read it in an afternoon, but I took it more slowly. I think it percolates through your brain better that way if you can manage it.
I’d tell you more about what happens, because things do eventually happen, but I went into it not knowing anything other than it was getting a lot of buzz and I’m glad I read it that way. (TW for death of a family member.) I read another review that said “this novel isn’t as profound as she thinks it is,” but it was profound enough for me. I loved it.
“It was a mistake to believe that other people were not living as deeply as you were. Besides, you were not even living that deeply.”
“Still in every airport she visited, there was a small nameless brown bird flying end to end, dipping and gliding through the tree trunks of passengers…”
This is a novel about being online, and how vital that can be to who you are, and yet at the same time, the people you love in real life are your real life. It is a) the first novel of b) a poet, and you can tell both a) and b) in ways that are good and not so good. It is brilliant and poignant and moving, crass and hilarious and transcendent. You never know quite what is coming next. It’s not very long, so you could probably sit down and read it in an afternoon, but I took it more slowly. I think it percolates through your brain better that way if you can manage it.
I’d tell you more about what happens, because things do eventually happen, but I went into it not knowing anything other than it was getting a lot of buzz and I’m glad I read it that way. (TW for death of a family member.) I read another review that said “this novel isn’t as profound as she thinks it is,” but it was profound enough for me. I loved it.
buntatamilis's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Medical content
dolanite's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Funny and heart wrenching. Read the acknowledgements that’s what finally had me in tears. A wonderful tome to grief.
youngthespian42's review against another edition
5.0
This book makes the sublime perfect trilogy of our modern times. This novel, Bo Burnham's Inside, and Don't look Up capture the dread of the times we are living in. The thing that surprises me about Lockwood's book is for all of its nihilism and irony that only internet culture can capture the ending message of the novel is one of hope. Hope for the human race. Love for this crazy world and culture we have built. Love for the preciousness and sacredness of life. I will become an evangelist for this novel. it is that good.