Fruit Fly by Josh Silver - 5⭐️

I just finished Fruit Fly by Josh Silver and I honestly can’t stop thinking about it.

On the surface it’s a thriller about a washed up author who becomes obsessed with telling a young gay man’s story to revive her career. But it’s really asking who gets to tell queer stories, where the line is between empathy and exploitation, and what happens when someone’s life becomes someone else’s material.

It’s dark, uncomfortable, surprisingly funny in places, and moves at a really fast pace. I also appreciated that none of the characters are easy to root for. Everyone is messy, which made it feel a lot more interesting than a typical thriller.

If you liked Yellowface, this is definitely worth checking out.

Has anyone else read it? Curious whether you thought the satire landed or if it went too far.
(Full review if anyone’s interested: https://queerbookclub.org/reviews/fruit-fly-josh-silver/)