I've Read No One Is Talking About This, Now What?
Early December we read No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood. We had predicted it as the winner for the Man Booker Prize, which it didn't, but it did make for an interesting book club discussion. We talked a lot about the internet, the different parts of the book and whether or not the use of actual memes was fun or not.
I have more recommendations about internet novels but always love to hear more. If you have any other recommendations, please leave them in the comments! I also have some discussion questions at the end just in case you're talking about this book with your own book club.
Reading recommendations for No One Is Talking About This
Patricia Lockwood has written a lot of other stuff, but this was her first novel. I'd suggest trying Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals, which is a collection of poetry that based on its description feels similar to No One is Talking About This. According to the blurb it addresses the most urgent questions of our time like what if deer did porn? Sounds like plenty weirdness wrapped in poetic language, if you enjoyed the weirdness of her novel.
Fake Accounts by Lauren Oyler was the other Internet Novel that came out last year. Also very much set in real life America, this one is about a woman finding out that her boyfriend is an anonymous online conspiracy theorist and delves into the idea of our real life world being shaped by online lies.
But No One is Talking About This is more than a novel about our current times and the internet. It also deals with motherhood and the loss of a child. That part of the story reminded me of All Grown Up by Jami Attenberg. The book is about Andrea who is 39 and decided to be single and child-free. Although she is behind her decision, she's also lonely, worried about aging and definitely damaged by her childhood. When her brother has a baby, one born with a serious illness, the family needs to reexamine what really matters. This one felt a bit more heart-wrenching than Lockwood's novel and definitely beware about reading this if you have a newborn.
Discussion questions for No One is Talking About This
How 'internetty' is your own life and how do you think this shaped your opinion of the novel?
Why do you think the author used 'The Portal' instead of actual social media platforms?
Is the novel a criticism of social media and the internet?
How do the two parts of the novel work together? Did you prefer one over the other and how do they influence each other?