Book Review: Radio Silence

Radio Silence

By Alice Oseman

(Finished reading: 18/05/2020)

4/5 stars

Fresh, witty, liberating.

“I don’t think age has much to do with adulthood.”

Radio Silence is a young adult novel which follows 17-year-old Frances, a straight-A student and study machine. At school she is head girl: a hard-working, sensible, put-together brainaic who is applying to Cambridge university. But outside of school, she wears wacky clothes and posts fanart on Tumblr about Universe City—an online podcast about a futuristic dystopian society set in a university. Frances gets to know Aled, and they bond over their similarly bizarre interests. But then Frances breaks the fragile trust between them, and she is caught between who she was and who she longs to be. Frances is forced to confront her past and confess why Aled’s twin sister, Carys, disappeared two years ago.

I truly adored every page of this book. Alice Oseman has managed to craft such a beautifully genuine story in such an organic way. The tone was so fun, relatable, and realistic. The writing felt easy and breezy. I loved the dry, subtle humour and all the references to teen culture. Nothing felt forced or orchestrated, it felt like I was reading about a real story about real teenagers. This may seem like an odd comment to make about a young adult novel, but as a teenager I hated reading young adult novels where the characters would act seemingly how an adult imagines a teenager to act rather than how teenagers really act. In this respect, Radio Silence really hit the nail on the head with representing genuine teenage culture in a very up-to-date and witty way.

Most of all, I loved the amazing male/female friendship and connection between Frances and Aled. It was SO refreshing to read a young adult novel about a boy and a girl that did not involve any element of romance and I loved that it broke the mould. It seems crazy to even think that a male-female friendship is something so revolutionary, but the young adult genre is so often infected by unnecessary relationships. It was so nice to read about two characters that utterly loved and adored one another in a non-romantic way. Not only this, but we are presented with a wonderfully diverse range of characters with different sexualities whose sexualities aren’t sculpted into the plot, they were simply part of the character. Their sexualities weren’t presented as a statement, but as the norm, and I truly admired that. It made me realise that it has been so long since I’ve read a book in which romance or sexuality were not the key themes. And yet, Radio Silence didn’t feel like it was lacking because of it. It just made it all the more unique and wonderful. I would love to see more books that achieve this in the future.

I also loved how slightly geeky and weird these characters were. I think this is what made them so loveable relatable. Everything about them felt light and cosy and warm. There was even a soft wisdom to their words. They were not overly complex or dark, but I loved that they still had depth. The plot matched this tone too. Some points felt almost comically like a teen drama you might watch on Netflix and yet there was simultaneously a sincerity to it. I thought the balance between these tones worked together really beautifully.

I particularly loved the theme of identity throughout. For example, Frances’ home versus school identity. I think a lot of teenagers can relate to this. Schools are terrifying places in which we feel shamed for showing our true selves out of fear of judgment. Especially at a time in your life when you are trying to figure out who you really are as a person. Frances is lucky in that she finds a friend that can appreciate who she really is beyond her school persona. But a lot of teenagers are not lucky enough to find this at school. This book gives readers hope that they will one day find that person who truly gets them, even if it has not happened yet. And when you do, that is the kind of friendship worth fighting for, whatever happens. I don’t think this message is one exclusive to teenagers either. Identity is almost liquid in how it flows and changes throughout your life and for this reason we could all take a leaf out of Frances’ book.

I found the social commentary surrounding university particularly interesting. I would love to fully experience the Universe City podcast as I found the concept super intriguing. Particularly its political undertones which highlighted the issues of the education system. As someone who has gone through the school and university processes myself, I could totally relate to the expectation to get good grades and go to a good university. I admired Frances’ confidence to accept that even though she is perfectly intelligent enough to attend a good university on an academic course, that doesn’t mean she ought to. I wish every seventeen-year-old could read this book and know that university should not be an expectation, even if you are a capable student. I also thought Aled’s feeling of isolation is one that many students face. University is often premised with “the time of your life” but the sad reality is that it can be one of the most difficult and lonely times for a lot of students. I was so grateful for this portrayal of the university experience over the stereotypical one. It just felt so honest and realistic, unlike some of the more idealistic portrayals in other books.

My only slight criticism would be that I didn’t really like how the story was narrated. It was as if Frances was telling her story from the future, looking back on the events with hindsight and addressing the reader directly. I just found this took away from the story in places because she would over-anticipate what was going to happen which removed the surprise of not knowing how things would pan out. This didn’t actually happen too much, and it didn’t ruin the story in any way, it just niggled me more than anything. I suppose as a plot device it did help to build a certain degree of suspense at the end of chapters, but I feel I would have still enjoyed the book without this.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. I would definitely recommend to fans of Rainbow Rowell as it had a similar sort of witty-ness and light-hearted humour to her books. It feels almost liberating to read because the story is so bouncy and spongy in nature. I look forward to reading more of Alice Oseman’s books in the future for similarly accepting, funny and relatable stories.