Rejection

A thrill for the sickos among us JIA TOLENTINO Utterly inimitable RAVEN LEILANI Unrelentingly brutal and gut bustingly funny and spares no one CARMEN MARIA MACHADO Symbiotically serious and funny MEGAN NOLAN The funniest darkest thing ST VINCENT LONGLISTED FOR THE 2024 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION An audacious and original novel in stories following 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 thorniest problems of modern life sex relationships identity and the internet We see a tryhard male feminist s passionate allyship turn to a furious and debilitating nihilism as he realizes over thirty lonely years that his feminism isn t getting him laid a young woman s unrequited crush spirals into borderline obsession and the systematic destruction of both her sense of self and her group chat and witness a shy late bloomer s flailing efforts at a first relationship lead to a life upending mistake As these 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 that our delusions can warp our desire for connection Written with the accomplished