Interesting Facts About Space

LoveReading Says

I loved this book. I was excited to read it as I also thoroughly enjoyed Austin’s debut, the memorably titled Everyone in this Room Will Someday Be Dead. This is an excellently executed second novel, in that it contains some recognisably similar elements to Austin’s debut – most obviously its appealingly neurotic heroine, its sharp wit, and the offbeat intrigue at the heart of its plot, which keeps the momentum high throughout. 

That phrase ‘darkly comic’ is overused, but if it can still have any meaning, I’d use it here. Interesting Facts About Space's elegant, queer, black humour is distinctive and laugh-out-loud funny. It's also thrillingly tense in the way Enid tries to understand whether she’s paranoid, going mad, or genuinely being stalked by a bald man (she has an inconvenient phobia of bald men). The structure, on a broader level and sentence-by-sentence, is stylish and slick, often surprising, and thoroughly entertaining. Sap that I am, I also loved the oddball romance, and wept at the line about weird little bugs. 

I appreciated that Austin doesn’t avoid taboo topics, leaning into the fears, traumas and dark spirals that her anxious heroine tries to confront. As someone who is squeamish about true crime podcasts, for example, I thought Austin made this element of her character development compelling whether or not you’re also a fan. She does a great job of making her cake and eating it – for example, pun intended, in the instance of Enid baking a gender-reveal cake for her estranged sister, despite thinking it's a morally problematic concept. It was no surprise to me to discover that this book is a delicious treat. 

Lily Lindon

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