one very specific thing about how you feel that you're not the important one in your friend group or that you don't belong here As she is forced to grow to become an adult person, she is never given the care that was needed to know who she was. In lieu of spending time analyzing why she might feel so attached to technology rather than people with whom she might have a tangible & warm relationship, Sophie evades all truths residing in her own body. She degrades herself to the point of believing herself better off dead. It is by lying on the cold tiles of her bathroom floor that she is able to remember that her body can feel things; can connect with more than the terrible things she believes about herself. The house looks warm. Its bay windows flood light onto the grass. There are deep grooves in the gravel driveway, channelling water to a puddle at the gate, which I jump over. The house is one of the older ones on the street; Grace's parents bought it during the boom. I can’t imagine the fortune they spent. A fortune they’re still paying off, Grace tells me sometimes, after a few glasses of wine.

None of This Is Serious by Catherine Prasifka | Waterstones

The debaters Grace knows from college are exchanging proper nouns at a speed that makes me dizzy. Sentences lose their meaning. There’s someone arguing for free speech, and someone else explaining the difference between that and actively platforming someone. I hear the phrase ‘the marketplace of ideas’. One of them tries to engage me in conversation, I think to help bolster his point, but I haven’t been paying attention. Yeah, right. And by the way, what does empowerment mean? I don’t feel f**king empowered every time I use a f**king tampon.’ Grace’s voice is loud beside me. I drink some of my wine, and he tells me that his parents are arguing again, and he doesn’t know who he can talk to about it. I hear myself say things like ‘oh’ and ‘ah’ and ‘I’m so sorry’. He doesn’t seem to be listening to me as he speaks. I wonder if he’s told anyone else this, and if I should feel guilty that it pleases me he probably hasn’t. 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."Overall, this book made me think a lot about the relationships I have with others in my life. Part of adulthood is realizing that there is no benefit to having relationships in your life that only bring you harm. Learning to love yourself and surrounding yourself with people who care about you is very important. Life is too short to be surrounding yourself with people that will make you feel as though you have no place on this Earth. You can’t just lean into normative feminism, you have to subvert it first,’ Steph is adamant. ‘You can’t just go along with the whims of the hegemonic capitalist patriarchy and call it empowerment.’ 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.

None of This is Serious by Catherine - RTÉ Book Of The Week: None of This is Serious by Catherine - RTÉ

We go outside and look up at the sky. Where before there was only light pollution, now there’s a hairline fracture spanning as far as I can see in either direction. It’s lit from within by a violet glow that seeps across the night sky. while it sadly did fall a bit flat for me, you may enjoy this one if you’re looking for an existential book with a sci-fi element and a lot of current social commentary.Dublin student life is ending for Sophie and her friends. They've got everything figured out, and Sophie feels left behind as they all start to go their separate ways. She’s overshadowed by her best friend Grace. She’s been in love with Finn for as long as she’s known him. And she’s about to meet Rory, who’s suddenly available to her online.At a party, what was already unstable completely falls apart and Sophie finds herself obsessively scrolling social media, waiting for something (anything) to happen. Grace enters the room and asks me to help her clear up. It takes a moment for me to understand what’s happening. Finn moves and releases me. I follow Grace into the kitchen, and she shakes her head at me. When I look over my shoulder, Finn is looking at his phone as though nothing’s happened, and perhaps it hasn’t.

None of This Is Serious | Catherine Prasifka - NetGalley None of This Is Serious | Catherine Prasifka - NetGalley

That’s fine, I won’t look.’ She sits herself down by the sink, resting her head against the porcelain. ‘F**k, I’m drunk. Not in a f**ked-up way, in a good way, I think.’ Grace is beside me, and I hear her whisper, ‘Pr**k.’ I take another crisp and let it go soggy in my mouth before chewing it. I inhaled None of This Is Serious. I've been waiting for a fictional story that reflects the all-consuming influence that the Internet has on my life. None of This Is Serious is that story. A compulsively readable, fresh and painfully accurate description of the way we live now. Don't let the title fool you. It is serious. Seriously good." - Louise Nealon I inhaled None of This Is Serious. I’ve been waiting for a fictional story that reflects the all-consuming influence that the Internet has on my life. None of This Is Serious is that story. A compulsively readable, fresh and painfully accurate description of the way we live now. Don’t let the title fool you. It is serious. Seriously good’

Featured Reviews

I’m watching the party as if behind glass, each person totally estranged from me. I’m repeating ordinary party questions in my head over and over again. Hi, what are you up to now? Hiya, oh yeah, I’m fine. How were finals? It’s giving me a headache. Every time I try to force words out of my mouth, the timing feels off and I choke. No one notices except for me. I refresh the feed every minute and continue to consume, growing fat. I’m like a vampire, leeching off the content of other people’s lives. I’m not even really interested in anything I’m reading.” I take a gulp of wine straight from the bottle and angle my face so I’m visible from the hallway. I picture the scene from the outside and imagine I look like a regular girl having a good time, and it fills me with delight. None of This Is Serious is brilliant - so devastatingly precise about being a young woman living in Ireland and online today, moving deftly between sharp, hilarious observations and heartbreaking, enraging moments." - Claire Hennessy

This Is Serious - Wikipedia This Is Serious - Wikipedia

The issue of social media in our society was explored, Sophie lived online and it clearly has an impact on her over all mental health, this did make made me reflect on my social media usage. The way in which Sophie struggles to balance her competing lives, that of her ‘real’ life and the one that she presents online for me highlights what Sophie’s main issue is she believes she is living the online life and then is left disappointed when the reality hits, this was interesting but not ground breaking. I didn’t realise before I started it but None of This is Serious looks at themes of social anxiety and how it hard it is to navigate the real verses digital world. To be honest, it was a comfort to have a lead character more neurotic than I was feeling at the time. All in all, this book really wasn't for me. That being said, I don't think it is a bad book, and I don't think you shouldn't read it if you're interested. I really did like the idea of it, and I still think it is a good concept to explore – so maybe you will find it fits your taste better than it did mine! Around May 1987, Astley, an airplane fanatic, was reported to have been arrested at the Nellis Air Force Base air show in Las Vegas after taking some photographs. After the misunderstanding was sorted out, he returned to Los Angeles where he was in the middle of producing the This Is Serious album. [6] [7] Release [ edit ] Especially regarding that rift in the sky – that was slightly perplexing to me, which I do suppose is the point. It is definitely a response to covid (and worsening climate situation I suppose), which brought out mass apathy and misdirected concern or otherwise commentary on it, but I truly didn't get what this book was trying to achieve. There was nothing that really made me see a new side of all of that, or look at it through a different lens – it was more along the lines of yes, social media bad, climate change real, people not reacting properly, but we all know this. Maybe the simplicity of it was the point, maybe it was supposed to tell us we are all too comfortable with everything happening, but I didn't feel that while reading. It simply felt like it was trying so hard to be profound, but falling just a bit short of it every time.

Advance Praise

Oh, sorry.’ Grace is cold. ‘I’d forgotten that politics only exists when it’s about women, otherwise it’s all just "normal", is it? It’s only political when you disagree?’ Sophie recalls holding her friend Grace’s hand on the airplane home after an abortion, and compulsively looks up houses for sale she believes she’ll never afford. It’s an uncanny portrait of how it must feel to be 22 years old and freshly out in the world, with not even the Earth’s atmosphere in one piece to keep you grounded. There are strong parallels here with Sally Rooney’s novels (Prasifka is Rooney’s sister in law), Naoise Dolan’s Exciting Times and Nealon’s Snowflake. I can’t help but feel this style of book has been done to death. This book is a repeat of Sally Rooney and the likes. It is not for me at all, I do suspects it will be over hyped and folk will buy into it. Folk who feel there are also hard done by despite being in a better position than many will lap this up.