Blob

"Unique, heartfelt, and hilarious, Blob: A Love Story is a delightfully inquisitive meditation on relationships and identity. What responsibility do we have in the creation of our relationships? What do we bring and leave behind? And what repercussions exist when we force ourselves into an identity instead of nurturing our real selves? This winsome book pulls off the impossible feat of examining our deepest existential questions with equal parts tenderness and droll." -- Ling Ling Huang, author of Natural Beauty "Maggie Su has written an inventive, utterly unique debut. BLOB is not only a deliciously creepy, deeply entertaining take on modern relationships, it''s also a moving look at new adulthood, and the inherent vulnerability that comes along with figuring out exactly who you''re meant to be." -- Kimberly King Parsons, author of Black Light

Auteur

Maggie Su is a writer and editor. She received a PhD in fiction from University of Cincinnati and an MFA from Indiana University. Her work has appeared in New England Review, Four Way Review, TriQuarterly Review, Puerto del Sol, Juked, DIAGRAM, and elsewhere. She currently lives in South Bend, Indiana, with her partner, cat, and turtle. 

Texte du rabat

"There is so much at play in this wondrous novel. Vi, struggling to place herself in any context that makes sense within the world, earnestly leads us into a wild experiment, to turn a blob into the man of her dreams, and I was transfixed by her voice. This is a book that looks at identity and desire in profoundly interesting ways." -- Kevin Wilson, bestselling author of Now Is Not the Time to Panic

A humorous and deeply moving debut novel in the vein of Bunny and Convenience Store Woman about a young woman who tries to shape a sentient blob into her perfect boyfriend.

The daughter of a Taiwanese father and white mother, Vi Liu has never quite fit into her Midwestern college town. Aimless after getting dumped by her boyfriend and dropping out of college, Vi works at the front desk of a hotel where she greets guests, refills cucumber water samovars, and tries to evade her bubbly blond coworker, Rachel. Little does Vi know her life is about to be permanently transformed when she agrees to a night out with Rachel. In the alley outside the bar, Vi discovers a strange blob--a small living creature with beady black eyes. In a moment of concern and drunken desperation, she takes it home.

But the blob is no ordinary pet. Becoming increasingly sentient, it begins to grow, shift shape, and obey Vi's commands. As the entity continues to change, Vi is struck with a daring idea: she'll mold the creature into her ideal partner. Feeding it a stream of sweet breakfast cereals and American pop culture, the creature grows into a movie-star handsome white man. But when Vi's desire to be loved unconditionally threatens to spiral out of control, she is forced to confront her lonely childhood, her aloof ex-boyfriend, and the racial marginalization that has defined her relationships--a journey of self-discovery that teaches her it's impossible to control those you love.

Blending the familiar with the surreal, Blob is a witty, heartfelt story about the search for love and self and what it means to be human.