TELL ME MY NAME

The toll of exploitative fame is explored against a dystopian backdrop in this psychological thriller.

Eighteen-year-old Fern is the cherished daughter of her loving fathers on picturesque Commodore Island just outside Seattle in the latter half of the 21st century. The nightmarish outside world, in which crises due to poverty, xenophobia, and climate disaster are ever present, is held somewhat at bay for her. When Ivy, a teen celebrity who publicly self-destructed in a sadly familiar haze of substance use and mental health disorders, arrives on the island, Fern is drawn to her. At the same time, she also is suddenly befriended by Tami, the cruel, wealthy girlfriend of her childhood friend Ash, the boy on whom Fern also nurses a crush. A winding, sometimes confusing narrative from Fern’s first-person point of view devolves as her character does, and she is inextricably drawn further into complicated relationship drama and heavy alcohol and drug use. Situating the trope of the lonely, emotionally unfulfilling experience of extreme wealth and excess in a vividly imagined near future rife with recognizable details, such as calling a Seattle-based corporate oligarchy A-Corp, makes for a compelling setting, though an overarching plot device may be spotted by readers a long way off. The cast features naturally integrated ethnic diversity.

A complicated, harrowing tale of personal trauma in a violently polarized society.