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sally's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Cool first book.
I feel like the author executed her intention perfectly, but it's just a book you suffer through reading.
It made me so angry, at the main character, at the manipulative avoidant man, at the sociopathic instagram influencer other woman, all of them. It made me angry at the systems that reward people in power and only humanize them. I got mad about all the cognitive dissonance it takes to function in this liberal society which says one thing and does another. It made me angry about how little people can grow, how much they can victimize themselves, even though they are intelligent people. The main character is amazingly self aware and has biting analysis of class, power, race structures. She will turn around and then do something completely pathological. It's like she has multiple personalities, she has so much deep inner fragmentation.
Something that has really concerned me reading any mainstream book reviews of this one is the lack of accountability for the main character. Every reviewer in the Guardian or the NYTimes just wants to harp on how the bad man who won't love her is bad, and how the racial analysis is interesting.
There's no mention of how absolutely mental the main character is. She is physically abusive. She is a liar. She has a massive death drive for herself and everyone around her. She is only empathic by accident of projection, or to get something from someone.
A dangerous part of this book is how it reinforces the narrative that pathologies are permanent. Maybe this functions a bit as a horror story of what happens if you don't change anything, if you are too attached to watching your back and looking out for yourself and rejecting your agency.
However, every book can't be about self development and healing or books would be predictable and boring.
But christ, the fact that no one is calling out this completely toxic straight girl in the mainstream book reviews, instead blaming this toxic straight man she picks explicitly to hurt herself, frightens me. It's like the mainstream culture isn't ready to acknowledge toxic victimhood complexes if they come from an empathetic identity. Ignoring the main character's obvious issues and failings writes off her character's capacity for growth, her humanity.
As I read this, I kept wondering how much of this story and character was part of the author, vs a thought exercise, because the prose definitely feels like the author's.
I feel like the author executed her intention perfectly, but it's just a book you suffer through reading.
It made me so angry, at the main character, at the manipulative avoidant man, at the sociopathic instagram influencer other woman, all of them. It made me angry at the systems that reward people in power and only humanize them. I got mad about all the cognitive dissonance it takes to function in this liberal society which says one thing and does another. It made me angry about how little people can grow, how much they can victimize themselves, even though they are intelligent people. The main character is amazingly self aware and has biting analysis of class, power, race structures. She will turn around and then do something completely pathological. It's like she has multiple personalities, she has so much deep inner fragmentation.
Something that has really concerned me reading any mainstream book reviews of this one is the lack of accountability for the main character. Every reviewer in the Guardian or the NYTimes just wants to harp on how the bad man who won't love her is bad, and how the racial analysis is interesting.
There's no mention of how absolutely mental the main character is. She is physically abusive. She is a liar. She has a massive death drive for herself and everyone around her. She is only empathic by accident of projection, or to get something from someone.
A dangerous part of this book is how it reinforces the narrative that pathologies are permanent. Maybe this functions a bit as a horror story of what happens if you don't change anything, if you are too attached to watching your back and looking out for yourself and rejecting your agency.
However, every book can't be about self development and healing or books would be predictable and boring.
But christ, the fact that no one is calling out this completely toxic straight girl in the mainstream book reviews, instead blaming this toxic straight man she picks explicitly to hurt herself, frightens me. It's like the mainstream culture isn't ready to acknowledge toxic victimhood complexes if they come from an empathetic identity. Ignoring the main character's obvious issues and failings writes off her character's capacity for growth, her humanity.
As I read this, I kept wondering how much of this story and character was part of the author, vs a thought exercise, because the prose definitely feels like the author's.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship and Abandonment
augushhhhh's review against another edition
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
You hear people you don't know, in living rooms you'll never be invited into, preparing meals you'll never eat (...) isolated on three split screens, cascading fireworks at the end which then loop back to the beginning again. - p.39f.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Abandonment, and Colonisation
Minor: Body shaming
kerriski's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting
panyasan's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Gaslighting
Minor: Domestic abuse
savvylit's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"Fans take their heroes and make them a part of their identity and so it becomes unbearable to ever really take in rumours of bad behaviour. We want them to remain perfect in order that we can telegraph or offload certain archetypes on to them: the truth teller, the champion, the maverick, the trickster. If we turn people into symbols and then create a fandom around them, we don’t have to take on those responsibilities ourselves, they become our spokesperson nominated to do this for us so we can carry on living our lives unperturbed."
I'm a Fan is a novel about obsession in two forms: romantic and parasocial. The novel's unnamed narrator is completely obsessed with her lover. Her lover who is also not only married but seeing additional affair partners as well. Her second intense obsession is with one of her lover's other affair partners and is primarily envy/hatred based. She closely follows this woman's life via Instagram, even attempting to be at the same in-person events. Though our narrator is intensely obsessed, she is also deeply self-aware - she knows that her obsession with both people is toxic and destructive. But she just can't stop, she's truly addicted!
This book would be worth a read - even just for the delicious, messy voyeurism. However, I'm a Fan is much more than its central relationships. Patel uses the interactions throughout the story to drop observations or moments of cultural criticism that were incredibly accurate and sent me scrambling for a highlighter. I love a book that entertains and forces me to reflect on modern social dynamics.
I'm a Fan is a novel about obsession in two forms: romantic and parasocial. The novel's unnamed narrator is completely obsessed with her lover. Her lover who is also not only married but seeing additional affair partners as well. Her second intense obsession is with one of her lover's other affair partners and is primarily envy/hatred based. She closely follows this woman's life via Instagram, even attempting to be at the same in-person events. Though our narrator is intensely obsessed, she is also deeply self-aware - she knows that her obsession with both people is toxic and destructive. But she just can't stop, she's truly addicted!
This book would be worth a read - even just for the delicious, messy voyeurism. However, I'm a Fan is much more than its central relationships. Patel uses the interactions throughout the story to drop observations or moments of cultural criticism that were incredibly accurate and sent me scrambling for a highlighter. I love a book that entertains and forces me to reflect on modern social dynamics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Toxic relationship, Stalking, and Classism
dizzymisslizzy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Stalking
Moderate: Racism and Sexism
thesvnthsense's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Toxic relationship
nialystic's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Toxic relationship and Classism
oatmilky's review against another edition
funny
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Girl stand up 😐 I love a bored self-saboteur, but there was less plot than even I could endure without the character development to make up for it. It was a picture-perfect vignette of the intersections of race, money and gender, but as aptly-captured as it was, I don’t need to read about brown women pining obsessively over toxic white men I get enough of that irl lmaoo. I was waiting for the twist but there wasn’t any.
Patel is chock full of cultural criticisms but her protagonist isn’t strong enough to carry the weight of her wit. I’d read more of her but not this one
Patel is chock full of cultural criticisms but her protagonist isn’t strong enough to carry the weight of her wit. I’d read more of her but not this one
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship
Moderate: Racism and Toxic relationship
cspa's review against another edition
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I enjoyed this book, and I'd like to begin by highlighting what I liked about it. The book provides insightful commentary on the relationships between influencers and followers, social media, privilege, class, and racial structures. The unnamed narrator's obsessive and erratic behavior intrigued me, as I've recently appreciated reading about unpredictable and unhinged female protagonist for added drama. However, I felt that the potential for dramatic tension wasn't fully explored to my liking, although the book remained engaging for the reasons mentioned earlier.
The commentary in the book was remarkably perceptive and thought-provoking, adding depth and sharpness to the narrative. So much so, that even with the lower raking, highly recommend reading this book for its insightfulness. While it was my favorite aspect as it encouraged deep reflection, I'm unsure if the protagonist's vibrant and unruly personality seamlessly aligned with the overarching heavier themes in the more essay-like chapters, leading to a somewhat disjointed experience.
Conversely, as someone with mild dyslexia, I found the book's format to be challenging. The abundance of run-on sentences, lengthy paragraphs that could be divided, and the absence of quotation marks for dialogue made it difficult to follow. I recognize that this style mirrors the protagonist's stream-of-consciousness narration and her unstable nature. Which I appriciate but did struggle with. At the halfway mark, I bought the audiobook to enhance my reading experience, and I regret not doing it earlier. The author's captivating narration truly brought the character to life in a authentic way my brain alone couldn’t.
My last qualm, I wish the timeline had been clearer and more linear, as the frequent shifts between past and present tense were somewhat disorienting.
In conclusion, I believe it's valuable to read due to its insightful analysis. Additionally, it's a shorter book with chapters of varying lengths so there’s no harm in giving it a shot!
Ultimately, I enjoyed it, but I didn't adore it.
The commentary in the book was remarkably perceptive and thought-provoking, adding depth and sharpness to the narrative. So much so, that even with the lower raking, highly recommend reading this book for its insightfulness. While it was my favorite aspect as it encouraged deep reflection, I'm unsure if the protagonist's vibrant and unruly personality seamlessly aligned with the overarching heavier themes in the more essay-like chapters, leading to a somewhat disjointed experience.
Conversely, as someone with mild dyslexia, I found the book's format to be challenging. The abundance of run-on sentences, lengthy paragraphs that could be divided, and the absence of quotation marks for dialogue made it difficult to follow. I recognize that this style mirrors the protagonist's stream-of-consciousness narration and her unstable nature. Which I appriciate but did struggle with. At the halfway mark, I bought the audiobook to enhance my reading experience, and I regret not doing it earlier. The author's captivating narration truly brought the character to life in a authentic way my brain alone couldn’t.
My last qualm, I wish the timeline had been clearer and more linear, as the frequent shifts between past and present tense were somewhat disorienting.
In conclusion, I believe it's valuable to read due to its insightful analysis. Additionally, it's a shorter book with chapters of varying lengths so there’s no harm in giving it a shot!
Ultimately, I enjoyed it, but I didn't adore it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting