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I am, well, a fan of this one. Sheena Patel has written a scorching social critique that touches on male entitlement, social media fixation, asymmetrical relationships, and the patriarchal (and racist) social structure that holds it all in place. The story takes its cues from the bevy of books featuring a messy millennial protagonist who doesn't quite have their life together, struggling against a system that locks them out of the material standing older generations took for granted. But where Patel departs from other books of this type is with a move away from the narrative of personal struggle to one focused on systems. Patel's narrator is self-aware from the start. She knows exactly what she is up against and isn’t distracted by personal failings even when engaging in what an older paradigm might call self-destructive behavior. The change she calls for isn't about personal growth, but instead a structural upending of a toxic online and irl culture. The most powerful passages lift the lid on the fictional story to speak directly and candidly. This is I suspect a harbinger of a new type of fiction, one that cares less about story beats, character arcs, and buried themes - and is more explicitly political with urgency and clarity. In this way and others, Patel eschews a traditional narrative arc, departing from the received novel form in important ways to make this all the more radical. Published by Rough Trade Books, I read this last summer when it was still under the radar. It's been exciting to watch it catch on with a larger audience.