""Rejection is unrelentingly brutal and gut-bustingly funny and spares no oneânot you, not me. Tulathimutte is a pervert and a madman and a stone-cold genius."" âCarmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties
From the Whiting and O. Henryâwinning author of Private Citizens (âthe first great millennial novel,â 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 âThe Feminist,â a young manâs passionate allyship turns to furious nihilism as he realizes, over thirty lonely years, that it isnât getting him laid. A young womanâs unrequited crush in âPicsâ spirals into borderline obsession and the systematic destruction of her sense of self. And in âAhegao; or, The Ballad of Sexual Repression,â a shy late bloomerâs flailing efforts at a first relationship leads to a life-upending mistake. As the characters pop up in each otherâs 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.