The Arena of the Unwell

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As a lot of the book is about mental health and a toxic relationship, it can be intense, but also funny. And, I’ll preface this by saying I KNOW depression/anxiety are crippling and they may not be ‘a good reason’ but in a novel… I need a bit more of him helping himself otherwise the character doesn’t come across as sympathetic, only whiny.

While in many ways Noah’s narration is limited by his naïveté, his social commentary is interspersed by whip-smart observations and wry assessments that often serve as sources of levity. So when two slightly older men show interest in Noah he becomes intimately involved and entangled in their lives. Before he’s even halfway across Claire jumps into the crowd, bass guitar still slung around her neck.I just tried to hold all those emotions in mind and think about how someone experiencing them all would talk.

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Arena is highly successful as a queer version of this trajectory, attentive to the intricacies of Noah’s particular relationship to his own queerness without conforming to the demand that all queer stories be about coming out. When the crowd turns violent Noah runs into the street, where he meets Dylan, the charming local barman he’s never quite had the courage to approach. The upcoming Smiling Politely album is a beacon of hope for Noah, who craves the connection he finds in their music yet lacks elsewhere, but he has to ask himself what he’s willing to lose – friendships, dignity, even his sense of self – to just feel like he belongs.

Though it's touching to see how Noah's father accepts his son's homosexuality we get little insight into the father's personal life or their family history. Their volatile relationship and living situation do not make for a good environment, as they seem to enable each other to engage in harmful behaviours.

She’s ripped a hole in her bottom lip, but instead of pressing her hands to the pain she just stands there bleeding, bottle-blonde hair in her eyes and fingers still resting on the fretboard. It puts you on the streets of Camden and leaves you with a sense of what might have changed or stayed the same since the earlier heyday of indie bands. I could empathise with Noah the protagonist’s mentality and mental health to an extent, and thought the way the author interspersed chapters with excerpts relating to his favourite band, ‘Smiling Politely’ (whose fates and fortunes join and juxtapose with his own), achieved a poignant pay-off.

I started reading it immediately (not for any great impatience but rather convenience) and I read over half in one sitting; I finished it off the next day. never truly addressing ideas can be a comment on the normality of mh and the normalising of inaccessible support.