Tell Me I'm Worthless by Alison Rumfitt

March 13, 2023 7:58 AM

Alison Rumfitt’s Tell Me I’m Worthless is a dark, unflinching haunted house story that confronts both supernatural and real-world horrors through the lens of the modern-day trans experience.

“Ambitious, brutal, and brilliant.” —Gretchen Felker-Martin, author of Manhunt

Three years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends, Ila and Hannah. Since then, things have not been going well. Alice is living a haunted existence, barely keeping herself afloat by selling videos of herself cleaning her apartment, and drinking herself to sleep. She hasn’t spoken to Ila since they went into the House. She hasn’t seen Hannah either.

Cutting, disruptive, and darkly funny, Tell Me I’m Worthless is a vital work of trans fiction that examines the devastating effects of trauma and the way fascism makes us destroy ourselves and each other.

[blurb from publisher's website]

posted by quatsch (2 comments total)

When you see a blurb from Gretchen Felker-Martin calling something brutal, believe it! Brutal is definitely the word for this novel, it goes some some really upsetting places but, thankfully, the narrative propels the reader through them (though very much through and not past). This is going to stick with me for awhile!
posted by quatsch at 9:30 AM on March 13, 2023

This book is brilliant. I'm not from/in the UK and I suspect it hits harder if you are. The intertwining of fascism with England with horror with transness.... oooof. Brilliant.
posted by kokaku at 1:50 PM on March 13, 2023 [2 favorites]