Author Maggie Su sinks readers into a desolate reality in her debut novel, “Blob: A Love Story,” published by HarperCollins in 2025. Su creates a story that reads unlike any other romance novel. Instead of the pristine life of the girl next door, readers are introduced to one of the most complex protagonists who makes readers physically cringe and ask: “Why the fuck did you do that?” in the form of Vi. Vi is a woman in her twenties, born to a Taiwanese father and a Midwestern mother, who harbors volatile emotions and very little motivation.
Su begins the novel by introducing readers to Vi’s current life as a desk worker at a Hilton-esque hotel, playing games like Tetris and scrolling on Facebook. In contrast, her co-worker named Rachel is the standard girl next door stereotype: always smiling, always helpful, always morally correct. Vi despises her. In fact, readers may get the sense that Vi does not like many people at all. Most interactions are short, curt and blunt. Then, Vi discovers what she believes is a blobfish—at least, this is what she tells herself—and through drunken antics at the Back Door, the town’s only gay bar, she eventually takes the weird thing home and feeds it Fruity Pebbles, the food fit for kings. This rising action opens Vi (and the readers) up to situations that define the novel through its raw and grimy moments and characters. Su explores identity through characters such as Elliot, a gay man trying to hide that fact from his highly honored family, and Bob, the picture-perfect man that can do no wrong. Every character that Su creates showcases how identity is fluid and changing, just like a certain blob.
In the novel’s first half, everything reads as awful, soulless and utterly hopeless through the lens of Vi. Her apartment is a mess; the hotel feels fake—much like Rachel—and most other places feel lifeless. The only authentic and lively place is the Back Door. This place only feels this way because Vi is wasted and will somehow find her way either passing out in the genderless bathrooms or stumbling outside to show off that cool blob from earlier. Tension begins to flare, especially when her balance of work, an occasional family dinner and blob duty begins to feel like it is too much. Only through the power of television, Fruity Pebbles and commands does she form the ultimate specimen of Bob—a fish-out-of-water super handsome man that has no identity other than what Vi has created. This inciting incident creates a weirdly wholesome part of the story, where Vi’s life starts to feel more stable, more complete.
But you did not think that would last…right?
Ultimately, “Blob: A Love Story” leaves readers feeling uncomfortable and desperate for resolution through its bluntness of characters and the sheer absurdity of Vi’s thought process and actions. Su also challenges them with the underlying themes of mental health and identity struggle. The meet-cute scene in this novel is extremely short just like Bob, who is extremely short because he has no legs. With his face and upper body formed, it just takes a few more transformation attempts from Vi to create the perfect man. The perfect man to keep trapped in her home and watch TV with and to teach him different painted realities of what it means to be human. While building up Hollywood’s new star of little words—his favorite being “hi”— Vi also goes on little side adventures; one of which is pretending to be Elliot’s girlfriend, to hide his sexuality from his family. After a few glasses of wine and a lot of quick attachment, Vi decides to do what she does best and leave readers asking again: “why the fuck did you do that?”
There are quite a few of these moments throughout, some greater in effect than others. However, they are not just there for shock value. Instead, they serve as moments for readers to witness scenarios that happen more often than you think, ramped up to the extreme to highlight how messed up Vi’s and others’ thought processes are throughout. One such moment is when Rachel admits to Vi about why Elliot disliked her in the past:
“[…] he grabbed my wrist. I thought maybe he was going to kiss me or something […] He told me he was gay, and I said That seems hard. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know any gay people, and am I wrong? It does seem hard.”
Rachel then kissed him because she just had to make sure that he was gay. Turns out that he was. It’s also Rachel who invites Vi to a drag queen show at the gay bar, who continues to press into Vi and insist on being friends with her and serves as a foil to Vi’s chaotic and unfiltered life. Her identity rests on the acceptance and admiration of others, searching for her own form of love through her own means. Every main character’s struggle seems hard for readers, regardless of status.
Self-identity is a core focus in this novel, more important than the false loves and one-night stands that occur throughout. Every character struggles to be authentic and readers may feel uncomfortable with the fact that they may see themselves in some of these very realistic characters. If you’re looking for a traditional romance novel, this is not for you. Instead, you will find a selfish, complex web of feelings and thoughts that will haunt the traditional romance reader. However, if you are looking for a darkly humorous look at identity and self-worth, you will not be disappointed. It is not all doom and gloom, as the characters are not static. Each change in some way through their “blob savior” by the end of the novel.