#SadGirlLit
Unhappy women doing nothing much at all or destroying their lives for your enjoyment.
Whether or not you believe in or support #SadGirlLit, there’s a lot of melancholy, ego-centric, chaotic, restless and deeply unlikable women mooching about in fiction these days. Mostly, you want to slap these women and tell them to brush their hair (Hot Milk) and take a shower (Eileen) but other times it’s just enjoyable to read the sometimes relatable often not-at-all relatable Ambien-induced hijinks (My Year of Rest and Relaxation) of these miserable and malaise-ridden women.
Earlier
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
I think about Eileen a lot; it lodged itself into my brain and won’t budge. Alongside the unpleasant titular character, the very dour Eileen, are a host of characters and stories that are confronting, uncomfortable and will stay with you for a long time. (The film adaptation will be out later this year.)
Now
Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery
I picked this up because of the Warhol slant but it started off so slow I forget why I wanted to read it in the first place. That being said, it picked up once The Factory appeared and, in the end, I was enormously invested in the typists the story follows, who spend their days transcribing hours of Warhol’s recordings. It’s the kind of coming-of-age novel I can get behind; a sardonic and art-adjacent adventure.
Later
Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
I thoroughly enjoyed Anna Wiener’s memoir Uncanny Valley which detailed her wild and demoralising experience in Silicone Valley among the tech bros and CEOs. So naturally, Ripe, a novel set against the “corporate nightmare” that is Silicone Valley in which the #SadCapitalistGirl is front and centre is next on my list.
Special #SadGirl mentions…
Hot Milk by Deborah Levy.
Luster by Raven Leilani.
Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan.
Sad Girl Novel by Pip Finkemeyer.
(While I haven’t read this last special mention, Finkemeyer attempts to tackle the #SadGirl trope head-on and by the sounds of it—“It was a cliché for all lost white girls in major metropolises to think they had a novel in them”—this is a perfect addition to this line-up.)
Enjoy!