2023 REREAD: Remains a brilliant YA sci-fi novel. A masterpiece. Wonderfully written, addictive, heartfelt, heartbreaking, and hopeful.
Final Score: 4/5
Original Review:
I'm writing this review on a whim, immediately after finishing the book, so it'll be messy. But hey, the book can be read in a day, on the fly, too, so here goes nothing and everything.
'The Loneliest Girl in the Universe' is everything other reviews have promised: It's an addictive and amazing page-turner; it's a strong subversion of YA tropes, especially romance tropes which we've all been sick of for well over a decade now; it's science-fiction, slice-of-life, and a thriller rolled into one fascinating story about a naïve teenage girl, Romy Silvers, who was born and raised in a ship in deep space, and has been all alone, the only surviving crew member, for the past five years, and who is braver and smarter than she, a Commander, believes herself to be; it's about human endurance, survival, anguish, and needs such as comfort and support and company, any company; it can be cute, sad, and scary, but it's very clever and well-plotted; fanfiction and fictional characters are key plot devices; and towards the gripping climax, you'll realize how feminist the book really is. It's perhaps more thoughtful, challenging, clever, exciting, and risky than any 'Star Trek' and 'Doctor Who' episode I've ever seen. It's like a deliberate antithesis to the movie 'Passengers', which is a horror film passing off as a romance, for it's the ultimate misogynistic, male entitlement, rape culture fantasy (even more depressing is that it is the perfect film to end 2016 on).
If more science-fiction were like 'The Loneliest Girl in the Universe', I might like the genre more.
Despite some horrific moments and twists, for me personally nothing beats the moment when Romy extracts her own rotten tooth using pliers. It's enough to make me never neglect flossing ever again.
I don't dare mention any details concerning the plot, and risk spoiling. I just highly recommend 'The Loneliest Girl'. After reading, only a few niggling things bothered me, and there are plot holes (not black holes!), but the journey, the experience; it's achingly raw. It's human, yet hopeful and kind of sweet, nothing to manipulate or overwhelm or depress readers too much.
The reader is Romy. She's fantastic. For someone so young who has had no physical human contact for so long and is stuck in the middle of nowhere in the universe with only an old ship keeping her alive, she's curious; living like any normal, authentic teenager. She's trying to keep optimistic and hopeful, because there are no other options left for her. Romy suffers from PTSD, and minor panic attack episodes, but she copes well. Fiction, like TV and books, and writing soppy fanfiction, appear to keep her occupied and sane, but under real pressure she finds she can succeed at whatever she tries. She pilots, exercises, cooks, cleans, gardens, solves maths equations, and makes origami and models out of anything as well! She even tries drinking alcohol. And has a sexual awakening. Romy Silvers is beyond admirable.
You'll love her, the loneliest girl in the universe.
With all her issues and day-to-day life in endless space, trillions of light years away from human civilization, maybe she'll come to realize she's not so alone.
Final Score: 4/5
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