No One Is Talking About This

A Novel

By: Patricia Lockwood

Narrated by: Kristen Sieh

FINALIST FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE & A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOK
WINNER OF THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE
ONE OF THE ATLANTIC’S GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS

“A book that reads like a prose poem, at once sublime, profane, intimate, philosophical, witty and, eventually, deeply moving.” —New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice

“Wow. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so much reading a book. What an inventive and startling writer…I’m so glad I read this. I really think this book is remarkable.” —David Sedaris

From "a formidably gifted writer" (The New York Times Book Review), a book that asks: Is there life after the internet?

As this urgent, genre-defying book opens, a woman who has recently been elevated to prominence for her social media posts travels around the world to meet her adoring fans. She is overwhelmed by navigating the new language and etiquette of what she terms "the portal," where she grapples with an unshakable conviction that a vast chorus of voices is now dictating her thoughts. When existential threats—from climate change and economic precariousness to the rise of an unnamed dictator and an epidemic of loneliness—begin to loom, she posts her way deeper into the portal's void. An avalanche of images, details, and references accumulate to form a landscape that is post-sense, post-irony, post-everything. "Are we in hell?" the people of the portal ask themselves. "Are we all just going to keep doing this until we die?"

Suddenly, two texts from her mother pierce the fray: "Something has gone wrong," and "How soon can you get here?" As real life and its stakes collide with the increasingly absurd antics of the portal, the woman confronts a world that seems to contain both an abundance of proof that there is goodness, empathy, and justice in the universe, and a deluge of evidence to the contrary.

Fragmentary and omniscient, incisive and sincere, No One Is Talking About This is at once a love letter to the endless scroll and a profound, modern meditation on love, language, and human connection from a singular voice in American literature.

The last half is amazing.

If you can somehow survive the nonsensical first 2 1/2 hours, you’re in for a beautiful and tender story. That said, that first 2 1/2 hours feels incomprehensible. Maybe a text better read than listen to

Effective and moving, but requires trust and patience

This is to a standard narrative what Cubism must have seemed like to an Impressionist audience. It’s wild and seems random at the start. Then it ends up having a lot to say. From shallow to deep. I really enjoyed it. And the audio performance really helped.

Funny, heartbreaking, profound

I loved this book so much. It captures something so true about the contemporary experience and about human life. The narrator did an amazing job bringing the text to life, so much more than simply “reading” it.

Written like a work of poetry

This book was written from the point of view of a young adult who is constantly scrolling on her phone. The writing is insightful, poetic, and left me laughing and crying. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author. While the story does not have a conflict leading to resolution plot I was amazed that I hung on her every word. (I am not a writer so please excuse this badly written review.)

Beautiful, moving, hilarious, astute.

This book moves from a haphazard collection of irreverent impressions of modern life into one of the most tender, precious and reverent stories we know.