"A fast, fizzing cherry bomb of a debut" (The Observer [UK]) about power, intimacy, and the internet
I stalk a woman on the internet who is sleeping with the same man as I am.
Sheena Patel's incandescent first novel begins with the unnamed narrator describing her involvement in a seemingly unequal romantic relationship. With a clear and unforgiving eye, she dissects the behavior of all involved, herself included, and makes startling connections between the power struggles at the heart of human relationships and those of the wider world. I'm a Fan offers a devastating critique of class, social media, patriarchy's hold on us, and our cultural obsession with status and how that status is conveyed.
In this unforgettable debut, Patel announces herself as a dynamic, commanding new voice in literature, capable of rendering a rollercoaster of emotions and experiences viscerally on the page. Sex, brutality, politics, work, art, tenderness, humor—Patel tackles them all while making the reader complicit in the inescapable trap of fandom that seems to define the modern condition.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
September 5, 2023 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781644452462
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781644452462
- File size: 2181 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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July 17, 2023
“I stalk a woman on the internet who is sleeping with the same man as I am,” begins Patel’s trenchant debut. The unnamed narrator, a young London woman of color, documents this infatuation triangle in a series of short prose pieces resembling online posts (one is titled “dick from someone who doesn’t care if you live or die”). Her lover is a married writer, and the other woman is a wellness influencer. The relationship is emotionally masochistic; she describes him only as “the man I want to be with,” and remarks, via the title of another entry, “i didn’t miss the red flags i looked at them and thought yeah that’s sexy.” Among those red flags are the many other women in the writer’s life, including the influencer, who’s “the daughter of someone famous in America.” Many of Patel’s insights are breathtakingly keen, particularly when detailing how, as a person of color, the narrator is expected to lay her pain bare to receive the pleasure of belonging. At times, however, the barrage of barbs creates a wearying air of cynicism. Still, Patel acutely captures how identity and intimacy can feel both deepened and deadened in the Instagram era’s attention economy.
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