I'm a Fan

I'm a Fan has many of the things that make a good literary fiction in my opinion, approaching social and psychological issues in a way that seems organic, beautifully constructed sentences (so many quotable lines here seriously), a snappy structure (vignettes) and an engaging main character.

I tend to be leery or books that deal with influencers because I often find them completely out of touch and only offering a very caricatural image of them that completely lacks depth or realism, here the portrayal was more interesting (mostly because it didn't center on making the figure of the influencer into a despicably entitled shallow figure worthy of nothing but scorn). The approach to power dynamics and race is also equally careful, lucid, and honest. The choice to not name the characters also works very nicely here forcing you to consider them first as part of dynamics and through their relationships to one another it also doubles as an invitation to think about parasocial relationships and how little we truly know of people we see and sometimes of people we are invested in in that not quite a part of their lives way. All of this culminate in a bleakish but intense read.

This book came up in my recommendations because I loved Second Place by Rachel Cusk and I think the recommendation was pretty spot on, I rarely say “perfect for fans of...” but in this case I'll second the recommendation I have received.

It gets a 4.5 rounded up from me.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for providing me the opportunity to read and review this book.