I spent the first half of Patricia Lockwood’s No One is Talking About This thinking “What…?” (similar reading experience to Fun Camp by Gabe Durham). And at some point I updated my progress on Goodreads by noting that I didn’t think I was cool enough for this book… because what the hell was going on? And then SUDDENLY it shifts gear, and the first part of the book sits in stark contrast to the second.

Something in the back of her head hurt. It was her new class consciousness.

The story follows an unnamed female protagonist and her interactions with a virtual platform referred to as ‘the portal’. References to political events in the near-past (such as Brexit) and pop-culture mentions (from Charlie Bit Me and gender reveal parties to Paris Hilton’s sex tapes) provide a touchstone, although it’s clear that this is a story set in an unfamiliar future. But, like the best dystopian, there’s enough there that’s possible, and that’s why it is frightening.

A person might join a site to look at pictures of her nephew and five years later believe in a flat earth.

In the second half, we see the protagonist’s family managing a terrible tragedy (a baby born and given a very short life expectancy). It’s raw, deeply emotional, and sits uncomfortably next to the fleeting and curated online world of the portal. As events unfold, the protagonist is forced to consider what is important in life (and nothing much about the portal holds up).

This book is perhaps the most unexpected work of grief-lit I’ve read. There’s a scene toward the end where an adult, overcome by grief, mistakenly introduces himself as the ‘baby’s husband’. The protagonist says, ‘…their laughter approached hysteria, tears streaked down their faces, they gripped each other’s arms and could not stop.’ This moment struck me for its accuracy – it sounds bizarre and yet so often I have witnessed people, in the depths of despair, say something odd or funny, and the response is exactly this – ‘hysterical’ has two meanings.

I’m not sure who to recommend this book to – I imagine it will split a lot of readers. Although I could appreciate that the contrasting parts of the story provided narrative structure, I was never fully engaged in the social media section – it was demanding reading and I didn’t find its rhythm before the second part of the book (which I couldn’t put down).

3.5/5

The next day was the baby’s six month birthday. At the last minute, the people surrounding her decided to be a party – a pink cheesecake appeared from nowhere, and a wrapped gift, and a cheerful bunch of balloons. The cake sweated silently at the end of the bed while the baby’s oxygen plunged, once and then again and again. But perhaps she felt the lift of helium, sensed the sugar… for suddenly she rallied, her breath rising with the balloons to the top of the air, and then she was awake, she was at the party.