It took eighteen years for Georgia, the protagonist of
Loveless, to realize that she has never had a crush on anyone. As much as she tries to convince herself otherwise, she just can’t seem to find
her true love like the world around her, and she doesn’t understand why. After numerous tries and
fails to develop romantic relationships, Georgia eventually realizes that she never has and never will
like anyone “in that way,” and that she is asexual and aromantic. But the process of discovering
herself is messy, complicated, and filled with drama. As she navigates her first year of university,
Georgia builds, damages, and repairs her relationships while trying to find ways of making
meaningful connections with others.
One of the best things about Loveless, things that can really be said about all of Alice
Oseman’s works, is the diversity of the characters. For one, the main character is on the ace spectrum,
her friends are people of color, and the characters in general are a variety of sexual and gender
orientations. This is a novel that makes people feel included, like they have someone to relate to. This
is especially true for the main character; there are so few representations of ace or aro characters in
literature, film, social media, and the Internet in general, but
Loveless tackles practically any scenario an aro/ace person could think of. It isn’t merely the absence of Georgia feeling romantic or sexual attraction, but the process of realizing exactly what she does feel and want that makes this such a relatable and successful novel. It helps people figure out their own identity and educates those who might not feel the same way as Georgia, and I can’t think of another book that does this quite so well.