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A review by thebobsphere
Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt
4.0
There are times when one reads a book that just knocks your brain, makes your jaw drop and generally wonder the limitless amount of creativity people have. Alison Rumfitt’s debut novel Tell me I’m Worthless just bashes every type of convention possible.
On the surface it’s a haunted house story but to call it that is an understatement. This book takes that genre and pushes it beyond boundaries. There’s multiple angles, playing around with text structures and many many bizarre happenings.
The centrepiece of the novel is a house, which has had a nasty reputation for centuries. This is a house that kills, makes things disappear and haunts the psyche if one survives it . The three main protagonists, Alice, a trans woman, Ila, a multinational and Hannah stay one night in the house and leaves after affects, mostly Alice being the worst as signs of the house still haunt her own living quarters, namely a certain gladioli waving indie star who leaps out a poster at night and kills anyone who Alice brings home (probably my favourite part of the book). Ila undergoes ‘therapy’ and Hannah has disappeared.
Eventually the pull of the house is too strong and Alice and Ila meet in order to resolve all the problems that came from their one night.
Tell Me I’m Worthless is a powerful tale about transphobic attitudes that are present in Britain. This also a novel about trauma and websites such as Tumblr and Twitter and the culture that springs from it. . Throughout the novel there are TERFS, fascists and racists from poets to pop singers, Alison Rumfitt makes it clear that in Britain there is a problem with attitudes. The fact (and this is a tiny spoiler) that the haunted house is called Albion goes to show what the current situation is like in The UK, which means that a lot of people are suffering from traumatic events. Tell Me I’m Worthless may be a horror novel but these mentalities do exist and that’s where the real scares lie.
Earlier this year I read Isabel Waidner’s Sterling Karat Gold, another highly original novel depicting Britain’s views towards the transgender community and refugees. Tell Me I’m Worthless can be seen as the more grotesque version of SKG but both are depicting attitudes that are present. As a cisgender male, I think such novels are essential to helping us realise the problems that certain mentalities are creating and that there is still time to change that (which Alison Rumfitt does hint at during the conclusion of Tell Me…). Thankfully more indie presses are bringing out more distinctive and original voices out there.
Tell Me I’m Worthless is not only essential reading during the spooky season. This book should be essential reading. Fullstop.
On the surface it’s a haunted house story but to call it that is an understatement. This book takes that genre and pushes it beyond boundaries. There’s multiple angles, playing around with text structures and many many bizarre happenings.
The centrepiece of the novel is a house, which has had a nasty reputation for centuries. This is a house that kills, makes things disappear and haunts the psyche if one survives it . The three main protagonists, Alice, a trans woman, Ila, a multinational and Hannah stay one night in the house and leaves after affects, mostly Alice being the worst as signs of the house still haunt her own living quarters, namely a certain gladioli waving indie star who leaps out a poster at night and kills anyone who Alice brings home (probably my favourite part of the book). Ila undergoes ‘therapy’ and Hannah has disappeared.
Eventually the pull of the house is too strong and Alice and Ila meet in order to resolve all the problems that came from their one night.
Tell Me I’m Worthless is a powerful tale about transphobic attitudes that are present in Britain. This also a novel about trauma and websites such as Tumblr and Twitter and the culture that springs from it. . Throughout the novel there are TERFS, fascists and racists from poets to pop singers, Alison Rumfitt makes it clear that in Britain there is a problem with attitudes. The fact (and this is a tiny spoiler) that the haunted house is called Albion goes to show what the current situation is like in The UK, which means that a lot of people are suffering from traumatic events. Tell Me I’m Worthless may be a horror novel but these mentalities do exist and that’s where the real scares lie.
Earlier this year I read Isabel Waidner’s Sterling Karat Gold, another highly original novel depicting Britain’s views towards the transgender community and refugees. Tell Me I’m Worthless can be seen as the more grotesque version of SKG but both are depicting attitudes that are present. As a cisgender male, I think such novels are essential to helping us realise the problems that certain mentalities are creating and that there is still time to change that (which Alison Rumfitt does hint at during the conclusion of Tell Me…). Thankfully more indie presses are bringing out more distinctive and original voices out there.
Tell Me I’m Worthless is not only essential reading during the spooky season. This book should be essential reading. Fullstop.