Looking for your next read? Welcome to Bazaar Book Chat, an inside look at our editors’ Slack channel, where we candidly review the latest literary releases.
Rosa Sanchez (senior news editor)
Hi @here! Welcome to another year of Bazaar Book Chat! This January we read Blob: A Love Story by Maggie Su. The story follows Vi, a college dropout in the middle of a quarter-life crisis, who finds a blob on the ground outside of a bar and takes it home, not knowing it will change her entire life and put everything into perspective.
First thoughts on the blobby storyline? How did you feel reading it?
Tiffany Dodson Davis (beauty commerce editor)
From the start of the book, it was clear to me that Vi was deeply unlikeable, and that she maybe even preferred to come across that way to the people around her. I actually felt a little annoyed as a reader by some of her actions and innermost thoughts!
❗️3
Rosa Sanchez
The moment Vi decided to pick up a strange blob she found next to a gross bar trash can and take it home in the hood of her hoodie, I was like, I need to know what happens to this girl. The man growing out of the blob though, I didn’t see coming.
👆2
Re: her personality, I agree that it was hard to read. I think she was a fun narrator, but it was definitely a little frustrating to see her feeling bad for herself for so many chapters—basically until the very end. Part of me wanted to toss her into a shower and give her a pep talk. But it made sense that she felt so unsure of herself after being dumped by some guy who never seemed to love her, and kind of having had to deal with being the not-smart sibling in her family.
❗️1
Joel Calfee (assistant editor)
Yeah, I felt so conflicted about her as a narrator, because I think she clearly has loads of self-esteem issues and she craves love, but a part of me just wanted to be like, “Stop feeling so bad for yourself girl!!” I will say though, I would also pick up a blob off the street if it had eyes, lol.
😂2 ❗️1
Izzy Grinspan (editorial director)
For the record, I would not pick up a blob off the street if it had eyes.
😂1 👆1 ❗️1
Rosa Sanchez
The entire time though I was waiting to find out that she was actually insane and hallucinated the whole thing.
💯1
Tiffany Dodson Davis
Yes, me too!
Rosa Sanchez
Okay, obviously we need to talk about how Vi morphed this blob into a human, Bob, and molded him into the ideal man (whatever that means) who looked like all the hottest movie stars. I have so many questions.
❗️1
Rosa Sanchez
What did we think of him becoming a man? Was she in love with the blob? What did the blob symbolize?
Izzy Grinspan
I think Vi IS the blob. She doesn’t know what to do with her life, she doesn’t even really know who she is, and she sort of expected her ex to give her direction (which worked for a little while, until he left).
🔥1 🤯2
Joel Calfee
There’s definitely a strong element of race throughout the story. I think it’s important to note that her ex is white and then the blob she creates is also white. At the end, she even describes him as having like glistening Twilight-esque skin or something.
💯2
Rosa Sanchez
She definitely has a version of how a person should be (white, hot, popular, smart), in her mind, and she doesn’t feel like she hits any of those marks.
❗️1
Izzy Grinspan
Totally! I think partly she’s clinically depressed, but also, many people are pretty blobby in their early 20s. There are so many competing messages about who you should be, and you have no idea what the future holds—you’re like pure potential and you don’t know if you can do anything with it.
🔥2
Rosa Sanchez
Yeah, for me the blob was everything she was insecure about, just personified. like she needed this validation, she needed someone to love her and think she was interesting and pretty and wanted.
❗️1
Tiffany Dodson Davis
100%
She couldn’t even bother to be intentional about his name.
👆2
Joel Calfee
Right? Bob, lol. Don’t let her name the dog, he’ll be Doge.
😭3
Rosa Sanchez
Re: What you said, Joel, the way she talked about race was moving because I feel like a lot of mixed-race people can’t tell how they should identify. Also, the way she voiced how guilty she felt that she was basically failing at life even though her parents had always been loving and supportive, was I think the most relatable human part about her, and I know so many children of immigrants (and non-immigrants) who carry that same guilt.
💯2
The blob ending up with Rachel, though??? I was mad for Vi. I could never tell how I felt about Rachel.
❗️1
Sarah Olivieri (senior designer)
Vi thought of Rachel as her opposite, who didn’t have the same problems as her because she was this petite pretty blonde, but then ultimately we realize that Rachel had a lot of the same insecurities. She wanted to be liked by people, loved by man, mend friendships with people she “wronged” in the past, etc.
🔥4
Tiffany Dodson Davis
Absolutely agree! I also think the dynamic between Vi and Elliot was interesting in terms of race, especially when he asked her to be his beard.
💯3
Rachel was kind of a hater to me as well, lol.
❗️2
Rosa Sanchez
She was giving not a girls’ girl, but neither was Vi. Really Vi was mean to everyone and even pushed her mom away, which made me sad.
💯2
Tiffany Dodson Davis
One of the plot twists for me was when Vi’s mom revealed she was in therapy.
Rosa Sanchez
Oh yes! Calling Vi out for being toxic. She really was a walking red flag, and I feel like it took her losing even her own blob (after tying him up and trying to trap him?!) to snap herself out of it.
❗️2
Rosa Sanchez
Do you guys feel like we got enough of a resolution and growth from Vi? And what do we think happened to Bob?
Izzy Grinspan
I don’t want to spoil everything, but I think the very ending was satisfying. Bob is heading off to a future that will probably work for him, and he gets the last word.
💥2 ⭐️1
And Vi finally figures out what she’s actually interested in, which is definitely not the STEM career she felt she was supposed to be pursuing.
Rosa Sanchez
It was definitely nice to see her make a decision not based on a man. HOWEVER, I do like where we leave off with her latest potential lover, who seems pretty annoying, but likes her for who she is.
😂2
Sarah Olivieri
I’m not sure we got enough evidence of growth form Vi. We know she's enrolled back in school but I would love to know if she actually ends up going to her classes. And even her relationship with people still seem a little selfish. Like at the party at the end when everyone was talking about how Vi introduced Rachel and Bob and she was going to tell them that she met him originally as a blob.
❗️3
Rosa Sanchez
Agreed! I think she shows promise, but I’m more excited about the blob’s future as an actor than about Vi getting it together. She was a fun time to live through, though. Some of her potato thoughts made me lol.
Sarah Olivieri
I think what I took most from the ending was that you can be made to be a perfect human and still wonder what your purpose is in life or feel lost or unsure if you’re doing whats best for you in the long run.
💯2
Rosa Sanchez
Totally same. Like you might get lucky and be put on this earth with the perfect tools (like Bob, and also kind of like Rachel), but you still have to figure things out like the rest of us.
💯2
Joel Calfee
I will say, the story depressed me a bit, just because the character was so unhappy/unsure of herself for most of it, BUT I think it sparks interesting conversations, especially in a book club setting like this! Also, I think we can treat this story like the blob and make what we want out of it, so I’m using Vi’s behavior as a foil to how I should behave in real life, lol.
😭2 ❤️2
Our Bazaar Book Chat pick for February is Crush by Ada Calhoun. Pick up your copy of the book here, and read along with us.
