‘Téa Mutonji writes sharply about the subtle ruptures endemic to formative friendships’ – RAVEN LEILANI, author of LUSTER
‘A nuanced and fearless exploration of friendship, family, race and class, and the extraordinary pressures of coming of age as an artist, told with subtlety and verve’ NUSSAIBAH YOUNIS, author of FUNDAMENTALLY
‘Sexy, infuriating, and unbelievably fun to read . . . This is a writer who can read someone to filth in just one line’ – KATIE YEE, author of MAGGIE
Tania and Margot, best friends for over twenty years, are preparing to host their monthly dinner party when Tania tells Margot this isn’t working for her anymore – that she wants to ‘unknow’ her. But how do you extricate yourself from someone whose family owns the apartment you live in, who has taken you in as their own, even claims you as their ‘person’?
In the midst of a tense will-they-won’t-they break-up, Tania and Margot become entangled in a rigorous revision of history, their once delicate dance intensifying toward a frantic finale. As Margot disappears herself and Tania spirals into sex and drugs, jeopardizing both her book deal and her livelihood, they’re forced to reckon with where it all went wrong . . . or whether they were simply wrong for each other to being with.
A taut, piercing exploration of girlhood and identity, and the life-altering ways in which world-defining friendships can be both beautiful and excruciating, My Person is an addictive, astutely observed novel from a major new talent.
‘A nuanced and fearless exploration of friendship, family, race and class, and the extraordinary pressures of coming of age as an artist, told with subtlety and verve’ NUSSAIBAH YOUNIS, author of FUNDAMENTALLY
‘Sexy, infuriating, and unbelievably fun to read . . . This is a writer who can read someone to filth in just one line’ – KATIE YEE, author of MAGGIE
Tania and Margot, best friends for over twenty years, are preparing to host their monthly dinner party when Tania tells Margot this isn’t working for her anymore – that she wants to ‘unknow’ her. But how do you extricate yourself from someone whose family owns the apartment you live in, who has taken you in as their own, even claims you as their ‘person’?
In the midst of a tense will-they-won’t-they break-up, Tania and Margot become entangled in a rigorous revision of history, their once delicate dance intensifying toward a frantic finale. As Margot disappears herself and Tania spirals into sex and drugs, jeopardizing both her book deal and her livelihood, they’re forced to reckon with where it all went wrong . . . or whether they were simply wrong for each other to being with.
A taut, piercing exploration of girlhood and identity, and the life-altering ways in which world-defining friendships can be both beautiful and excruciating, My Person is an addictive, astutely observed novel from a major new talent.
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Reviews
Téa Mutonji writes sharply about the subtle ruptures endemic to formative friendships
Thank god for Téa Mutonji. Her new novel, My Person, covers the tricky territory of two lifelong friends extricating themselves from each other's lives. It sounds sad, and it is, but it's also sexy, infuriating, and unbelievably fun to read. You can tell you're in the hands of a poet; the writing crackles on the page. This is a writer who can read someone to filth in just one line. If you've ever known the pain of a friend breakup, this one's for you. Téa Mutonji has managed to take some of the ugliest thoughts and worst moments and turn it into a sparkling novel about reclaiming your sense of self
A novel unlike anything I've read before, teeming with pathos, authenticity and wit. On the surface My Person is about friendship - the intimacy, the codependency, the envy, the rage and the love - but also it's a novel about a Black girl who dares to behave badly, to shun the expectations of those around her and search for freedom while in a freefall. My Person is sexy, hilarious, devastating and compulsively readable. I downed it in one sitting like a shot of hard liquor, savouring the burn. An explosive debut from a once-in-a-generation talent.
A nuanced and fearless exploration of friendship, family, race and class, and the extraordinary pressures of coming of age as an artist, told with subtlety and verve