This is quintessential magical realism. One fantastical element used as a plot device to examine real issues. In this case, a shapeless blob slowly gets turned into the “perfect” man as Vi’s life falls apart and she’s desperate to keep it together. This book is about expectations, identity (racial and sexual), existentialism, and self-discovery. I think I would’ve been bored if I read it physically, but as an audiobook, I was able to appreciate it more. What does it mean to be perfect? What does it mean to be perfectly you?

while i thought this book would lean a bit more into the magical realism realm, i actually was quite pleased with it. with dry, biting wit, maggie su paints a remarkably unlikable, unsympathetic character in vi that is resolved in sweet, tender fashion. the nuances of race, body size, and western beauty standards make this story all the more real.

This was such a weirdly intriguing story that had me hooked from the beginning, the more I got to know Vi and her backstory along with the blob aka Bob unfolding as a human, the more I needed to know what would happen next. A huge thank you to NetGalley for my audiobook arc, I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Maggie Su’s next book!

Genre: Literary Fiction

Format: Audio

4.5🌟- I really liked it!

I love a weird little fiction book! This book is endearing, tender, heartfelt, and chaotic and just what I was craving at the time. It's giving Annie Bot/Frankenstein/Hot Frosty vibes! Our FMC is a mess and we love her for it! This is a perfectly flawed and perfectly human story through and through and truly right up my alley.

The audio was great for this one!

Such a good read! It's tough feeling like nothing is in your control while trying to show someone how to be a human. Watching Violet struggle while trying to deal with Bob hit so close to home.

This was good but not what I expected. I think I was looking for something more grotesque in line with The Pisces rather than what I got, which was closer to Mona Awad's Bunny without the dark academia vibes. This had almost an Ottessa Moshfegh vibe that I didn't expect. It was weird and interesting.

For all Lisa Frankenstein Lovers!!!!!

On the outside, Blob is a quirky love story about the lows of heartbreak and turning a blob into a sentient heartthrob of a boyfriend. But this book is so much more than that, it is an exploration of identity, community, and the navigating adulthood when you don't really know who you are or what you want.

I am here for all the weird girl books and will definitely be recommending this one!

Blob had so much unfulfilled potential. The narrator was really good for the audiobook. The story was very basic and underdeveloped-there was so depth at all to blob and what it represents at all. While it is fine to dislike a protagonist there needs to be something besides pity for them to drive the story.

I really enjoyed this! I found it funny and earnest. I liked the pacing. There were times when I was annoyed by the main character but I believe this was intentional. Really cool spin on a novel about self reflection and moving through depression.

This book sounded really interesting but it turned out to be just a little too weird for my personal tastes. I did like Eunice Wong as the narrator and would recommend the book to fans of stories like I made it out of clay by Beth Kander but it wasn't one that I felt compelled to finish. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

When Vi finds a blob outside a bar and takes him home as a pet, she finds she can mold him into her ideal boyfriend. At first, this seems like a balm to her current circumstances, including a recent breakup, dropping out of college, a job she hates, and loneliness in her drab basement apartment; but managing his new humanness is a huge undertaking. It is genuinely sweet and surprising, and I will recommend to readers who liked The Guest by Emma Cline and Thank you NetGalley and My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessaa Moshfegh. Harper Audio for a digital review copy.

My favorite genre is contemporary fiction where there's just one element that's a little f*cked up, and BLOB was a masterclass in this. What a delightfully weird little novel. I look forward to see what Maggie Su writes next.

I would give a 4.5 if I could. I loved this. The voice was so unique and nothing panned out the way I thought it would, but in the best and most surprising ways. I loved the surrealism and forgot I was reading science fiction.

I absolutely ripped through this book. Su's writing is concise and relatable; Vi is a character that many readers will see themselves (or perhaps their past selves) in, and in spite of the outlandish plot, Blob is thoroughly grounded in a very solid reality. This will be an excellent recommendation for new adult readers, and I could see this as a fresh bookclub option.

4.5/5

When I told my coworkers about this book, they said, "How do you always find the perfectly weird books?" And that was exactly what this was: perfectly weird! The premise was wacky and wild, but overwhelmingly enjoyable. Vi is a narrator who is dealing with the struggles of heartbreak, identity, and fulfillment. Comical, absurd and relatable.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own

The blob-like creature that is found outside of a club one night gives Vi more than she expected. Weird, funny and full of surprises, this audio book rose above my expectations with the humor. The narrator was absolutely fantastic and delivered the story perfectly. I. Loved. This. Book!

The book I didn't know I needed. I loved that I didn't know where we were going with the Blob...it could have turned in any direction, but I loved that it came down to being human and that none of us really know how to do that perfectly. We are all at times awkward, incomplete, and trying to fit in.

While I loved the characterization and voice of our main character Vi, the rest of this book fell flat for me.

This was a delightful little off-kilter story about a young woman named Vi who's a mess and the impressionable trash blob she finds and names Bob. I picked up the audiobook, just to see what that was like. I wish I'd read the book instead of the audiobook, only because the NetGalley eAudiobook interface doesn't allow for notes, just bookmarks. I made a lot of bookmarks and will probably go back and buy the ebook when it's available so I can mark up my notes again. Much of the book really resonated with me. Though I'm older than Vi, I also had a difficult early 20s, in which I had lots of trouble figuring out what I wanted and how to move forward. Like Vi, I was also dealing with a lot of shame (though for different reasons). <spoiler>I also have a complex relationship with the idea of motherhood; in my twenties, I had a lot of plans and ideals that didn't work when they came up against the real world.</spoiler>

Vi initially thinks she can mold the blob into the perfect guy for her, but things quickly get out of hand. Turns out, Bob is more than the traits Vi imposes on him, he has a mind of its own. <spoiler> Turns out, the relationship between Vi and Bob is more reminiscent of an overbearing mother and her son than a romantic one. Refreshingly, Vi isn't reenacting the relationship she has with her parents. She is deperately clinging to something to control because her life (unlike her parents' lives) is such a mess.</spoiler>

I'd hoped this one was going to be a five star read -- it was close, but I felt it pulled its punches. <spoiler>Vi deserved worse for treating Bob so terribly -- her paranoia about his (in)ability to survive in the world almost killed him. Yes, she did what she did because she cared, but we don't all forgive our parents in the end.</spoiler>

Thanks Netgalley, Harper.

Offbeat, entertaining, and well-narrated. A recommended purchase in all formats for collections where quirky fiction is popular.