Seven linked stories about people who are catastrophically, incurably unwanted, and what the internet does to them about it. A male feminist whose niceness curdles into something rancid. A woman who burns her life down after one too many polite nos. A man whose kink is so specific it has a population of one. Tulathimutte writes cringe the way horror writers write gore: lovingly, at length, and right at you. The club has been recovering ever since.
Exhibit E: the author of a very reasonable, very long message, checking. There is nothing. There will be nothing. He will check again in forty seconds.
What Happens (spoilers, historic)
The Feminist. The opening story. A man does everything right, on paper, forever, and is politely declined by the entire world. His slow rot from ally to abyss is the most discussed thing this club has ever read.
Pics. Alison spirals after rejection with the assistance of a group chat, a coping spreadsheet and the worst party in modern fiction. Painfully funny. Emphasis shared equally.
Ahegao. Kant, a shy gay man, finally names his desire and discovers there is no one on earth to share it with. The saddest story in the book and also the filthiest. The club's discussion was conducted mostly through facial expressions.
Main Character. The book turns on itself: an anonymous poster claims the whole thing is about them, annotating the author's intentions. At this point the book is rejecting you.
The ending. No redemption arc arrives. That is the point. Several members checked the remaining page count in disbelief, hoping for a hug that never came.
Weird Things
The Feminist went viral when it ran in n+1 in 2019, getting passed around the internet by people arguing about whether it was about them. It was about all of them.
The book is a "story collection" where the stories secretly interlock like a trap. Read the acknowledgements. Even those are in character.
Tulathimutte has taught a writing class literally called CRIT, and it shows. Every sentence has been rejected at least once and came back stronger.
The club invented a new rating for it: five stars, would not recommend to anyone I love.
The Club Record
Reagan's pick. Reagan has been asked to explain herself and has declined, which is thematically perfect. Attendance at the discussion was 100 percent, the highest in club history, because everyone needed to talk about it the way you need to talk after a car alarm goes off in your soul. The button below does work. Eventually. It just wants you to know how it feels first.
Marginalia
Scrawl in the margins of the club's copy. Defacements are permanent and occasionally NOTED.
Fetching the defacements…
Filed in the Sacred Archive by order of The Founder. Your submission has been received and will not be read.