A review by haf666ia
I'm a Fan by Sheena Patel

1.0

I wanted to DNF this halfway but kept reading since it’s so short/I hoped it would go somewhere. This just didn’t do it for me. I liked the premise, it sounded so interesting and unhinged. In reality it reads more like disconnected mini essays/ramblings with a minor thread connecting a “plot” that’s hard to follow because it jumps timelines in a pointless way that adds nothing to the story. The main character is so confusing, she seems to not have her life together by any means, seems possibly to have a serious mental illness, is in a toxic relationship, is a stalker, is abusive, is manipulative in a very psychotic way and yet somehow just has these insights and critiques about anything from social media algorithms to performative activism that do not fit in anywhere with her personality or actions. This book also feels very of this time, like it already feels outdated. As a young person with no social media I found this very…boring honestly. I get the main character is obsessed but my god, this book felt way too repetitive. It seems the author had a lot she wanted to say and just threw those ideas into the book, but the plot barely has anything to do with the points she wants to talk about. This just came off so clunky and uninteresting, I would however read a book of essays by this author if she ever made one. These mini 2 paragraph essays/posts about huge topics just was not doing it for me. Really confused by people saying this was relatable or so hard to put down.