The Fetishist -- Katherine Min, Hardcover

An Indie Next Pick

In this hilariously savage, poignant novel by acclaimed author Katherine Min, a grieving daughter's revenge on the man who caused her mother's death sets off a series of unexpected reckonings.

On a cold, gloomy night, twenty-three-year-old Kyoko stands in the rain with a knife in her hoodie's pocket. Her target is Daniel, who seduced Kyoko's mother then callously dropped her, leading to her death. But tonight, there will be repercussions. Following the unsuspecting Daniel home, Kyoko manages to get a rash kidnapping plot off the ground . . . and then nothing goes as planned.

The Fetishist is the story of three people--Kyoko, a Japanese American punk-rock singer full of rage and grief; Daniel, a philandering violinist forced to confront the wreckage of his past; and Alma, the love of Daniel's life, a Korean American cello prodigy long adored for her beauty, passion, and talent, but who spends her final days examining if she was ever, truly, loved.

An exuberant, provocative story that confronts race, complicity, visibility, and ideals of femininity, The Fetishist was written before the celebrated author's untimely death in 2019. Startlingly prescient, as wise and powerful as it is utterly delightful, this novel cements Katherine Min's legacy as a writer with a singular voice for our times.

Author: Katherine Min
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Published: 01/09/2024
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.26h x 6.32w x 1.03d
ISBN: 9780593713655

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 08/01/2023 pg. 4
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2023
Publishers Weekly 11/06/2023
Booklist 11/01/2023 pg. 22
Library Journal 12/01/2023 pg. 87
Shelf Awareness 01/11/2024

About the Author
Katherine Min received an NEA grant, a Pushcart Prize, a Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award, two New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Fellowships, and a North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship, and attended residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo, Jentel, Ucross, Hambidge, the Millay Colony, and Ledig House. Her acclaimed debut novel, Secondhand World, was a finalist for the PEN/Bingham Award in 2007. The Fetishist is her first posthumous publication. katherinekmin.com