Audience:

The book follows 25-year-old PhD student Astrid, who both idolizes academia and critiques it at
the same time. The audience potential for The Obsessed is fairly small. Anyone who has not
experienced higher academia would probably feel alienated by the in-depth descriptions of
collegiate life. The intended audience is approximately young adults ages 20-26, who are either
in college, or who have an interest in comparative literature. For comparative titles, I think of
Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends and Normal People.

Publishing Potential:
Though the concept for this book is initially compelling, I found that the plot was often weak and
did not keep my attention as I read. There is not a lot that actually happens in the story; most of
the page count is given to Astrid’s inner monologue, detailing the minutia of her day-to-day life.
Often details are repeated in multiple ways: as monologue, dialogue, emails, and texts which
get repetitive and annoying to read. There were definitely pacing issues as well. There were a
lot of places in the book where I was interested and engaged, but the chapters are quick and
the story tends to linger on the wrong moments. We are not even introduced to the Szofis (the
narrator’s obsessions) until a few chapters in. The ending of the story was confusing. I did not
feel like Astrid had a satisfying character arc, nor did I understand what the epilogue added to
the story.

In terms of characters, I did feel like Astrid was a relatable narrator. I liked her as a person and
identified with her struggles. However, she’s definitely a bit boring for a character who is
supposed to be absolutely obsessed with her idols. She barely even interacts with the Szofis,
and is quite passive in all of her relationships with both friends and lovers.

Astrid moves around so much that it was difficult to keep track of the setting; it all melded into a
basic description of ‘college’. I never quite felt like I was in the same room as her besides the
very first scene in the bar.

I don’t think this book quite understands what it wants to be, and because of that, feels messy
and unformed.

Personal Opinion:
To me, this book reads very heavily like a memoir/autofiction. I noticed that the author and the
main character shared the same middle/last name, and after some quick googling I found that
the author went to all the same schools and studied the same subjects as the main character. I
think that the book is actually a memoir, with just the names changed. I’m not sure if Dzanc
accepts memoirs, but it seems like that’s what The Obsessed is (not necessarily a bad thing,
just something I noticed!).