Wednesday, August 30, 2023

I'm a Fan - Sheena Patel

I really enjoy discovering new authors and reading something new. Sheena Patel's debut novel, I'm a Fan, has won numerous prizes already. This sentence in the publisher's description caught my eye. "I stalk a woman on the internet who is sleeping with the same man as I am."

I'm a Fan is told in a first person stream of consciousness format. The protagonist's thoughts started to build my image of the 'speaker'. Her insecurities, past, wants, needs, anger, desires and more. The man she wants is also sleeping with other women. And so she begins her surveillance. I was caught up in the beginning - but...

Yes, there were buts for me. I was saddened by the fact that she was willing to debase herself in order to have a man who is an ugly, cruel, misogynist. And I was already tired of reading the phrases - 'The man that I am obsessed with' and 'the woman I am obsessed with. That was about page 50 and I realized I wasn't the right reader for this book. I used to 'power through' finishing a book when I wasn't enjoying it. No longer. 

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