This is a difficult one for me to review, since posting a book review is about as close to social media as I get. I am sure that as with Patricia Lockwood's "no one is talking about this", though perhaps to a lesser extent, this put me at a disadvantage.
I appreciate that the format was appropriate to the virtual stalking of "the woman (our protagonist) was obsessed with" but I personally found it made the narrative annoyingly disjointed - I can see from other reviews that I am not alone in this; for one reviewer the storyline was completely obscured. This is a shame because it deals with some important issues. The (nameless) non-white narrator clearly feels disadvantaged by her colour, in spite of her high level of education, her clear intelligence and the eloquence which allows her to make social comment while telling her story. Her keenness to buy into the "white" world she finds so attractive online leads her to make some bad decisions - which I don't want to reveal; to find out more, you will need to read the book yourself. She's extremely self contradictory; while she is obviously aware of patriarchal and racist structures, she subjects herself to them and perhaps even exploits them herself. She knows that "the (married) man she wants to be with" (who is also having an on/off affair with "the woman she's obsessed with") regards her as a non-white trophy. In spite of having a long-term boyfriend of her own, she is still eager for this toxic relationship - which seems to relegate her to the role an escort rather than a true girlfriend - and she in fact uses his race for her own purpose of trying to gain admittance to the white world, so the racism is working both ways. In the same way she appreciates the dangers of social media fixation, whilst admitting to her own obsession. The end of the book is equally self contradictory - and very powerful.
One word of warning - if you require your characters to be likeable, you may struggle.
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About the author
Enjoyable and an unusual format
“I’m A Fan” tells the story of the relationship between the unnamed narrator and “the man I want to be with” as well as her obsession with another woman that this man is also having a relationship with, “the woman I’m obsessed with” as well as a commentary on social media, racism and the patriarchy.I picked up this book after seeing Sheena Patel at an event as part of Manchester Literary Festival. To be completely honest, I’d bought the ticket to the event because the other person on the bill was Monica Heisey and I’d loved her book but after hearing Patel talk about “I’m A Fan” I was desperate to give it a go and bought a copy at the event.The format is very unusual. There aren’t really many names used. The story is written in first person narrative with an unnamed narrator and the two main people she talks about are “the man I want to be with” and “the woman I’m obsessed with”. In a way, the lack of names helps you identify with the story more. All we really know about the narrator is she isn’t white, with a strong suggestion her family are of Indian origin and the man and woman she talks about are white and wealthy. She discusses how her race affects her relationship with “the man I want to be with”, in particular how he enjoys “what it says about him” to be seen with a woman of colour.Patel tells the story in short bursts of prose about different events during the course of her relationships with these two people. It’s not told in a linear fashion and we jump back and forth a little, which was a little frustrating at times. Particularly when sometimes a section would end quite abruptly and we’d never find out what happened next. Whilst I didn’t dislike the format entirely I would have preferred it to have been told in a more chronological order.Patel talks about social media and particularly influencer culture and how fake some sections of social media can be. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to the hate scrolling as well!Patel’s writing is fast paced and as well as it being quite a short book the format made for a very quick read.Overall, I enjoyed it but did have a few frustrations at time with the unusual style and some bits missed the mark a little for me. I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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- Ashley RaynorReviewed in the Netherlands on 14 January 2025
An obsessed and erratic person's diary...
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