Rejection
Fiction
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3.9 • 129 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION • A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
"A master comedian with a virtuoso prose style has produced an audacious, original and highly disturbing book . . . an incandescent satire." —Giles Harvey, The New York Times Magazine
From the Whiting and O. Henry–winning author of Private Citizens (“the first great millennial novel,” New York Magazine), an electrifying novel-in-stories that follows a cast of intricately linked characters as rejection throws their lives and relationships into chaos.
Sharply observant and outrageously funny, Rejection is a provocative plunge into the touchiest problems of modern life. The seven connected stories seamlessly transition between the personal crises of a complex ensemble and the comic tragedies of sex, relationships, identity, and the internet.
In “The Feminist,” a young man’s passionate allyship turns to furious nihilism as he realizes, over thirty lonely years, that it isn’t getting him laid. A young woman’s unrequited crush in “Pics” spirals into borderline obsession and the systematic destruction of her sense of self. And in “Ahegao; or, The Ballad of Sexual Repression,” a shy late bloomer’s flailing efforts at a first relationship leads to a life-upending mistake. As the characters pop up in each other’s dating apps and social media feeds, or meet in dimly lit bars and bedrooms, they reveal the ways our delusions can warp our desire for connection.
These brilliant satires explore the underrated sorrows of rejection with the authority of a modern classic and the manic intensity of a manifesto. Audacious and unforgettable, Rejection is a stunning mosaic that redefines what it means to be rejected by lovers, friends, society, and oneself.
"Rejection is unrelentingly brutal and gut-bustingly funny and spares no one—not you, not me. Tulathimutte is a pervert and a madman and a stone-cold genius." —Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties
“One of the foremost fiction writers exploring the subject of his own generation.” —Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The ways of human interaction don’t get much stranger, or more darkly funny, than in this novel. Written as a series of short stories with overlapping characters, Rejection introduces us to an ardent male feminist increasingly frustrated that women won’t date him, a woman whose brief fling with a friend becomes an obsession, a newly out-of-the-closet gay man who can’t satisfy his unusual appetites, a serial entrepreneur whose ideas about helping women achieve their goals sound a lot like slavery, a young woman devoting her life to creating dizzyingly complex online personas, and the author’s own rejection letter from himself. Tony Tulathimutte’s satiric style is sharp enough to draw blood, and his characters’ failings are revealing, recognizable, and all too human. Rejection is not a book for the easily offended, but anyone who’s experienced a frustrating failure to communicate may recognize more of themselves than they would imagine.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
Customer Reviews
Ugly but (Hilariously) Real
Really nails the experience of young adulthood in years 2010-2020. Too self-reflexive (and self-defeating) at moments but otherwise a funny satire of internet-based social mores with a kernel of serious care for the lonely among us.
Terrible.
Such a waste of time. Not funny. Too long. Probably the worst book I have ever read
Enthralling and emotional
I devoured this book in a couple days, primarily due to the first three stories, which blew my mind. They were like Black Mirror without the Sci Fi. This book was so powerful that I had trouble separating between my emotions and the characters’ emotions (i.e., this book made me feel like a lonely loser after reading it, lol).
That said, the last few chapters, were a little too… meta? and jargon-y for me. You definitely need to be well informed on Millennial and Gen Z slang and customs, as well as social justice and therapy language, for many of the book’s moments to resonate. I powered through the end in order to see what the whole point was. Fortunately, it was all pulled together very nicely at the end. Very intelligent and self-aware author, for sure. Thanks, TT!