None of this is Serious - Catherine Prasifka

Genre: Contemporary Fiction | New Adult Fiction |

Release Date: Expected 7th April 2022

Publisher: Canongate Books

Sophie isn't the person she seems online. Her best friend has outgrown her, the boy she loves hardly knows she exists, she's starting a strange new online friendship and she doesn't feel together at all, not in the way everyone else seems to be. Her life as a student is over and now she has to go out and add new worries about houses and taxes to the ever growing pile.

Then at a party she doesn't even want to be at, a crack appears in the sky.

And she finds herself just waiting for someone on the internet to tell her something rather than adding yet another phone-camera picture of the crack to Instagram. Now, all she can do is scroll until something, anything happens.

"I'm not sure when the internet ceased to be a place I could escape to, to get lost down rabbit holes and take care of virtual pets, but it does not offer me the same things anymore. I have a feeling it's to do with cyber and personal space melding, warping each other."

None of this is Serious is a celebration of just how wonderful the world is but also just how strange modern life can really be. Delving into the amazing truth of having worldwide connection at your fingertips - but the dangers that come with it too. The mental anguish that seeing polished, curated social media feeds can cause and of course how easily the internet can become a rumour mill.

Perfectly capturing the very real burnout many young people feel when faced with a hopeless future, this story was full of dryly funny and wickedly witty observations about growing up and getting lost - painfully relatable and delightfully weird. Sophie was a brilliant narrator - chaotic and messy but just trying her best.

Bordering somewhere between the mundane and the absurd - this book will make you take a step back and not take things so seriously.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.

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