eleventeen's Reviews > Radio Silence

3.5, honestly a great YA read. There's a certain vibe to good YA that makes you feel both connected and absolutely alienated from the characters. As someone in their 40s, this is appropriate - I should understand the characters, but only to a point. I should relate, but only to a point.
This is not a case of YA as a label in name only, but one in writing as well, something that I think Oseman does well in this novel, along the lines of Mary K. Choi and ah man the guy with three names that wrote We are the ants. Adults who somehow can still tap into that weird amalgam of knowledgeable/cluelessness that exemplifies young adult life. The characters know it all, yet know nothing, and they know both of these things. It's just so wonderfully done here.

The plot itself is the kind of YA i love - a story about characters, really, with a loose plot to hold it together, one that's got such a wonderful edge (a nightvale-esque podcast? lots of tumblr references that sadly are dated, poor tumblr, but i ate them up), people making dumb decisions, people hiding their feelings, fantastic uh whats the opposite of heteronormative? rep, the stress of your future hinging on one thing because that's all you know, so much is wrapped up in this and depicted so wonderfully.

Honestly i should rate this higher? but there's something about perhaps my mood or my reluctance to read these days that relegates this to a 3.5. maybe it's winter, and the lowgrade depression that comes with it. i did enjoy these characters, but i didnt fall in love with them, and i think that's what is preventing me from rating them higher. is that my distance from their age? that gap in relation? or is it the characters themselves? im not sure.