David Owen
⭐⭐⭐⭐
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UK Publisher: Atom Books
UK Release Date: January 10th, 2018
DISCLAIMER: I received this book from the publisher, for free, in exchange for an honest and truthful review. My views are all my own.
Synopsis:
Everyone tells Kat that her online personality - confident, funny, opinionated - isn't her true self. Kat knows otherwise. The internet is her only way to cope with a bad day, chat with friends who get all her references, make someone laugh. But when she becomes the target of an alt-right trolling campaign, she feels she has no option but to Escape, Quit, Disappear.
With her social media shut down, her website erased, her entire online identity void, Kat feels she has cut away her very core: without her virtual self, who is she?
She brought it on herself. Or so Wesley keeps telling himself as he dismantles Kat's world from across the classroom. It's different, seeing one of his victims in real life and not inside a computer screen - but he's in too far to back out now.
As soon as Kat disappears online, her physical body begins to fade and while everybody else forgets that she exists, Wesley realises he is the only one left who remembers her. Overcome by remorse for what he has done, Wesley resolves to stop her disappearing completely. It might just be the only way to save himself.
All the Lonely People is a timely story about online culture - both good and bad - that explores the experience of loneliness in a connected world, and the power of kindness and empathy over hatred.
Review
I had heard of David Owen for quite a while now, proving why YALC is such a success and that kind of breed of marketing. I had have heard some good things, saw Nicola's (Fantastic Book Dragon) tweets about his last child, The Fallen Children, and had heard him talk on panels (quite funny actually, ten out of ten would recommend his events).
After reading his latest novel, I have to confirm that I, Lauren of ACityofBooks, will be purchasing David Owen's other two novels and will devour them (not literally, I'll just have to use my eyes).
Feeling lonely is something I feel like we can all relate to. Everyone at some point in their life will have that experience of what it is to be lonely and how disassociated it can make us feel, especially during our teens as we move schools, lose our rose-tinted specs, have friends drop and change, as well as having to deal with the chemical war-zone development of your body and mind. David Owen has written about loneliness like I have never seen before in YA, or in any book for that matter. It's the abstract captured onto the page that will entice you to keep turning the pages.
I find the idea of "fading" a horrifying one. Absolutely terrifying. In that way that I find horror films with the most mundane threats to be why I won't sleep at night. I really liked the way the portrayal of the fade was put across and having that experience in All the Lonely People. It was an intriguing way to explore the central themes within a liminal space.
This and the way Owen writes teens is something my brain can barely comprehend. They're flawed, and making stupid decisions - like we all have - but ultimately, they're relatable as we see these two protagonists, Wesley and Kat, scramble to find somewhere to fit in and be accepted.
I just want to make a little footnote and say: there's a small f/f romance involved that I didn't know was a thing until my heart was soaring. Its not a spoiler and I just wanted to briefly mention it. Another reason why this book was great - a small dose of LGBT+ rep.
How has the internet made your life better and how has it made it worse?
If you have been following the All the Lonely People blog tour (which by the way, you should have been) then you may have come across this question before. It's a very straight forward question, there's no doubt about it, however, you might be surprised to hear how challenging it was for me to answer.
Like Kat, in the novel, I used to use the internet as a safe space. Fandom forums, fandom Twitter, Tumblr, even Facebook (where I get my best memes) were where you could find me. I've met so many wonderful and interesting people to talk to over the years, that I would never have come across unless I had that time online. Again, like Kat, online (and now with Uni friends) is where I could be my most authentic self.
However, like most things, the internet hasn't been all too kind either. I have mentioned this before, just in passing on Twitter, that I don't participate in bookish chats or fandoms as much as I used to. They no longer feel like a safe place for me to express my opinion, or make a joke, or chat to someone, without it ending up with five people trying to tell me my point isn't valid, a whole load of blocking and me feeling worse for it.
Like guys, stop coming after authors with your pitchforks because an adaption of their books got canceled (which they have no creative control over, by the way) or didn't end the way YOU had wanted it to or "canceling" each other because that doesn't teach a person to grow. I'm all for the Tea, but just... stop.
About the Author
David resents the fact that he was not raised by wolves and was therefore robbed of a good story to tell at parties. He turned to fiction to compensate for his unremarkable existence.
You can find out more on his website, or alternatively give him a follow on his Twitter, @davidowenauthor
