This book is a sharp, witty, and introspective novel that captures the raw anxieties of being a young creative. The story follows Joey, an art student struggling with the pressure to produce something meaningful while grappling with the realities of her chaotic personal life. The book is not just about the trials of artistic creation but also an exploration of identity, class, and family relationships.

One of the novel’s strengths lies in its portrayal of the intersection between art and personal life. Joey is constantly haunted by her family troubles, especially her relationship with her mentally ill and troubled sister, Jen, whose instability adds another layer of pressure on Joey. The novel effectively conveys the weight of familial obligation, particularly for those who come from less privileged backgrounds. Joey’s constant balancing act between her creative aspirations and her deep sense of responsibility toward her sister makes her journey compelling.

This book is a smart and heartfelt novel that offers an incisive look at the struggles of artistic creation, family dynamics, and class disparities. Chelsea Martin’s humor and insight make this book a refreshing and poignant read, particularly for those navigating the uncertainties of their twenties or those immersed in creative fields. It’s a novel that asks big questions about art, identity, and worth—both personal and artistic—in ways that are deeply relatable.

I would have LOVED this book circa my college years…

Tell Me I’m an Artist takes place in 2011 and is the ultimate millennial girl coming of age novel with all of the pop culture references to boot-the whole premise revolves around Joey (a Dawson’s Creek nod?), the main character, remaking Wes Anderson’s Rushmore-what’s more of the era than that?

Joey is a fish out of water at her prestigious San Francisco art school, trying to keep up with her well-to-do peers while navigating family issues that make her already present class difference even more prominent. It’s whiney and intense in a way that 20-something year old students tend to be, paired with clever sentences that you can tell have been crafted for a while (the sign of a good debut IMO) and asks the *big life what-does-it-all-mean questions* that I ate up at that age, but that I now just feel, I don’t know, a little jaded by? Not really interested in?

Kerouac’s On the Road comes to mind, not because this novel is anything like it, but that I adored it and felt *so seen* when I read it at age 20, but that I would never reread now because I’m positive it was needed at that time and age only.

"Tell Me I'm An Artist" by Chelsea Martin is an intriguing journey through the mind of the author and her unconventional take on what it means to be an artist. It's a candid and quirky read, but it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

One of the book's strengths is its unfiltered honesty. Chelsea Martin doesn't hold back as she shares her personal experiences and thoughts about art and life. Her raw and unconventional perspective challenges the traditional notions of what it means to be an artist, and this can be refreshing for readers seeking something offbeat.

The book is filled with humor and wit, and Martin's irreverent style adds a unique flavor to the narrative. Her ability to find humor in everyday situations and observations can be quite amusing.

However, the book's stream-of-consciousness style can also make it feel disjointed at times. The lack of a conventional plot or clear narrative arc might leave some readers feeling adrift in a sea of random musings.

While the candidness is refreshing, it occasionally crosses into self-indulgence, making it challenging to fully connect with the author's perspective. Some readers might find it hard to relate to the author's experiences and thought processes.

In the end, "Tell Me I'm An Artist" is an unconventional exploration of art and life that will appeal to readers who enjoy unfiltered, offbeat narratives. It's a book that doesn't conform to traditional storytelling conventions, and this can be both its strength and its weakness. If you're open to a quirky and candid perspective on art, it's worth a read, but be prepared for a narrative style that is as unconventional as the author's thoughts.

Chelsea Martin... I have to say it—you're an artist! (See what I did there?) This book was such a blast to read through.

3 stars- I liked this one but I'm not sure if I would read again. Thank you netgalley & the publisher for the ARC!

yesssssssssssssssss this is the genre for me. weird girl messes up a whole lot. i already want to read it again!

A solid coming of age novel about what it means to find yourself at college (specifically art school) when you are trying to distance yourself from a family that is toxic, complicated, and emotionally draining. In the book, Joey decides to begin an art project based on the fact that she has not seen the Wes Anderson movie RUSHMORE, and what it would look like if she remade the movie based solely on other people's explanations of it, as well as her own cursory knowledge.

I thought the book would be more about this. Instead, it is about Joey finding her place in San Francisco at this prestigious school and juggling the emotional abuse from her mother and sister, a few hours away, as they take advantage of Joey's unconditional love. It is a complicated family dynamic, and breaks my heart to think that just because this character wants to make a better life for herself and go to school makes her family think she is better than them and automatically has money to give them. It is told in short bursts, and in creative ways, which makes the book a fast and fun read.

It is being compared to Elif Batuman's work and while I don't think it's near that quality, if you like those vibes this one may also be up your alley. It is witty and vibrant, and an interesting tome on art and art school.

Solid coming-of-age story set in art school. I'm always interested in stories of people from lower economic means making it in the arts so Joey's story held some appeal for me right off the bat. She was just a realistic character that you had to root for even when you were frustrated by the people around her.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not get into this novel. The writing was very sloppy and disjointed. I also didn't care for the main proagonist. I found her to be very annoying and childlike. It was a struggle to get through.

This is an interesting, perceptive, and often funny story about a student at art school finding her way in a world that often feels unfamiliar. Joey enrolls in a film class that requires her to create a self-portrait. She decides to embark on an ambitious (or perhaps foolhardy) interpretation of this assignment -- she will remake the movie Rushmore based on others' recollections of the film given that she has never seen it. As she grapples with the assignment over the course of the semester, Joey is also figuring out her place in a school and city that feels enthralling, unfamiliar, and often inhospitable.

This is a well-written novel. Joey is a compelling character, and her perspective is an interesting lens throughout which to examine the issues she grappled with, from what it means to pursue a dream to finding a way in a world of wealth and privilege when you have neither.

Highly recommended!

I wasn’t impressed with this book at all. It seemed very random and not a strong storyline. I wish it dived more into her relationship with her mom and sister. It was just a rambling about her in art school complaining about a project. A terrible project idea. The writing reminded me of the movie Fight Club and how the dialogue seemed to be between two different personas.

Such a well-rounded novel filled with angst, alienation, and naivety.

There is so much going on in the background of this novel that you wouldn’t think it would mesh well together, but Martin’s prose was nothing short of magical.

She created a believable world full of college students trying to discover themselves and successfully made me believe I was on campus with them. From a project that Joey is working on for her film elective class, to her sister, who had left her baby behind and has disappeared, to her college friend Suz whose upbringing was the complete opposite of Joey, each character added a different element that complimented the narrative as a whole.

This novel is so much more than that short description. The real-world struggles of complacency and the feelings of not being good enough were a stark contrast to the happy and carefree college life that many write about.
Wonderful novel.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Tell Me I’m an Artist tells the story of Joey as she navigates friends, family, and her looming self-portrait film project at her San Fransisco art school.

The novel follows Joelle (Joey) during her second semester at art school where she decides to recreate Rushmore for her self-portrait project in her film elective, despite having never seen the film. We see Joey struggle to truly find what it means to be an artist and create art while still trying to understand who she is herself. All the while, Joey must deal with her mother who is taking care of her sister’s child when her sister all of a sudden ups and leaves. We once again see Joey struggle with her family relations and the guilt she encounters for leaving in an attempt to find herself.

While I believe Tell Me I’m an Artist encapsulated what it feels like to be in college, it didn’t quite do it for me. There were points that jumped from one moment in time to another with little to no warning that I didn’t feel worked. College is a time for self discovery and dealing with who you were and who you want to be, and while certain moments captured those feelings, I overall felt it was a bit lacking.

In Tell Me I'm An Artist, Joey, an art student, tries to find her place in the art world while doubting her own abilities and worrying she's distanced herself too much from her family (particularly her drug addict sister, Jenny). It's doing this book a disservice to call it "The Idiot, but set at art school", but there's a reason that comparison is the first thing in the book's official description. If you liked The Idiot and you like reading books about art, you WILL like this book. It's humorous (LOVED the Google Searches), relatable, and moving.

Joey spends a lot of time comparing herself to others, wondering what the meaning of art is (and why she's pursuing it), and wondering how everyone else always seems to be so sure of themselves and successful. I loved getting access to her thoughts and her smart observations and found it fascinating to watch her dismiss and doubt her own ideas -- even the good ones.

This book also does a solid job of exploring class tensions. Joey comes from a lower-class family and is very aware that every dollar spent on her art degree is a dollar NOT spent on essentials for her nephew or treatment for her sister, but many of her art school peers are from wealthier families. This tension is constantly on Joey's mind, and I liked seeing her attitude towards her background and her decisions evolve over the course of the novel.

Tell Me I'm An Artist follows the struggle-filled life of art school student Joey through the second semester of her second year. She's enrolled in an elective film course that's requiring her to create a filmic "self portrait" as the final project, and that assignment hangs over her head all semester because Joey doesn't know who she is. She struggles with the guilt of having mostly escaped her toxic family life, she struggles with not feeling like she fits in with any of her classmates, she struggles with the feeling that she needs to hide behind a carefully constructed persona. Through Joey, we get to explore the feelings of guilt, shame and self-doubt that come when one deviates from a life path that seems preordained.

Thank you to NetGalley and Catapult, Counterpoint Press, and Soft Skull Press for the opportunity to read this book!

Joey is a film student and this book traces her assignment over a semester. It was written in a strange format (no chapter numbers or titles) that I struggled to connect with. I also didn't enjoy the narrator's voice (as in style of writing).

Tell Me I’m an Artist is formatted like, well, art. Going through the mind of an artist who is struggling to fit with peers, as well as pull away from family that is no longer loving makes for a truly hard coming of age story. This reads like your personal diary. Incredible and gut wrenching.

Tell Me I'm An Artist by Chelsea Martin was an emotional, truthfully told story.
Martin's writing is amazing and honestly very captivating.
Her writing style is unique and refreshing and thought provoking..

Soft Skull,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

“If only I could afford therapy. Then I wouldn’t need this art degree.”

4.5/5 I loved this book! Beautifully written and a super well done story of a moment in time during a girl’s time at her art school.
Throughout this book we see Joey’s struggle with her family, friends, her interests, and with a looming project she procrastinated completing throughout the novel.
I truly felt like I was inside Joey’s mind as I was reading. She was so funny and relatable and I loved how the author allowed her thoughts to spiral and interconnect with one another. It did a fantastic job of expressing young adult friendships, relationships, and self doubts. Joey is a fantastic main character and this book was such a fun read!

2.5 stars

"Tell Me I'm An Artist" is a coming-of-age novel about Joey, an art student tasked with a self-portrait project she finds difficult to make. While I appreciated the themes surrounding this book - the struggles of comparing oneself to others and determining one's identity as they grow up - I found the actual content of the novel fell flat.

Pages droned on about Joey's inner conflict, and her thoughts felt pretentious at times. Perhaps I struggled with the book, because I couldn't relate to the art school aspect. I do believe the author's decision to make her an artist juxtaposed with the struggles Joey faces was a cool decision; I just wish I found the content of the book more interesting. Some books are not meant for entertainment value, but that is what I believed I was going to get out of this book (at least mostly) going in.

I just wish I connected more to the book, but not all books are for everyone, and I highly respect the way Martin crafts her story, and applaud her for tackling such difficult subject matters in a new-adult novel.