“A lot can happen in a year. I could become a whole new person. I could be famous by then.” 

This paragraph wraps up I Could Be Famous by Sydney Rende in a bow. This eleven-story collection is a darkly comedic and somehow timely book that touches on the lives of celebrities and those who admire them and are determined to be “more.” 

The writing overall in this collection was magnificent. Rende has a unique tone used throughout that’s comedic but also disturbing, especially with what she decides to write about in each story. The collection starts off strong with “Nothing Special,” which is seeping with Rende’s tone.

“Nothing Special” is about Jane as she’s desperate to be with someone famous, which is where the (supposed, we’ll get to that) center of the stories, Arlo Banks, is introduced as well. Jane ends up meeting Ramona, eventually a close friend, at a party and soon after dumps her seemingly innocent but dimwitted boyfriend. Jane discovers that Ramona is a sugar baby, and tries to get Jane into her world as well. Jane is left uncomfortable, and soon finds another New York City job, still dreaming of more. The story feels funny, but also sends a chill down your spine in an uncomfortable way.  

Two other stories stand out to me this way: “Trick,” Arlo Banks’ main story in the collection, and “High School Junkie Girlfriend,” my 5-star story out of the entire collection. These stories do a great job, as well, at getting you to understand and nearly sympathize with each main character so quickly. Rende writes about these main characters in a way that you get to understand their thinking very early on, and the things they seem to be upset about in some sort of way make sense. This helps to contribute to that uncomfortableness, because of not only Rende’s writing style but because you’re not sure who you can trust. 

The one thing that seemed a little difficult to understand at the end was the book’s main pitch, which is that each story revolves around this celebrity, Arlo Banks, who is rumored to be a cannibal. Some of the stories do mention him, like “Trick” and “Nothing Special,” but some of them don’t mention Banks whatsoever. I would imagine it’s safe to assume that maybe universally they are all connected, but when keeping that in mind, it does make the collection feel more fragmented. When that’s forgotten about, at least for me, it feels very cohesive. 

This is Rende’s debut book, and it’s a very strong way to start, especially in the craze of “weird girl lit.”

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