What You Don't Expect From Me
By Mat Guillan, Translated by Nathaniel Kennon Perkins
Published by Trident Press, 2024
138 pages, paperback
During an economic and social crisis in Argentina, the teenage son of a public political figure uses a pseudonym to publish a blog that gives a confidant's view into his private world. Always accompanied by a soundtrack of punk and rock, he wields his early-2000s computer keyboard like a switchblade, draining the pus from the silent wounds of his romantic and family life.
What You Don't Expect from Me is an intimate novel that distorts both realism and internet writing to expose the trauma of the upper class, online life, bullying, sexual discovery, toxic relationships, and an introverted teenager's cry for freedom.
Praise for What You Don't Expect from Me...
"Darkness creeps in like a bad trip. The vile underbelly of rich-ass, creepy, suburban Argentina is exposed, and what you get is a troubled, bleak, South American Less than Zero meets the ragged punk song that saved your teenage life. Relatable and wild in a glorious Basketball Diaries way. Hits like 66 buses." -Adam Gnade, author of After Tonight, Everything Will Be Different
"Guillan's greatest skill is his ability to capture a voice that professes to feel nothing but is actually full of emotion, forcing the reader to come along for the ride." -Marina Caamaño, author of Souvenirs from Mar del Plata
