BLOB: A Love Story

'Witty and wild' Harper's Bazaar 'A strange but uniquely beautiful concept of a love story that delves into care, compassion and what it is to be human' Stylist 'This is a sharp, funny and poignant look at what it means to connect with another being, and yourself' Weike Wang, New York Times A hilarious and moving debut novel about a young woman who decides to turn a sentient blob into her perfect man... Vi Liu's life is a mess. Having dropped out of college, she's stuck in a job she hates at a local hotel. Her ex-boyfriend has blocked her and she's lashing out at her family and co-workers. One night, drunk outside a drag club, she stumbles across a mysterious sentient blob. She takes it home, where she feeds it a diet of sugary cereal and reality TV. Slowly, she realises that she can shape the blob into her perfect man: someone attentive, outgoing and with more than a passing resemblance to Ryan Gosling. But is Bob the blob really the answer to all her problems, or a catalyst for further disaster? Sharp, strange and very funny, BLOB is a delightful story about growing up, fucking up and learning how to be a real person. 'Maggie Su's debut novel is nothing if not surprising.' The Times *Book of the Month* 'A modern-day Mrs. Caliban, BLOB is a book that looks at identity and desire in profoundly interesting ways' Kevin Wilson, author of Nothing to See Here 'Just brilliant -- utterly original, charming and funny, weirdly real and really weird. I can't stop thinking about this book and I'm telling everyone I know to read it' Kate Davies, author of In at the Deep End

About the Author :
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.

Review :
Witty and wild ... a surprisingly moving and imaginative debut from a fiercely original new talent The only fantastical element in Su's otherwise realistic universe, Bob's transformation from mute mound of flesh to gorgeous blond himbo is a delight . . . This is a sharp, funny and poignant look at what it means to connect with another being, and yourself A strange but uniquely beautiful concept of a love story that delves into care, compassion and what it is to be human. A complicated but moving take on how tricky it can be trying to become a grown-up . . . Maggie Su's debut is tender, compulsive reading Maggie Su's debut novel is nothing if not surprising This weird but oddly wonderful debut makes for tender but compulsive reading Such a wonderfully strange and beautiful exploration of love, compassion and, essentially, what it is to be human. Short but sweet, and a real page turner towards the end While the sentient ball of goo in Maggie Su's BLOB certainly grabs the reader's attention, there is so much more 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, a weird mix of excitement and dread. A modern-day Mrs. Caliban, BLOB is a book that looks at identity and desire in profoundly interesting ways. Dark fun . . . In Su's affecting Frankenstein story, the monster's transformation is the least surprising one A hilariously absurd debut . . . a perfectly apt coming-of-age story about modern romance in your twenties Just brilliant - utterly original, charming and funny, weirdly real and really weird. I can't stop thinking about this book and I'm telling everyone I know to read it A rollicking fun, funny, poignant coming-of-age story, filled with honesty and delight BLOB follows a young woman who discovers a sentient blob and tries to turn it into her ideal boyfriend. Now this is art! This is literature! More books about women dating weird objects they found in the street, please. BLOB hive rise up Comic, quirky and unlike any other novel Maggie Su's debut is tender, compulsive reading 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 Unique, heartfelt, and hilarious, BLOB 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 Like a beguiling literary love child of Melissa Broder and Jeff VanderMeer, BLOB enthralls with raw intimacy and Frankensteinian science. This is a novel that dives headfirst into the gelatinous messiness of early adulthood - with its bad jobs, bad boyfriends, and bad decision-making - finding self-actualization along the way. Maggie Su's debut will make you laugh, shriek, and cheer for its wayward, wobbly inventions. BLOB is not to be missed! What I love most about BLOB is the way it manages to imbue a zany comic premise with powerful emotion and deep thematic resonance. Maggie Su skilfully manages action, pacing, and tone, and the result is serious fun, both grave and entertaining. If I happened to come across an attentive blob, I would ask it to grow two hands and applaud this fresh, terrific debut 'In BLOB, Su's prose breathes magic, humor, and empathy into everything it touches . . . You'll want to read this in one sitting, but try to savor it: there are gems of laughter and insight to be unearthed on every page BLOB is absolutely charming. Maggie Su's writing is imaginative and funny. Vi is a deliciously messy narrator who will make readers laugh, yes, but also think deeply about the relationship between love and generosity Like all the best comic fiction, this delightful book is both laugh-out-loud funny and achingly poignant. I root for snarky, lonely Vi as she wrestles with the risks and rewards of embracing her entire, messy self. What happens to her might be surreal, but it has the deep resonance of truth Su's first novel, about a young woman who constructs her ideal mate (literally), is an entertaining, quirky mash-up of Frankenstein and Bridget Jones' Diary, made more substantive as a clever parable of self-discovery... [A] hilarious-and somehow also touching-debut In Su's marvelous debut, a Taiwanese American woman sculpts a seemingly perfect partner out of a sentient blob... Su's clever conceit provides a catalyst for Vi's revelatory introspection, as she faces her self-destructive tendencies and the difficulties of being human. The result is a top-notch tale of arrested development A funny and pathos-ridden tale of social awkwardness and self-realization; a modern, delayed coming-of-age... This quirky, funny, pained novel considers the challenge, for any of us, of becoming fully human Maggie Su's debut novel is the tale of a down-on-her-luck woman, Vi, who finds a pitiable blob of goo with eyes in the alley behind a bar. She gradually molds it into a dreamy human-shaped love interest but finds her own angst harder to contain. Funny, original, and charming Comical, quirky and enjoyably unpredictable, BLOB is unlike any other novel you'll read this year