Catherine Prasifka's debut and its inevitable comparisons to her sister-in-law Sally Rooney
Catherine Prasifka, author of None of This Is Serious. Picture: Joanna O Malley
In Catherine Prasifka’s debut novel, the main character Sophie is at a party one night when a vast purple crack opens up in the sky. She and her friends reach for their smartphones, taking pictures and scrolling through their social media feeds to figure out what is happening. The apocalypse may be looming but life goes on.
This urge to find answers in our smartphone while simultaneously feeling completely powerless will echo with many people at the moment as the relentlessly grim news cycle moves from pandemic to war, with Covid still hovering in the background and the ever-present threat of climate change. It is a theme that was also tackled recently by the movie Don’t Look Up — how we stare at our screens while the world burns.
