None of This Is Serious: Catherine Prasifka

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As the story develops, we learn that Sophie is trapped in more than a few toxic relationships. She has Hannah, her gaslighting twin, Finn, a friend who sleeps with her but doesn’t date her and Rory, her new love interest who she primarily communicates with online. 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. None of This Is Serious is about the uncertainty and absurdity of being alive today. It's about balancing the real world with the online, and the vulnerabilities in yourself, your relationships, your body. At its heart, this is a novel about the friendships strong enough to withstand anything.

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Prasifka gathers many of the ills of living in Dublin – and Ireland, by extension – in her arching portrayal of a young Irish life, chief among them the housing crisis, climate change and the fledgling openness of a post-8th amendment society. I started reading None of This is Serious the morning after a night out and the hangxiety was real. This book was not only the perfect distraction – I literally couldn’t stop reading it, but it turned out that it was pretty fitting too for my hungover feeling right then. At times I did feel like the book dragged on and it was repetitive in some sections. Sophie’s reliance on social media was very evident through out the novel but I found the author went into a lot of detail and it did not do much for the plot. The style in which the book was written was confusing to me. It was not always clear to me when Sophie was responding to someone or just thinking. The author uses quotation marks for the other characters but not for Sophie. It worked for most of the book as I did not notice this at first but then there were some sections of the book that were confusing to me. I nod and someone calls her name from the kitchen. She tells me I can dump my stuff wherever and that she’ll see me in there. She skips down the hallway. Instead of shoes, she’s wearing fuzzy slippers.This was an amazing story about Sophie and what it feels like to be in your early twenties. I binge read the book in a single day and I have a list of things that I enjoyed about it: I have been avoiding writing this review, simply because of how much I've been struggling to put into words my feelings regarding this book. I've been trying to make it coherent since I finished the book, but that was a harder task than I originally assumed it would be. With the constant hate that Sophie purports for herself, it is not inconceivable to see her pursue relationships with people with whom she might be better off without. Within the opening chapter of this book, I became intrigued by Sophie’s character & wanted to see her experience a happy existence. It was troubling to see her forgive Finn for his disconnect because that is what she is familiar with experiencing. I applaud the author here once again for rendering these invisible relationships so accurate, so real. Every character within this story was as authentic as the people we walk alongside every single day. He rests his head between my breasts and I stroke his hair. I think about leaning down and kissing him, and I drink more wine. He can probably feel my heart beating under his head, if it isn’t obscured by a layer of fat. I hum gently as I listen to him talk. I could easily drift off to sleep. My hand is resting just below his chin, and he bends his head to kiss it.

None of this is Serious | Catherine Prasifka - NetGalley None of this is Serious | Catherine Prasifka - NetGalley

Amid the panic and meta-analysis about the panic, life continues, and eventually the news cycle moves on; “the apocalypse came and went”. However, many of the interactions between characters on these subjects feel rehearsed and flat. Of course, this is part of the point – these are characters who have reiterated their complaints to each other time and again. What sometimes hinders these moments is a too-fleeting glance at the topics at hand, so that they feel like the Cliff’s Notes version of night-out banter. Sophie is a complex character who has too many feelings that she can’t express verbally. She can tweet a version of them, but this, as we know, is not the healthiest outlet. The two major themes in this book are climate change and the level of disconnect we all have, which in turn connect with the less-prominent themes of toxic masculinity, sibling rivalry, fat phobia, consent, friendship, financial worries, and more. I think everything was explored in-depth throughout the book, and it really speaks to our times and the state of the world. Sophie as a character is fairly complex. She is probably one of the most self-absorbed yet at the same time incredibly insecure characters I've ever followed and while that should bring on a certain amount of empathy, there were times I just didn't like Sophie and found her a little bit of w whingebag and also not a particularly good friend to Grace (MVP of this book in my opinion) and her other friend Dan who is struggling with loneliness after emigrating.

My mind is blank as I answer. Absolutely nothing. I hold the wine in my mouth for a moment before I swallow it. It’s bitter. The image of the regular girl departs, but I don’t look away from the game. It feels like everyone’s looking at me, and no one is.

None of This Is Serious by Catherine Prasifka | Goodreads None of This Is Serious by Catherine Prasifka | Goodreads

We sit on the love seat in the corner of Grace’s sitting room. It’s cold inside, so I pull the blanket on the armrest over me. Without words, Finn grabs it too and gets under it with me. He pulls my legs over his lap. Last night, Finn messaged me asking what time I was thinking of arriving, so he wouldn’t be the first one here. We stayed up late chatting about poetry and his parents. He didn’t mention anything about bringing this girl. I look at the messages on my phone now as Grace talks, and they take on new meanings. I was foolish to think they meant he wanted to spend time with me. I find this book difficult to review & there was a part of me that began to dread the moment when I would have to sit with myself & write a reflective piece. This is not to say that I would encourage everyone to read this book because I am certain that we might all have drastically different impressions of both the plot & the writing style. However, this story meant a great deal to me. In an attempt to avoid being too personal within this review, I will simply say that I have stood firmly in the calloused & scabby shoes of the main character. I suppose that this is perhaps the reason I find this piece so difficult to review. 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 hereGod, you look like a drowned rat, come in come in come in, I didn’t even notice this rain starting.’ She pushes me through the door. ‘Need a drink?’ I nod slowly and look her in the eyes to prove I’m unmoved by this information. The girl’s face is familiar; I’ve seen her pop up as a suggested friend more than once. ‘You’re not upset? Because you know he’s a pr**k, right? He’s a stupid pr**k, and I wouldn’t have invited him if I thought I could get away with it, but you know how these things are – it’s more trouble not to.’

None of This Is Serious by Catherine Prasifka review — a

In the second half of the book I was so livid and heartbroken for Sophie. There is a sexual abuse storyline that really captures the anger of so many discussions I’ve had with my friends. Within this group of people, we meet Grace, Sophie’s best friend. There is certainly something to be said about the less-than-stellar relationships that Sophie has with the men in her life, it is also interesting to see the spectrum of behaviour & feelings she experiences due to her best friend. I am still unsure how I feel about Grace. Would Sophie be better off without her shadow? It’s difficult to say. Without Grace to bounce ideas, & feelings, & recount events to breakdown moments, where is Sophie? This book vows to show the uncertainty and absurdity of being alive today, as well as draw the line between real world and online. In addition, it's about relationships of all kinds, body image, and the inevitable doom that we will soon face. The book made me want to delete all social media and never read another Trinity/Dublin college life novel. The best one I’ve read this year is Holding Her Breath by Eimear Ryan. 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.a b "Billy Bragg Sings Songs Of Protest". Philadelphia Daily News. 1988-05-29 . Retrieved 2013-07-15. Sundays are all about books and coffee, who's with me? The Archives The Archives Search by Category I raise my bottle in cheers. I suppose to them it seems like nothing’s happened. I’m not conscious of the words I say to get them to move on, but eventually they work. I knew the chances of me enjoying this book were very slim I was right. It is written in the same manner of Sally Rooneys novels be warned.