Elegantly and empathetically written alternating chapters ... Sensitive ... Gentle, understated ... Yet even if the redemptive ending of Superfan doesn’t quite land, it deserves plaudits for bucking cliché in the parasocial canon. So does Zhang, for humanizing and giving depth to one of our more derided subcultures and musical genres.
Zhang digs deep into modern fandom and the ways technology encourages fans’ parasocial relationships in this sensitive, nuanced portrait of two misfits searching for a place to belong.
Some of the prose comes off as stilted and oddly formal, and some side characters could have been more developed beyond tropes, but it’s affecting to witness Minnie’s and Eason’s hard-fought journeys to self-acceptance. An earnest exploration of toxic fandom and coming of age.
