OneTribune

What happens when a moment of unspeakable loss collides with a ripple in the digital fabric of society? Botheration by Vito DiBarone explores this question through a quiet storm of adolescent memory, coded logic, and raw, awkward connection. At first glance, it reads like a diary cracked open by accident—vulnerable, unfiltered, teetering between genius and chaos. But beneath the surface lies something far more calculated: a mirror reflecting what today’s teens don’t always say out loud.

Matty, the protagonist, isn’t just surviving high school—he’s rebuilding a life atom by atom after witnessing his parents’ sudden, horrific death. The story opens not with explanation, but with sensation: black smoke, the scent of burning fabric, the impossible stillness of trauma. From there, it doesn’t move linearly. Instead, like a corrupted hard drive, it skips and stutters, following Matty through surreal days filled with offbeat friendships, cryptic messages, cheerleaders with secrets, and government systems behaving badly. It’s part thriller, part social fable, part science club confessional.

And that’s exactly why it works.

The narrative resists polish. Dialogues are jagged. Characters interrupt themselves. The reader is left wondering whether they’re hearing someone speak or think. Matty’s thoughts are scattered with pop culture, math formulas, dry humor, and guilt. But in that mess is a real depiction of how trauma lives in the mind: fractured, relentless, and often completely disconnected from what’s going on outside the body. Instead of tidy grief, we get the clumsy day-to-day of someone trying to feel safe again—while coding deletion programs and navigating feelings for a girl who might be more than she seems.

The tension isn’t driven by explosions or obvious villains. It’s subtler and stranger: Can a teen be manipulated into deleting something he shouldn’t? Can affection be used as currency in digital crimes? What is erased when we delete something? And can we ever be sure it’s truly gone?

But perhaps the boldest move the book makes is refusing to separate tech from emotion. In Botheration, code isn’t just a backdrop—it’s Matty’s way of making meaning. This isn’t escapism through gadgets; it’s a neurodivergent way of grieving. Programming becomes meditation. Deletion becomes metaphor. And like the brain protecting itself from trauma, the computer holds traces of what used to be, even when we think it’s wiped clean.

This book isn’t for readers looking for simple resolutions. It isn’t for those who expect cheerleaders to stay in their lanes or nerds to keep their heads down. It’s for readers who can sit with complexity, who are okay with things left unsaid or partially decoded. It’s for young people who have wondered what it means to be watched, remembered, or erased. And it’s definitely for those who’ve ever had to start over while pretending they hadn’t been broken at all.

Botheration doesn’t ask for applause. It asks for attention. And maybe that’s the most radical thing a story can do these days.

Excellence in Literature Award

The Excellence in Literature Award is a tribute to the timeless power of storytelling. We recognise works that transcend fleeting trends—books that resonate deeply and linger long after the final page. Whether bold and boundary-breaking or quietly powerful, these stories reflect true literary excellence.

This award encompasses a wide literary landscape—from genre fiction to poetic reflections, from contemporary gems to historical epics. At its heart, it celebrates writers who demonstrate mastery, originality, and the ability to connect with readers on a meaningful level.

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