RaveStorgyPoetic, gripping, and unarguably unique, No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood is a novel on social media that we didn’t know we needed. Lockwood has taken a now well-worn, over-analysed aspect of modern society, and injected it with an impressive poignancy ... Make no mistake – this book will not appeal to all. Lockwood’s stream of consciousness-style prose takes a while to warm to ... While Part One reads like a series of loosely connected phrases and thoughts, intentionally mimicking the portal and therefore having the desired effect, Part Two of No One Is Talking About This taps into the vulnerability of existence and the meaning behind it all ... Lockwood’s skills as a poet come into full effect during these passages; the intensity of the love the narrator feels for her niece is breathtakingly described. I felt completely pulled in by the grief and also snatches of happiness, the normalcy among the fear ... The depth that was perhaps missing from the previous pages is realised. A tender tale of grief follows, and I especially loved the way Lockwood described the intimate, physical connections between the narrator and child. These small moments of touch were extraordinary, on so many levels ... I had entirely different reading experiences over the course of one sitting (the novel is short enough to be read in just a couple of hours), moving from enjoyment at the witty analyses of something I know well, to sadness at the beautiful portrayal of the loss that follows. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I can’t help but wonder if this was the author’s true intention, to divide them so dramatically like this. Nonetheless, No One Is Talking About This is unarguably an unforgettable and impressive book, and surely a triumph of a debut novel from Lockwood.
Isabel Allende, Trans. by Nick Caistor and Amanda Hopkinson
RaveStorgyA rich and compelling novel ... an ambitious and outstanding feat of literature, spanning multiple families, generations, and continents, taking the reader on a journey through key moments of recent history. Despite being set against the chaotic backdrop of work, the book is far from bleak. Rather, Allende showers her pages with love, compassion, and shows the reader that kindness and hope reach far beyond the perceived hatred of the times ... The novel is complex and heavy in its subject, so Allende’s prose is simple yet impactful, freeing the reader from the weight of description that may have otherwise jeopardised the narrative. Instead, focus is given to the characters – while the historical events are detailed and understood, the book is very much character-driven ... Allende’s characters do the work for her. Their layered personalities, deep emotional bonds with each other, and the way that they move through the novel, carry the prose right through to the end ... Allende writes of this passionate love affair between Ofelia and Victor, are perhaps some of the most beautiful in the novel. Each paragraph is charged with emotion, and despite the backdrop of war, something wonderful is imagined for these two characters – a strong, deep love that eventually transcends time and distant to form something much more complex and meaningful for the reader ... feels very much like a love letter to everyone who preserved and struggled through these times ... the novel itself is also an important form of art, as Allende teaches us just how passionate humanity can be, even during a time like this. It’s a deep, emotionally charged novel, where the simplicity of language manages to convey the complexity of human connections.
