A review by jayisreading
Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte

dark funny reflective fast-paced

5.0

It has been a while since I last laughed as much as I did while reading Tulathimutte’s new short story collection. I do want to preface and say that this book is not going to be for everyone, especially if you’re particular about humor. Rejection: Fiction is dark and deeply satirical, scrutinizing five unempathetic characters (one for each “main” short story) who spiral in completely different ways. Furthermore, it seems to me that quite a fair bit of his humor is derived from niche content from specific parts of the online world that will either make complete sense to you (and perhaps make you deeply question how chronically online you are) or make you cringe in the worst ways. It’s most likely going to be both, because there’s a little bit for everyone who spends enough time online. That being said, let’s just say if you know what “ahegao” is without looking it up, you’ll know exactly where you stand.

More seriously, though, Tulathimutte peels away all the layers we hide under to reveal the very ugly side that comes with being rejected. However, the ugliness of rejection is taken to an extreme in this book, and he spared no one. Millennials in particular were at the forefront to be utterly read for filth. Any reader who has spent enough time online will have seen the attitudes of Tulathimutte’s characters in the wild (and perhaps are even guilty of it): woke performativity, flaming on social media, farming engagement and attention, the carefully constructed online persona— While Rejection: Fiction does center rejection as a theme (particularly in relation to dating), the author very much wants the reader to feel utterly unnerved, to draw attention to the uncomfortable truth of not only how you act but also judge others’ actions in this day and age.

I also loved how the stories are cleverly interconnected, with the five main characters subtly appearing in each other’s stories in ways that reveal how distorted their thoughts are of themselves and of each other. I highlight this, too, because it’s a fantastic demonstration of Tulathimutte’s unflinchingly sharp and wild writing style. On this note, I was utterly impressed with how he let so many little things go completely awry while somehow still having complete control of each story, then wrapping it up with some next-level metafiction.

I truly mean this in the best way possible (if you can even do this), but I sincerely think that Tulathimutte could have been (and perhaps was/is) a phenomenal Internet troll. He certainly wins for being one of the best literary trolls I’ve come across in recent memory.
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