Rejection: fiction

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.

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.)

Rejection alters the course of reality for the characters in this memorable novel-in-stories. Tulathimutte's innovative collection features seven interconnected stories all dealing with rejection in one way or another. Contextualizing the whole collection, the opening story, "The Feminist," follows a self-proclaimed feminist man over decades as he gathers his "thickening dossier of unfairness." In "Pics," Alison, a woman in her late 20s, becomes unintentionally obsessed with a longtime friend with whom she's had a one-time fling. In between stalking him on social media, crafting apology emails, adopting a unique and questionable pet, and considering starting a podcast, she texts her friends from a former internship; the group chat--full of sexual puns, therapy-speak, comedic bits, and emojis--shows the full extent of Alison's spiral. In "Our Dope Future," a home-schooled "serial entrepreneur, inventor, and futurist" writes a Reddit post from hell; littered with co-opted slang, the narrator slowly reveals the lengths he's willing to go to firm up his romantic and domestic future. Tulathimutte is unafraid to write the most disturbing, disgusting, and delightfully deranged things. Each time you think the characters have hit rock bottom, they pull out a shovel and start digging more. Some have a stunning lack of self-awareness, while others are too aware to function. They all, however, seem to be bottomless pits of want and desire and vulnerability. Their need for approval, acceptance, relevancy, and even chaos is so intense that it can feel nauseating at times. Tulathimutte's writing is not only smart, but laugh-out-loud funny. In "Ahegao, or, The Ballad of Sexual Repression," the newly out narrator tries to explain the vanilla version of his sexual desires to his boyfriend--and his boyfriend cracks an incredible Stanley Kubrick sex joke. The characters, ideas, and symbols echo across the stories, and these metatextual layers--along with the layers of internet lore and memes--create a hilariously brazen and existentially unsettling portrait of modern life, love, and identity. An inventive and shameless story collection for the chronically online. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

*Starred 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. Copyright 2024 Booklist Reviews.

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.)