Summary: Frances is focused solely on one thing: achieving the best possible marks at school in order to get into Cambridge University. At school, everyone knows her as the boring overachiever. At home, she is secretly painting fanart for her favourite podcast show. When she meets Aled, the creator of the podcast, and she discovers that the two of them are very much alike, her life seems to have reached a peak. But there have been events in her past that aren’t resolved yet and Aled too has his secrets. With the podcast suddenly going viral and their personal struggles in between, their friendship is tested. Frances not only needs to face her past and her true self which she has been hiding for so long, but also needs to re-evaluate what she truly wants her life to be like.

Review

I have to admit, I wasn’t really motivated to pick this book up. The blurb gave me the impression that this story would be pretty basic and I didn’t expect to enjoy the book all that much. I was completely wrong about that!

It wasn’t so much the plot of the story that drew me in, it were the characters and how they made the story come alive. It is rare that I read about characters in novels who are simply teenagers going about their daily lives and feel a connection towards them. They usually seem very artificial and over the top. Not at all in Radio Silence. Surely, there was a little more action in their lives than in the lives of the average teenager during their final year of school, with the podcast going viral and such. But the characters were a great mix between having their unique personality to make them stand out and at the same time sharing experiences with their target audience, such as academic pressure, which probably many students can relate to.

Despite its relatively “normal” plot the novel was definitely a page-turner. There is a blend of events happening in present-time and events that happened in the past, without immediately giving away everything, so I was always curious to find out the explanation for certain events or the behaviour of certain characters. It didn’t need this aspect though, I thoroughly enjoyed the journey itself, seeing the characters and their relationships develop over time, with all the ups and downs in between. It is not the kind of book you can’t enjoy anymore if you already know what happens.

There was also a diverse cast of characters, with different sexualities and backgrounds being represented within the novel. I really liked that the characters weren’t defined by that though, they each had their distinct personality outside of their sexual orientation and family background. Although this was definitely not the focus of the story, there were some instances where the struggles associated with belonging to a minority were thematised.

A topic that was very prominent throughout the novel was academic pressure. Frances struggles with the high expectations she has for herself and her goal to study at Cambridge University, while other characters struggle with the pressure of their parents to achieve high marks and go to university in order to lead a sucessful life later on. Generally, the novel talks about the social expectation to be good at school and go to university and questions whether this is really the only way.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this novel a lot which surely had also to do with the fact that I am about the age of Frances and her friends and thus could relate to their situation really well. My fascination about this novel has already caused me to buy another Alice Oseman novel which I will hopefully enjoy just as much. I think this novel is a perfect read for the summer as it is a standalone and not as complex, so you can easily read it to relax on vacation. I particularly recommend it to anyone who is currently in their last years of school or starting university since you will be able to relate to a lot of the experiences the characters have.

Things to consider before reading:

I don’t think that there were a lot of triggering topics in the book but it has been some time since I finished, so some things may have escaped my memory already.

There were some mentions of suicide although *spoiler alert* no one actually commited suicide, it was only discussed whether someone might do it *end of spoiler*. It wasn’t a very prominent topic though and was only briefly mentioned.

Other than that, the only thing I remember that might be triggering is the way one parent treated their children which could probably be considered emotional abuse (although I don’t know the exact definition of that term so I can’t guarantee that this is the correct term to describe it). It was openly criticised in the novel though and not presented as something positive or normal.

Disclaimer: This should serve solely as a guide when deciding whether or not to read this book. I cannot guarantee that this list is complete. If you are triggered by something or want to avoid certain topics, please make sure to double check.

Feel free to share your opinion on the book in the comments. I would love to hear what you think about it and whether you liked it!

Please remember to keep the comments spoiler-free or add a Spoiler Alert beforehand so everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the reading experience without already knowing everything that happens.