Review by Booklist Review
Tulathimutte follows his wonderful debut, Private Citizens (2016), with this phenomenal series of loosely linked stories. The bold and dramatic opener, "The Feminist," explores one man's descent from disingenuous and irritating ally-ship into the darkest depths of internet culture. Each of the stories that follows is uniquely wonderful, disturbing, fearless, and hilarious. In "Pics," a young woman's obsession with her failed situationship results in a series of cringe-inducing decisions, including buying a pet raven. "Ahegao; or, The Ballad of Sexual Repression," follows a man struggling with his sexual identity and the pop-culture-, videogame-, and early internet--infused depravity of his heart's desires. "Our Dope Future" is a superb takedown of the loathsome brand of LinkedIn-obsessed tech entrepreneur everyone loves to hate, and it plays with form in a manner that continues in "Main Character," which expertly considers the trust required to make online interactions work. All of these stories will resonate deeply with anyone who spent a lot of time online in the early 2000s; few writers dramatize the effects of being perennially online as astutely and engagingly as Tulathimutte does here. Rejection is thoughtfully and artfully constructed and outrageously entertaining.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Tulathimutte (Private Citizens) offers a shrewd novel in stories populated by characters longing for IRL connections. In "The Feminist," a man feels "oppressed" by the patriarchy on account of his "narrow-shouldered" physique. After failing to woo women with his cringey attempts at being an ally, he moderates an incel message board. In "Ahegao," a shy Thai American man named Kant comes out as gay and lucks into dating the "well-adjusted" Julian. Things get off to a good start, but Kant worries Julian will be turned off by his sadistic sexual preferences. And in "Pics," Alison is derailed by her friend Nick's rejection of her after their recent hookup and exhibits increasingly antisocial behavior, such as adopting a violent raven. The lengthy "Main Character," which includes revelations about all the preceding stories, features Kant's younger sibling Bee, a nonbinary tech worker who shares their life story in an internet post, beginning with how they sold their gender in grade school for $40 to a boy who wanted to get into the girls' locker room ("In this way, before I learned gender was fluid, I'd learned it was liquid"). The prose is consistently sharp and funny as Tulathimutte cuts to the truth of his characters' dilemmas. It's a first-rate exploration of yearning and solitude. Agent: Ellen Levine, Trident Media Group. (Sept.)
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