Go Lightly
By Brydie Lee Kennedy
Bloomsbury
Twenty-six year old Ada was at a party after a party after the closing night of a gig at the Edinburgh Festival. It was here that she met fellow Australian Sadie and took her back to the room that she has to vacate by 4pm.
In high school, Ada had dated one stoner after another and kissed her female friends at parties, pretending it was just for show. There was no mistaking her chemistry with Sadie, but she had to head back to her life in London.
People liked Ada because she was fun and wild and young and cute. Sharing a flat with her friend Mel for the last two years and dating both men and women, Ada was still trying to decide which version of herself was the truest.
Stuart had done a gap year in Australia and saw Ada singing at one of her Edinburgh gigs. He had just graduated from university, was unemployed and began a texting relationship with Ada. I’m not sure how well you get to know anyone through texting tennis, but the author includes the texts so you can make up your own mind.
It is not until the story gets messy that things get really interesting. Ada is heavily into texting with Stuart when Sadie contacts her, asking if she can crash at the place that Ada shares with Mel – the place that has no spare bedrooms. Ada sees no reason why she can’t have both Sadie and Stuart in her life.
Sometimes, when people get together, however which way, there aren’t clearly defined rules. With a generation of people prioritising their own happiness and many gaps in communication into to fit assumptions, there are bound to be casualties.
This is the reality of modern life that makes you consider how people’s personalities would be different if there wasn’t the internet.
Lezly Herbert
