Today I’m reviewing Going Viral by Katie Cicatelli-Kuc, a young adult queer romance set in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic consumed the world into lockdowns and masks. In the theme of this video I will be making a mask today.

The book begins when the pandemic strikes, Claire Draper the main character is forced to isolate with her family indefinitely in their Brooklyn apartment. No in-person school, hanging out with friends, or, worst of all, dates with her girlfriend, Vanessa. Just as it all starts getting to Claire, she looks out her bedroom window and notices something new: a girl sitting on a fire escape across the street. Inspired Claire starts writing a story about two girls who become friends from afar. But when the story goes viral on social media, the line between reality and fiction is blurred. Will Claire be able to tell the difference before everything spirals out of control?

The book is all from Claire’s point of view and this allows for the use of the technique that is the unreliable narrator which is created through Babble posts which is this world’s Wattpad (a place you can post original stories as well as fanfiction). The Babble posts are designated with a change in paper colour being a shade of grey. The use of this colour signals how Claire starts to mistake fiction for fact and begins her relationship with Sadie (the girl on the fire escape) that is all in her head. Her romantic entanglement with this girl is meant to come off as cute and her relationship with Vannessa is meant to establish a loving partnership but as I read through the pages none of this was apparent.

I have never been uninterested in a love story and a love triangle makes me swoon, but the relationships that are presented to the reader appear to be toxic. Vannesa and Claire’s strained relationship makes me feel nothing for this couple. I don’t feel devastated by how they are slowly drifting apart, how they can’t communicate in a meaningful way and general mishaps that happen when you can’t meet in person. The author instead makes me constantly think, please break up finally so we can bring the end of silly arguments that come in poorly written text messages.  

Claire: “Lolll, my dad doing yoga.

Vanessa: “What’s so funny?”

Claire: “Just picturing my dad doing yoga, lol.”      

Vanessa: “Okaaay and?” 

Claire: You’ve met my dad right?”

Vanessa: “Yeah, obviously, and?”

Claire: “Don’t you think it’s funny thinking about him doing yoga?”

Vanessa: “Why is that funny.”

Claire: “Because he’s my dad! My big, clumsy dad, who has less flexibility than one of my pens.”

Vanessa: “It’s not very nice to make fun of people’s bodies. Everybody has their own path, their own journey.”

I know this is written for a young adult crowd but I feel no particular effort was made in constructing these sentences. This is all compounded by Claire’s non-engagement with the pandemic for the sake of exposition, she makes me want to tear my hair out.

Claire: “Aren’t you freaking out?”

Vannesa: “I miss you, too, Claire. But, I mean, none of this is really that big of a surprise, is it?”

Claire: “It isn’t.”

Vannesa: “Babe, haven’t you been following the news? Schools have been closed for the rest of the year all over the country. We knew this was a possibility.”

Claire: “We did? Why didn’t you tell me that?”

Vannesa: “Um, because I didn’t think it was my responsibility? And I figured you were reading and watching the news?” 

The characters are two dimensional and can be boiled down to their designated roles, Claire writes, Vanessa is her girlfriend and their relationship is strained because of social distancing, Sadie is the girl Claire has a crush on. The parents are parents who still have their jobs, so their financial situation is secure, no need to worry about it, so we’re stuck in a constant haze of banal boredom. 

The book gave me fatigue as I have lived through the pandemic in the city that had the most lockdowns.I had already experienced all the trials and tribulations that comes from living through lockdowns and the author’s writing brings nothing new. The use of repetitive language descriptions for the fire escape, living room and bedroom never change. There’s no life given to these places, no growing sick of seeing these locations when you’re stuck in a tedious cycle of constantly reliving the same day over and over again.

There is no depth to this book, I feel like it was created by Chat GPT by the shallow content and its message accumulates in that the pandemic is a headache to live through and don’t mistake relationships in your head for fact when they are fiction.

I give this book one smiley face out of five with a recommendation to avoid this book at all costs.