Radio Silence (Book Review) by Matilda Nedyalkov

Radio Silence is the second book from the young new voice in the YA contemporary literature world, Alice Oseman, whose first book, Solitaire, published when she was nineteen, gained huge critical acclaim and was dubbed “the Catcher in the Rye for the digital age.” Radio Silence is a book that isn’t afraid to tackle issues that a lot of British teens face in everyday life – A-Levels and applying to university, sacrifices made for education, and especially mental health. The result is 4oo pages that hit close to home, especially in the main character, Frances, who is both the overachieving study machine but also a sensitive, creative girl who feels desperately lonely but can’t seem to get rid of the divide between her home life and her school life. “School Frances” is head girl, the one expected to go to Cambridge, the one who’s going to get all the good grades, and throughout the book, Frances slowly finds herself realising that maybe the things that everyone wants her to do aren’t actually what she wants.

The main plot, however, revolves around Frances’ friendship with Aled Last, an enigmatic genius starting university and the mysterious host of her favourite podcast, Universe City. Universe City is Frances’ secret love – she’s been listening to it from the beginning and draws fanart of it, posting it on tumblr – so when she gets contacted by the podcast owner to draw for a real episode, she’s over the moon. A few days later, she meets her rival head boy, Daniel’s, best friend, Aled Last, at a party celebrating the end of school and he drunkenly reveals that he is the unknown owner of Universe City. Frances takes him home to recover, and slowly, realising he lives across the street from her, they start to become friends.

The thing that makes their friendship different from a lot of other boy-girl friendships in YA books is that it’s purely platonic, and they trust and love each other in a healthy, beautiful way and lift each other through difficult times. This quote describes it best; I think everyone's a bit bored with boy-girl romances anyway. I think the world's had enough of those, to be honest.

The plot of the book doesn’t meander, and although it’s not the most fast-paced, it has a lasting effect on the reader. I would definitely call this book a coming-of-age story, not a mystery, but there are still little tidbits of questions that the reader collects over time, especially regarding Aled’s chaotic home life and past, which gradually comes into focus as the story moves on. Watching the characters grow feels like seeing your plant finally bloom – they are likeable and relatable in a lot of circumstances, but what makes it so poignant is the contrasting character arcs of Frances and Aled. They feel real, like people you might know or even be, which makes the story even more powerful.

Overall, I rated this ★★★★★/★★★★★