Kitkatscanread: Blog Tour| All the Lonely People by David Owen

Hey, guys!

Welcome to another blog tour!

In today's blog tour we are going to be discussing David Owen's novel "All the Lonely People"

All the Lovely People by David Owen

10/01/2019 | Atom

Everyone tells Kat that her online personality - confident, funny, opinionated - isn't her true self. Kat knows otherwise. The internet is her only way to cope with a bad day, chat with friends who get all her references, make someone laugh. But when she becomes the target of an alt-right trolling campaign, she feels she has no option but to Escape, Quit, Disappear.

With her social media shut down, her website erased, her entire online identity void, Kat feels she has cut away her very core: without her virtual self, who is she?

She brought it on herself. Or so Wesley keeps telling himself as he dismantles Kat's world from across the classroom. It's different, seeing one of his victims in real life and not inside a computer screen - but he's in too far to back out now.

As soon as Kat disappears online, her physical body begins to fade and while everybody else forgets that she exists, Wesley realises he is the only one left who remembers her. Overcome by remorse for what he has done, Wesley resolves to stop her disappearing completely. It might just be the only way to save himself.

All the Lonely People is a timely story about online culture - both good and bad - that explores the experience of loneliness in a connected world, and the power of kindness and empathy over hatred.

About the Author

David resents the fact that he was not raised by wolves and was therefore robbed of a good story to tell at parties. He turned to fiction to compensate for his unremarkable existence.

He achieved 1st class honours in BA Creative Writing and MA Writing for Children at The University of Winchester, where he went on to teach on the BA Creative Writing course for three years. He hopes that one day all of his students will surpass his own achievements.

David’s debut YA novel, Panther, will be published by Constable & Robinson on their Corsair imprint in May 2015. Panther is a funny, touching, and occasionally unsettling coming-of-age story, which deals candidly with the stigmas and misunderstandings surrounding depression.

David has also worked as an award-shortlisted freelance games journalist and has been published as a poet.

My thoughts

First off I just want to say that "All the Lonely People" isn't the sort of book I would usually pick up on a whim.

I am quite the social media whiz myself by being on nearly all platforms.

This book has made me think how far would I go if I was being trolled online.

Every person in their life who has a social media app or program has been bullied in one form or another.

As a Booktuber myself, I still occasionally receive horrible messages from people.

I know some who have received messages like death threats for no reason. Some people will really stoop to low levels.

In this book we really see behind some male characters getting quite the mean streak and taking it out on poor Kat.

What I really enjoyed about this book was how from the first page I was feeling anger towards these people and sad towards Kat. When an author can get any reader to feel any sort of strong emotion, it means they have done a good job.

I think it was also personally because I could relate to Kat as well.

David Owen does a fantastic job of showing the real toxic side of the internet and social media. He touches upon hate groups, bullying and anxiety. Also his book contains LGBT+ which is a bonus!

I think "the fade" was a perfect metaphor for what it feels like.

Overall I did like this book, and I implore all of you to give it a try!