Interesting Facts About Space

To have a LGBTQIA+ character coupled with space is a great combination for me! I really loved it and would read more by Emily in the future.

I absolutely adored this. Although it is a hard book to read in a similar way to how Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead is, there's a huge amount of softness in it as well, and Austin gets the balance just right.

Austin's narrators feel so familiar to me, while being completely different, and I think it's that that makes me feel so fond of them - almost painfully fond.

I immediately want to read it again.

My thanks to Atlantic Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

Enid has lots of ways of coping with life. She mimics the behaviour of other people to appear normal, and listens to true crime podcasts to drown out her anxious thoughts. She avoids letting people get too close, and finds way to assuage her guilt about forging a relationship with the family her father left Enid and her mother for. But when Enid becomes convinced that someone is following her, her coping mechanisms are no longer enough to keep Enid's life from spinning out of control.

I loved this one. Interesting Facts About Space is a compulsive read, driven by plot and characters alike. The story is broken up into relatively short sections, which make it even easier to read, but the story never felt fragmented. Enid and I don't have very much in common, but I found her such an engaging and likeable protagonist. The characters in Interesting Facts About Space all felt so vivid and realistic that I always understood why they acted like they did, even when they did something that I would never do. There is also a lot of relatable material in this book, even for people who don't find the characters relatable in their entirety.

I found this an incredibly uplifting read, and it helps that Interesting Facts About Space is a very funny book. I repeatedly laughed out loud, especially at Enid's inner dialogue. For me, this was an even better read than Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, sharing many of its strengths and none of its weaknesses. I will definitely be reading more from Emily Austin.

Enid is queer, quirky, neurodivergent and working through some issues. She’s also really relatable (human - flawed!), and I could totally empathise with her inner thoughts and occasional awkwardness in navigating life, family and relationships.

Interesting Facts About Space is faultless, naturally hilarious and riddled with authenticity. Emily Austin once again demonstrates her ability to deliver the facets of mental illness and the human condition in a raw and honest manner.

I am so indescribably excited for her next release and those to come after.

As with Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead, Emily Austin has written a book that will remain imprinted on my brain forever. Enid, a hard of hearing lesbian who works in a space station, was so relatable in so many ways, and I loved following her journey through all of the twists, turns, and encounters within this book. The increased sense of paranoia throughout this book, as Enid becomes more and more convinced that she is being stalked by her bald neighbour (she has a phobia of bald men and consumes a lot of true crime media), is palpable, and Emily Austin infuses every page with anxiety and anticipation.

Several issues are explored within this book, such as the rise in popularity of true crime, tumultuous familial relationships, and the difficulties that come alongside navigating a world that you just don’t seem to fit into seamlessly. Austin carves out a space for Enid, and by extension, for anyone who relates to any aspect of her character, and uses mystery, humour, and tenderness to propel her story.

I could speak forever about all of the intricacies of this book, but I’ll end with saying that I particularly appreciated the attention paid to memory, and the moral dilemmas that Enid faced throughout this book. This book has just cemented Emily Austin as an auto-buy author for me, and I’m so excited for everyone to be able to read it.

This review will be posted (Goodreads, Amazon, Waterstones) towards the end of January, closer to publication date, as per instructions on the email I received. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own.

As a queer neurodivergent human navigating life in a confusing world, this book made me feel incredibly seen. I will eternally be grateful to Emily Austin for sharing Enid with us.

Interesting Facts About Space is about muddling through this messy world and sharing said muddle with loved ones. It is an exploration into finding things that help explain the muddle or that at least take the edge off.

If you typically struggle with stream of consciousness books, please allow Emily Austin to change your mind. My mind has assuredly been changed, first with Gilda (Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead) and now with Enid.

This book goes so much deeper than you may expect at first glance, exploring themes of mental health, trauma, loss and neurodivergence. Rest assured it does so in the most accessible and held way. Please check trigger warnings if certain topics feel unsafe for you.

The balanced way in which Emily Austin writes is awe-inspiring. The conversations between characters were realistic and true. The funny parts were laugh out loud funny. And the character development had me beaming, holding my breath and shedding a tear in equal measure.

You should read this book if you are a fellow human muddling through life on this strange planet. If you happen to not live on planet earth, maybe try it anyway, at the very least you’ll learn some cool facts about space…

I would also just like to take a moment of appreciation for Emily’s consistent use of reclaimed ‘old lady’ names. It’s iconic and I hope she never runs out.

Thanks for reading my review, I hope you love getting to know Enid as much as I did.

I was so excited to read Interesting Facts About Space but I was so sure there was no way it could be better than Everyone in this Room Will Someday be Dead... I was wrong. This book is so full of heart and kindness and honesty. I related so much to Enid and I think that, in another authors hands, this would have felt uncomfortable, but Austin writes with such empathy, such vulnerability and such care that I just felt seen and understood and never, never judged.

Enid is a fascinating character, she is so well developed and so brilliantly crafted. I adored her and rooted for her so much. I loved her relationships and how none of them distinctly broke or fixed her, but all added layers to her and her life. I loved the dialogue, it struck the exact right balance between quirky and funny and honest and realistic. The humour never punched down and was genuinely funny, I laughed out loud so many times.

I loved how Austin explored the fascination many have with true crime. It was handled delicately, non-judgementally but thoroughly. I felt I came to understand better why it means so much to so many but also appreciated the mentions of it being harmful to many at the same time. This balance is so hard to find and it was perfectly executed here.

The mental health and queer representation were wonderful, I felt safe reading this book, Emily Austin feels like a safe and trustworthy author to me, she doesn't make jokes at the expense of the marginalised, she doesn't punish her characters or her readers, she writes the messy, disaster gays so many of us feel we are and she makes us feel seen without making us feel unsafe or uncomfortably vulnerable. I feel empowered by this characterisation, by this story.

The writing is snappy and witty and utterly readable. The pacing is just right and the overall reading experience, for me, was a pleasure.

I highly, highly recommend Interesting Facts About Space and I'm so happy and grateful it exists.

I absolutely loved this book. I was so excited to read a new Emily Austin novel after how much I loved her debut and this did not disappoint at all. She’s so good at writing strange protagonists who feel slightly set apart from life and yet completely believable. I really cared for Enid even when she was making bad decisions.

Enid is a lesbian, serial dater, deaf in one ear and obsessed with true crime podcasts. She's also dealing with an inexplicable fear of bald men, trying to support her depressive mother and finding her place in her half-sisters lives.

Enid is a flawed, relatable, authentic and very likeable character.

This book deals with so many topics, such as disability, complex family relationships, infidelity, trauma, stalking etc, and every topic seems well handled.

Austin is one of those writers I feel I'll be reading everything they write. Looking forward to her next book.

4.5 stars rounded to 5 for netgalley

Definitely one for lovers of Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead! Emily Austin is solidifying herself as THE author for mentally ill sapphics, and I am here for it.

This book is both very similar to EITRWSBD and very different. Enid is in her twenties, anxious, struggles to form intimate relationships with the people around her, has a phobia of bald men and listens to true crime podcasts as a coping mechanism. She works at the Space Station and calls her mother to tell her interesting facts about space in lieu of having an honest conversation about their struggles.

I didn't quite feel the connection to Enid that I felt to Gilda, but the book balances utter sadness and loss of control with the perfect dose of hopefullness, humour, and human connection. I loved seeing her growth as well as the plot with her half-sisters, and found the ending to be very satisfying and well-rounded.

This is a book for introspection and mulling over the human condition, as well as highlighting the paranoia that true crime content can cause.

first of all, thank you to netgalley and atlantic books for providing this arc, i haven’t stopped thinking about it since it was announced.

emily austin has been my favourite author since i first discovered her work and this book only reinforces that and cements why i love it. i see myself so much in this book, and at times if not myself, people i know; family, friends, acquaintances. as an anxious, paranoid, true crime loving lesbian (and boygenius fan, of course) i knew i had to read this book. however, i had no idea i would relate to this book as much as i did, it was like emily reached into my brain, pulled out every thought and feeling and put it into writing. it immediately pulled me in and kept me interested throughout and i anticipate i will be thinking about it every second of everyday for the foreseeable future. it was funny, devastating, mysterious and had me on the edge of my seat; i can confidently say i will always thoroughly enjoy emily’s work.

to all the enid’s out there, this is for us, and i hope it brings you comfort like it did me.

What a treat to be reading another book by Emily Austin! Enid is a lesbian, deaf in one ear & obsessed with space & true crime. She also has a phobia of bald people & compulsively watches the YouTube videos she made as a teenager but can’t delete because she lost the password. While she is seeing someone new & building a relationship with her half sisters, she also has a feeling that someone is following her.

Austin has a way of writing characters with such love and compassion that you can’t help but to root for them. Enid is clearly a person who is deeply loved & valued by the people around her but finds that difficult to see or understand. Which, fair, considering her dad left when she was little.

The relationship between Enid & her mum was both warm & fraught & so brilliantly done. And as always I enjoy a true crime takedown bc truly it is rotting brains! A scourge!

Loved it. For as long as Emily Austin is writing books I’m reading them.

Emily Austin, I'm going to politely ask you to stop writing characters I relate to so viscerally.

Just like she did with her debut (Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead), Austin has written a book that will forever imprinted on my brain and heart. She has created a home for Enid, and anyone who relates to her.

Austin's narrators are impalpable yet so deeply relatable, and are written to have such an enigmatic that even the most mundane of happenings keeps you hooked.
Enid, a hard of hearing lesbian who works in a space station, who is mentally ill, neurodivergent, a weird relationship with her mother, no relationship with her recently deceased father, a phobia of bald men, a true crime obsession and is inspired by the Boygenius song "Souvenir" (!!!!!!), and quite frankly, she is me.
I loved following her through all of the twists and turns within this book, and oh boy, there are twists and turns.

The way Austin has managed to portray increasing paranoia throughout the book, as Enid becomes more and more convinced that she is being stalked by her bald neighbour, is incredibly well done. I felt my breath catch and my skin crawl alongside Enid.

Not only is it incredibly written, it's also well researched, and many difficult topics arise, such as difficult familial relationships, mental illness, the popularity of true crime, and late discovery of neurodivergency after navigating a world that you just don’t seem to belong in. The relationship between Enid and her mother was particularly well-written and had me crying on the bus. Emily Austin, please get out of my head.

I could go on and on about this book and the tiny details, such as the repetition of memories and tiny things Enid notices that come up again and again: the smoke, the lipstick, so much wove so perfectly and so intricately into Enid's story.

I will never get over this book. Ever.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the ARC!