Universe City was her world and it turns out, the world lived right across the street. Radio Silence is a young-adult, coming-of-age novel told from the perspective of a teenage girl named Frances. It's an enjoyable quick read written by Alice Oseman. Oseman also wrote the popular comic series Heartstopper as well as another standalone novel called Solitare.
Throughout France’s whole life, she’s only ever worked towards one thing, getting into Cambridge University. She’s a study machine and head of her class, but outside of school, Frances is obsessed with the podcast Universe City. She knows everything about it and even created some of her own fan art, presenting her with the opportunity to work with the creator. However, she tended to keep these interests to herself, that is until she became closer friends with a quiet boy named Aled Last. Frances is faced with balancing holding together her friendship with Aled, getting into Cambridge, and saving Universe City.
I really liked reading this book as it was filled with plot twists. The characters are written really nicely and I love the way they interact with each other. Oseman illustrates their emotions really well and it made the conflict even more interesting. The book covers the stress of getting into your dream university and the toll it takes on teenagers. It also demonstrates the pressures behind not becoming “a disappointment” and the weight of failure. Following these teenagers face their fears and experience feeling lost and that sense of defeat reflects our own internal anxieties and addresses them really well. Oseman also focuses on struggling to maintain friendships, especially for people with very few social skills. Having friends is a really important thing and Frances has never had the opportunity to find someone she relates to or feels comfortable around as she is always busy with school. Oseman highlights the importance of having a school-life balance and mixes that message in with all of the other pressures high schoolers face especially during their junior and senior years.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and loved reading Oseman’s interpretation of going through high school and working toward highly competitive colleges. I would highly recommend this book to people who enjoy reading books on the sadder side. It is also a great novel to relate to especially if you also feel that sense of pressure when it comes to colleges or making friends.
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