Name: jules's review of Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte
Item: Rejection
Rating: 3.5
Author: jules

Tony Tulathimutte

Sharply observant and outrageously funny, Rejection is a provocative plunge into the touchiest problems of modern life. The seven connected stories seamlessly transition between the personal crises of a complex ensemble and the comic tragedies of sex, relationships, identity, and the internet.

In “The Feminist,” a young man’s passionate allyship turns to furious nihilism as he realizes, over thirty lonely years, that it isn’t getting him laid. A young woman’s unrequited crush in “Pics” spirals into borderline obsession and the systematic destruction of her sense of self. And in “Ahegao; or, The Ballad of Sexual Repression,” a shy late bloomer’s flailing efforts at a first relationship leads to a life-upending mistake. As the characters pop up in each other’s dating apps and social media feeds, or meet in dimly lit bars and bedrooms, they reveal the ways our delusions can warp our desire for connection.

These brilliant satires explore the underrated sorrows of rejection with the authority of a modern classic and the manic intensity of a manifesto. Audacious and unforgettable, Rejection is a stunning mosaic that redefines what it means to be rejected by lovers, friends, society, and oneself.

Fiction

Rejection

Ivana Varesko

The internet is million of solitudes blinking in and out of existence, each dreaming the others, where “consensus reality” is less an agreed-upon reality than a reality made of agreement. With identity it’s the same - this idea that a checkbox on a form is a service tunnel to a stranger’s soul. People will always fall for it. 

Annie Millman

Everyone makes stupid friends when they're young, before learning that friendship is more than a surplus of benign attention. But I can't forgive myself for getting taken in by the exaltation of vulnerability. You only trust me insofar as you can wound me? What the fuck's that about? This is the error I think people make when they mistake validation for liberation.

Dorothy 

jules

insane book. tony tulathimutte is crazy for sitting with these extremely dislikeable incel characters and plotlines for so long. (also he lives in my neighborhood, so maybe i’ll run into him one of these days?) ahegao made me clutch my pearls. actually this whole collection made me clutch my pearls. honestly respect this, this is the kinda writing i couldn’t write even if i tried. 

personal copy, bought from greenlight bookstore

Patricia K

insane book. tony tulathimutte is crazy for sitting with these extremely dislikeable incel characters and plotlines for so long. (also he lives in my neighborhood, so maybe i’ll run into him one of these days?) ahegao made me clutch my pearls. actually this whole collection made me clutch my pearls. honestly respect this, this is the kinda writing i couldn’t write even if i tried. 

personal copy, bought from greenlight bookstore

i loooooooved this lol obviously it is not for everyone and in fact might not be for most people lmao but it was made exactly for people like me aka ppl who are WAYYYYY TOOOOO ONLINE. i feel like most ppl i have read reviews from seemed to really enjoy the first two and then feel eh about the rest, but for me the story REALLY picked up w kant's. in a way, i felt like the first two were TOO real, and kant's story was when the satire rly started clicking for me haha. i like how commonplace some of their thoughts are — like, i've felt like the feminist and like kant before, but tg i am NOT them hahahaha i also loved the short story w the rly efficient man UGH that one was the funniest to me. and the last few — love when a story breaks the fourth wall in a way i think is creative and fresh and effective, and i think this one checked all the boxes. at first i was like wait, this rejection is SO MEAN but also surprisingly rly tuned into the work's deeper themes? hahaha but i figured it out eventually nw. rly curious about tony tulathimutte's other works now! ALSO every single narrator was soooo outstanding omg LOVED listening to the audiobook for this one. i've been on a roll re: asian american satire literature haha and so far this one has been my fav!

lucia

everything everyone everywhere has said about this book is true. first two stories were sick & disgusting & absolutely brilliant. felt the collection lost steam / became formulaic towards the end, but also interesting to think about desensitisation in re rejection’s thematic concerns. anyway tulathimutte’s commitment to the project of the book is insane. may the incels never find this

lae🌀

I feel like a lot of folks would say this book is rage bait and I’d be somewhat in agreement. However, I think this short story collection loses some steam as it goes along since I begin to feel indifferent to the characters in each story. It is fairly crass and surprising in its language. The style of writing wasn’t my favorite but that’s personal preference. Each story feels like a diary entry or personal account you’d hear from a friend. 

I liked this book! It’s funny and has good short stories. Quick read. 

Mehul Sharma

Some of the short stories are really unhinged but I loved this book overall

Neil Chin

Sophia Blomjous

objectively insane meta-satire that is equal parts repulsive, hilarious, and depressing

Grace M

Quite confusing towards the end but in a fun way

Allegrachatterjee

jacq bridge

I first discovered Tony Tulathimutte, like many people, with his short story 

 in n+1 magazine. This was through my Twitter account (before I posted anything) some years after it was published. It was pretty much love at first sight. Not only was I impressed by the bold subject matter, but I saw a kinship in Tulathimutte, being myself a short, Internet addicted, gaming addicted, single young man in university, who had grown up, probably from the age of 6, completely online. An ‘Internet novel’ was therefore something I’ve always searched for, but I had been put off by Patricia Lockwood’s ‘No One Is Talking About This’, because I didn’t believe Lockwood understood the sheer depths of the Internet like I did. Tulathimutte, however, does understand these depths to an almost startling, concerning degree, and that was my immediate hook into him as an author, and from my first reading of that story I knew I had to pick up 

 at its UK release date—very fittingly on Valentines Day 2025.

 is a kinda-linked short story collection all themed around the topic of rejection—this rejection not being limited to romantic rejection, but a general sense of rejection from humanity (and, perhaps, how they are one and the same, Tulathimutte may posit). I say ‘kinda-linked’, the links remain limited to characters from one story showing up in another, or two characters from separate stories being related, and through this change of narrative perspective we’re given some insight into what a protagonist says about themselves versus how another protagonist perceives them (it goes without saying that every narrator is unreliable). It gave me a lot of enjoyment re-reading the previously published stories a second time from this other perspective, and was a well-executed way to elevate the sum of the collection over its parts. For brevity, I’ll give a short overview and review of these ‘parts’ here.

, probably Tulathimutte’s most known short story. It tells the tale of an white male incel who has, his entire life, been unsuccessful with women, blaming this entirely on his anatomically ‘narrow shoulders’ and a sense that the hyper-progressivism he had so internalised throughout his adolescence had misled him regarding what women ‘really want’, and he carries this pitiable sense of loneliness for decades, eventually capitulating into ‘blackpill’ biological fatalism. It’s an uncomfortable read—the narrator obviously capitulates to misogyny, and the story itself is filled with pathetic, cringeworthy, situational humour, but you cannot cringe without empathy, and Tulathimutte expertly makes us empathise with the narrator’s despondency.

 was one of my favourite stories in the collection. It describes a white woman, Alison, and her one night stand with her best friend Neil. Neil, who had always had a platonic relationship with Alison and helped her recover from her eating disorder, suddenly breaks the friendship off entirely after ‘getting what he wanted.’ Alison, devastated by the sudden loss of her mooring and sense of self-worth, spirals into obsession and jealousy. Her girls’ group chat, filled with younger, prettier women, offers general Gen Z platitudes, and she feels completely alone, especially seeing her ex-friend move on with his life and relationships on social media. Her desperation is palpable, her loneliness genuinely anxiety inducing.

were the low points of the collection for me. 

 is a serious story regarding the isolation in a gay Thai-American man’s relationships who, through being the victim of traumatic bullying and serious sexual assaults as a child, has obtained a singular and inexpressible sexual obsession with hentai-esque degradation and sadism. I read this one in 

 which was edited down; in my opinion it should’ve remained edited down, and the dragging sexual fantasy at the end of the story lost its shock factor quickly. 

 is the story of a tech-bro controlling boyfriend making a Reddit AITA post—but this was pure satire, our narrator a completely unbelievable protagonist unlike the others, and it felt more ‘punching down’ (despite being very funny with all the contemporary slang, such as ‘ijbol’ and ‘poggers’).

was an amazing experimental piece; it—seemingly—tells the story of a Thai-American gender-non-conforming person ‘Bee’ as they navigate through high school, university, and adulthood, grasping with identity, and reflecting their nihilistic view of identity with a personal project where they manufacture ‘discourse’ on Twitter by buying and paying for hundreds of accounts, bots, and actors, an elaborate back-and-forth of drama and doxxing, all orchestrated by a person who rejects personhood. Beautifully, this is presented as a frame narrative, where a hobbyist forum is trying to deduce the identity of ‘Bee’ and their Twitter botnet, who may have randomly generated aspects of the story just written.

is just that—16 paragraphs on metaphors regarding rejection. They reminded me of video game loading screen tips.

, is stylised as a fake email from a publisher rejecting the publication of 

, which contains an extensive analysis of everything wrong with the stories within the collection. To think I had something original to say, right? And, while one may think that this is a ‘get out of jail card’ for criticism, that all criticisms were already accounted for, Tulathimutte also addresses this—an analysis of its own self-analysis—and this very funny fourth-wall breaking experimental twist closes out this collection.

Every story rounds out with a long ‘written text’, be it a forum post, message, or email, and that is one of the things Tulathimutte is concerned with—the relationship between shame, confession and online text. What does it mean to be online? What does it mean to vent—are you a person, are you 

, or a simulacrum? Does the internet facilitate violence, or does it provide an identity to those who are otherwise denied one? Can it do both at the same time?

Overall, I was very impressed with this collection. I admire Tulathimutte’s pure conviction to write stories about awful people. I will warn that this is not a collection for those who want 100% relatability in their protagonists. These characters are irrational, misogynistic, deluded, unstable, nihilistic and sadistic, but they are all so painfully ‘othered.’ And this ‘othering’, this sense of non-belonging, a sense of isolation even within established minority groups, is something I can relate to, and something everyone can relate to. It’s amazing work, and nobody’s really doing it like him at the moment.

shain

I first discovered Tony Tulathimutte, like many people, with his short story The Feminist in n+1 magazine. This was through my Twitter account (before I posted anything) some years after it was published. It was pretty much love at first sight. Not only was I impressed by the bold subject matter, but I saw a kinship in Tulathimutte, being myself a short, Internet addicted, gaming addicted, single young man in university, who had grown up, probably from the age of 6, completely online. An ‘Internet novel’ was therefore something I’ve always searched for, but I had been put off by Patricia Lockwood’s ‘No One Is Talking About This’, because I didn’t believe Lockwood understood the sheer depths of the Internet like I did. Tulathimutte, however, does understand these depths to an almost startling, concerning degree, and that was my immediate hook into him as an author, and from my first reading of that story I knew I had to pick up Rejection at its UK release date—very fittingly on Valentines Day 2025.

Rejection is a kinda-linked short story collection all themed around the topic of rejection—this rejection not being limited to romantic rejection, but a general sense of rejection from humanity (and, perhaps, how they are one and the same, Tulathimutte may posit). I say ‘kinda-linked’, the links remain limited to characters from one story showing up in another, or two characters from separate stories being related, and through this change of narrative perspective we’re given some insight into what a protagonist says about themselves versus how another protagonist perceives them (it goes without saying that every narrator is unreliable). It gave me a lot of enjoyment re-reading the previously published stories a second time from this other perspective, and was a well-executed way to elevate the sum of the collection over its parts. For brevity, I’ll give a short overview and review of these ‘parts’ here.

We open with The Feminist, probably Tulathimutte’s most known short story. It tells the tale of an white male incel who has, his entire life, been unsuccessful with women, blaming this entirely on his anatomically ‘narrow shoulders’ and a sense that the hyper-progressivism he had so internalised throughout his adolescence had misled him regarding what women ‘really want’, and he carries this pitiable sense of loneliness for decades, eventually capitulating into ‘blackpill’ biological fatalism. It’s an uncomfortable read—the narrator obviously capitulates to misogyny, and the story itself is filled with pathetic, cringeworthy, situational humour, but you cannot cringe without empathy, and Tulathimutte expertly makes us empathise with the narrator’s despondency.

Pics was one of my favourite stories in the collection. It describes a white woman, Alison, and her one night stand with her best friend Neil. Neil, who had always had a platonic relationship with Alison and helped her recover from her eating disorder, suddenly breaks the friendship off entirely after ‘getting what he wanted.’ Alison, devastated by the sudden loss of her mooring and sense of self-worth, spirals into obsession and jealousy. Her girls’ group chat, filled with younger, prettier women, offers general Gen Z platitudes, and she feels completely alone, especially seeing her ex-friend move on with his life and relationships on social media. Her desperation is palpable, her loneliness genuinely anxiety inducing.

The next two stories, Ahegao and Our Dope Future, were the low points of the collection for me. Ahegao is a serious story regarding the isolation in a gay Thai-American man’s relationships who, through being the victim of traumatic bullying and serious sexual assaults as a child, has obtained a singular and inexpressible sexual obsession with hentai-esque degradation and sadism. I read this one in The Paris Review, which was edited down; in my opinion it should’ve remained edited down, and the dragging sexual fantasy at the end of the story lost its shock factor quickly. Our Dope Future is the story of a tech-bro controlling boyfriend making a Reddit AITA post—but this was pure satire, our narrator a completely unbelievable protagonist unlike the others, and it felt more ‘punching down’ (despite being very funny with all the contemporary slang, such as ‘ijbol’ and ‘poggers’).

Penultimately, we have Main Character and Sixteen Metaphors. Another high point, Main Character was an amazing experimental piece; it—seemingly—tells the story of a Thai-American gender-non-conforming person ‘Bee’ as they navigate through high school, university, and adulthood, grasping with identity, and reflecting their nihilistic view of identity with a personal project where they manufacture ‘discourse’ on Twitter by buying and paying for hundreds of accounts, bots, and actors, an elaborate back-and-forth of drama and doxxing, all orchestrated by a person who rejects personhood. Beautifully, this is presented as a frame narrative, where a hobbyist forum is trying to deduce the identity of ‘Bee’ and their Twitter botnet, who may have randomly generated aspects of the story just written.

Sixteen Metaphors is just that—16 paragraphs on metaphors regarding rejection. They reminded me of video game loading screen tips.

The final story, Re: Rejection, is stylised as a fake email from a publisher rejecting the publication of Rejection, which contains an extensive analysis of everything wrong with the stories within the collection. To think I had something original to say, right? And, while one may think that this is a ‘get out of jail card’ for criticism, that all criticisms were already accounted for, Tulathimutte also addresses this—an analysis of its own self-analysis—and this very funny fourth-wall breaking experimental twist closes out this collection.

Every story rounds out with a long ‘written text’, be it a forum post, message, or email, and that is one of the things Tulathimutte is concerned with—the relationship between shame, confession and online text. What does it mean to be online? What does it mean to vent—are you a person, are you you, are the people you venting to people, is an online community a community, or a simulacrum? Does the internet facilitate violence, or does it provide an identity to those who are otherwise denied one? Can it do both at the same time?

Overall, I was very impressed with this collection. I admire Tulathimutte’s pure conviction to write stories about awful people. I will warn that this is not a collection for those who want 100% relatability in their protagonists. These characters are irrational, misogynistic, deluded, unstable, nihilistic and sadistic, but they are all so painfully ‘othered.’ And this ‘othering’, this sense of non-belonging, a sense of isolation even within established minority groups, is something I can relate to, and something everyone can relate to. It’s amazing work, and nobody’s really doing it like him at the moment.

fucking insane ride, I don’t know how I feel abt this book HAHAHA tbf ive not read meta fiction in a while but it wasn’t the shameless self-insertion (and subsequent criticism of the self-insertion) but the profanity, obscenity and humiliation that is also shocking. I will say that TT (author) is daring and an excellent observer of human behaviour, somehow knowing all the deepest shame-filled corners of the internet. Not sure I will be the same after reading that section in “ahegao” but the book is blinding in its audacity and the interconnectedness of the characters are a nice touch. this is the definition of a car crash you can’t look away from, as the characters self-destruct and spiral continually.

Xiang

Sharp first half, slower back half. Cringed hard but couldn't put it down.

Sarah E

Insane little book. If you are someone who has spent a major chunk of their lives on the internet, go read this. 

Darryl Laiu

As a fan of satire, this book did a great job in portraying insufferable characters. So good that I am even more committed to be better at emotional regulation, journaling and taking accountable actions cause lord forgive me if I became any of the characters, especially Allison. 

Sakinah Safiee

chiara

Encountering the underbelly of the internet avatars. It reads like a prose written in Reddit by losers, incels, sex addicts, techbros, and 4chan trolls. Explicit and addicting. Only a millennials who spent all their waking hours on tumblr, digg, Livejournal, Reddit, and twitter can relate to this.

Nate

I did NOT expect this to go in the direction that it did lol 

Need to give props for some hilariously accurate/realistic text exchanges and for providing a hex code # for the color of fake cum. 

I did NOT expect this to go in the direction that it did lol 

Need to give props for some hilariously accurate/realistic text exchanges and for providing a hex code # for the color of fake cum. 

Dorothy &
Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte

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