The Fetishist

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What to expect

'Incandescent, astonishing, a miracle' R. O. KWON

'With The Fetishist, Min has left the world something original and highly potent' INDEPENDENT

'Savage, horrible and very funny' i-D MAGAZINE

A daughter seeks revenge on the man she believes drove her mother to her death . . . and nothing goes as planned.


The rain has made everything cold and damp, and it's the perfect evening for Kyoko to exact her revenge. After years of rage and grief over her mother's death, Kyoko has decided who is to blame: a man named Daniel, a fellow violinist who had wooed her mother, Emi, and then dropped her - driving her to her death. Kyoko follows the unsuspecting Daniel home and manages to get her rash kidnapping plot off the ground . . . and really, what could go wrong?

The Fetishist is the story of three people - Kyoko, a young singer in a punk band who cannot find enough ways to channel her angry sorrow; Daniel, a seemingly hapless man who finally faces the wreckage of his past; and Alma, the love of Daniel's life, long adored for her beauty and talent, but who spends her final days examining if she was ever, truly, loved.

It's a beautiful, piercing and timely story that confronts race, ideals of femininity, complicity and visibility. Written and completed before the celebrated author's death in 2019, it's startlingly relevant and prescient, as wise and powerful as it is utterly moving.

'Katherine Min is a singular, wildly talented voice and this is a trailblazing novel' SHARLENE TEO

'The Fetishist is a wild, darkly funny ride' THE I

'Fiercely intelligent, perfectly crafted, and brimming with wit' LISA KO

Critics Review

  • Incandescent, astonishing, a miracle. I’m elated and deeply grateful this book exists

    R. O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries

  • The Fetishist is an excoriating, challenging work . . . Min’s novel is a complex and at times bitingly funny exploration of the fetishisation of Asian women by white men . . . With The Fetishist, Min has left the world something original and highly potent

    Independent

  • Fiercely intelligent, perfectly crafted, and brimming with wit, The Fetishist is a moving exploration of art, love, grief, and desire. Katherine Min’s sentences will provoke you and wind their way around your heart

    Lisa Ko, author of THE LEAVERS

  • Savage, horrible and very funny

    i-D Magazine

  • Blistering and brilliant, The Fetishist will move, anger, and make you wince with recognition. Katherine Min is a singular, wildly talented voice and this is a trailblazing novel which deserves widespread attention for its literary merits as well as the overdue conversations it will surely evoke. As incisive and topical on fetishisation and intersectionality as Kiley Reid’s Such a Fun Age and Raven Leilani’s Luster.

    Sharlene Teo, author of PONTI

  • Quite the testament to the talent of its author, The Fetishist is a wild, darkly funny ride

    The I

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