Loveless

Loveless by Alice Oseman Book Review 

This book is stunning. 

I don’t remember the last time I sat down to begin a book and then didn’t get up again until I was finished with the whole thing, but that’s what happened in my first Oseman book Loveless. 

The premise is very simple and yet the relatability of the story is almost unnerving. 

Georgia is 18-years-old and going off to University with two of her best friends. She’s like any other uni student in England, she loves knitted cardigans, adores her friends and family, is an avid fanfiction reader, and most importantly, loves love. 

She gobbles up romcoms like tic tacs, adores Disney movies of all kinds, and even enjoys playing romantic roles during her theater performances. 

However, unlike most of the other 18-year-olds around her, Georgia hasn’t had sex. In fact, she hasn’t even kissed anyone. 

Belatedly, she realizes that she doesn’t even like anyone, nor can she clearly remember a time that she did. 

Panicked that she’s losing a battle with having the expected and sought after “teenage experience”, Georgia is determined to change in University. She commits to this idea that she will date, she will fall in love, and that she will be normal and accepted and just like everyone else in her age group. 

Except of course, none of that goes to plan. 

What follows is a raw and beautiful novel detailing Georgia’s first year as a fresher at the University of Durham.. It follows her as she makes new friends, loses others, forces herself out of her comfort zone, comes to terms with who she really is, and yes, falls in love, although maybe not in the way you would expect her to. 

Never in my life have I read a more profound depiction of an asexual and aromantic character. To be fair though, the bar is not very high. 

When considering the LGBTQ+ spectrum, the most representation we get are the likes of gay and lesbian characters. And while this is a fantastic fist step in widening the representation on the sexuality spectrum, it is in fact, just a first step. 

Out of the novels I read, being asexual has to be the least written about from my perspective. 

Why is this?

Perhaps because LGBTQ+ representation is just kicking off in YA and we haven’t gotten there yet. Perhaps because the book industry and the entertainment industry don’t think a book will be popular or sell if romance is not a part of it. 

Or perhaps because, just like Georgia, we have been conditioned since birth to love love and seek love as one of the ultimate goals of a human life. 

Think about it for a moment. 

How many YA novels have you read where romance is not the defining factor? Or at least one of them? How many main characters in a YA book can you think of that don’t end up with someone in the end?

….

…….

I truly don’t know if I can think of a single instance. Not even one. 

Having asexual and aromantic people being largely ignored on the spectrum of human sexuality is not an accident. In fact, the book widely talks about how many people believe it is a made up sexuality altogether, despite thousands of people who identify as such and how the term asexuality was first used as early as 1890’s. 

Loveless is a beautiful novel that hit home on some very personal levels for me, levels that I have yet to see or read about in all the years I’ve been reading and all the books I’ve devoured. Ever. 

On the one hand, that makes me incredibly happy. Happy and relieved to finally read about a character that made me go oh shit. I’ve thought that. I’ve been there. That is me on that page. 

What a beautiful and empowering moment of clarity. 

But also...how devastating that at the age of 26 this is the first book that has made me feel like this. 

As a white woman, I am incredibly privileged to have seen myself represented across multiple forms of media since I have been a child. This is just another example of why representation is not only important, but crucial to all kinds of people, and not just with race, but also gender, sexuality, religion, and the list goes on. 

Even if you can’t relate to Georgia like I often did during the novel, I would still highly recommend this book. It’s witty, it’s well-written and lovingly crafted, the characters feel real and fleshed out, the experiences are nuanced and realistic, and the messages and knowledge you gain in addition to simply a fun and dramatic story puts this book in the upper echelons for me. 

Read it. Please. 

Recommendation: I read this in a single day, people. It’s so easy, incredibly fun, stunning in terms of plot and characters, and overall, a very needed depiction of growing up, accepting yourself, and realizing that being different does not equate to being wrong. 

Score: 8/10