I'm a Fan
Ratings27
Average rating3
In I'm A Fan a single speaker uses the story of their experience in a seemingly unequal, unfaithful relationship as a prism through which to examine the complicated hold we each have on one another. With a clear and unforgiving eye, the narrator unpicks the behaviour of all involved, herself included, and makes startling connections between the power struggles at the heart of human relationships and those of the wider world, in turn offering a devastating critique of access, social media, patriarchal heteronormative relationships, and our cultural obsession with status and how that status is conveyed. In this incredible debut, Sheena Patel announces herself as a vital new voice in literature, capable of rendering a range of emotions and visceral experiences on the page. Sex, violence, politics, tenderness, humour—Patel handles them all with both originality and dexterity of voice.
Reviews
Popular Reviews
Reviews with the most likes.
settled in the middle cause I hate the mc but also I get what the author was going for, and also I have been like the mc, but also I feel like the author didn't commit enough to the satirical bit. where was the progression? this could've used a stronger plot to anchor it.
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.
the writing was terrible. it was straight up trash. a millennial woman using gen z slang for whatever reason, to sell or connect with the younger generation? it was so fucking cringe i can't even begin to explain how badly i cringed. the short chapters was the only pros about this book, but the writing was hard to get through. it was horrible, so so horrible. the author had weird way of putting up the chapters. in one chapter shes talking about the mc having fantasies of being fucked or something and then in the next, shes inserting her 2 cents on some controversial topic, or how the man she wants to be with wants to be seen in public with her for her skin color and to make himself look good. the book was a mess. and i am just glad its over.
well, i guess, i am not a fan
