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Why No One Is Talking About This Is the Most Controversial Novel of 2021
American poet Patricia Lockwood's first novel, Nobody's Talking About This, published in 2021, caused a sensation after it was published simultaneously in the UK and the US. This novel tells the story of a woman who is active on social media and whose life changes dramatically with the birth of her niece. The novel quickly attracted the attention of many critics and readers due to its unique style and structure, becoming one of the most controversial works of 2021.
Many critics have compared the work's style to some of the greats of 20th-century American and British literature, such as William Faulkner, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf.
The novel is divided into two parts. The first part reveals the protagonist's life on the virtual platform, describing her process of becoming famous on the Internet and the various phenomena it brings. Lockwood cleverly uses the stream of consciousness technique to make the overall narrative structure fragmented and incoherent, which makes the first part of the novel feel like "virtual reality." Rather than a traditional plot development, the protagonist is more about expressing a sense of emptiness and addiction brought about by the social media culture of our current era.
"This novel captures the emptiness and insensitivity of the culture of virtual life that permeates our daily lives." – Christian Lorenzen
However, the other half of the story is a family tragedy that reveals the hardships that also exist in reality. The protagonist's sister's baby is diagnosed with a rare disease at birth, a plot that was deeply influenced by Lockwood's own life experiences. Her real niece, Lena, was the first baby to be diagnosed with Proteus syndrome in utero. This part of the narrative leads the work to a profound exploration of grief, consciousness, and the interweaving of reality and virtuality.
Lockwood’s 2018 lecture “How Should We Write Now?” also revealed the impact of online exposure on the creative process, and this novel is the embodiment of his ideas. The novel began to be conceived in 2017 and was basically completed in early 2020. The work, which had never been altered in manuscript, was eventually transformed into a critically acclaimed literary work and sparked heated discussions on major media platforms.
"When you read Nobody's Talking About This, you feel Lockwood's careful observation of the current human condition, as if she knows better than anyone what it feels like to live this life." - Shannon Go Du
Judging from the reviews, the book has not only received positive reviews, but has also sparked widespread discussion in the cultural community. According to the review aggregation website Book Marks, the book has received over fifty positive reviews, including thirty-one rave reviews, thirteen positive reviews, and seven neutral opinions.
"This work is a love letter to the endless slide, and a profound meditation on love, language and human connection." - Booker Prize-nominated judge Rowan Williams
Many well-known literary critics and publishers rated "Nobody's Talking About This" as the best book of 2021 and praised the artistry of the work. Lockwood thus became the only author to have both fiction and nonfiction appear on The New York Times list of the ten best books of the year. Her works have not only won praise for their elegant writing and profound thinking, but also attracted more complex literary research due to their unique text structure. Some critics even compared them to Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. The novel has been compared to Woolf's Sound and the Fury and To the Lighthouse.
"Lockwood's work is full of a peculiar sensitivity, a profound analysis of contemporary contradictions that almost challenges our understanding of language." – Josephine Gartby
In short, "No One Is Talking About This" is not only a literary masterpiece, it reveals the emotional dilemma of contemporary people and the influence of Internet culture, and for this reason it has become one of the modern classics discussed in this article. do. When we face the intersection of digital media and personal life, are we actually thinking about how such cultural continuity will affect future novel creation and readers' understanding?
