Blob: A Love Story

In Su’s marvelous debut, a Taiwanese American woman sculpts a seemingly perfect partner out of a sentient blob. Two years after failing out of college, Vi works as a hotel receptionist and wallows over a breakup. She often copes with her emotional insecurity by drinking heavily, and during a night out at a drag show, she finds a blob in an alley and takes it home. She names the blob Bob and orders him to do chores around the house. She also feeds Bob a diet of sugary breakfast cereals. Eventually, Bob grows into a human, one who resembles a handsome white movie star, Vi’s ideal type. He accompanies her to a family dinner and agrees to let her parents think they’re dating, though he chafes against Vi’s homebody habits and starts showing up at her job. Meanwhile, Vi navigates lingering tensions with her family—her parents sold her childhood home without telling her, and her brother, a pediatric resident, is unwilling to console her. 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. Agent: Samantha Shea, Georges Borchardt. (Jan.)