''Gag Reflex'' is a 2022

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...

by British-American author

Elle Nash Elle Nash is a British-American editor and author based in Glasgow, Scotland. She is best known for her debut novella '' Animals Eat Each Other''. Nash has stressed the importance of focusing her work on working-class characters and narratives an ...

influenced by her experience with an eating disorder.The novella is said to be a spiritual prequel to Nash's previous novel ''Animals Eat Each Other'' in discussing adolescence and psychosexual themes. The novella is nontraditionally structured with a format of online posts. Nash said that the process of writing the novella was hard but inspired to channel her past traumas into something positive. The novella opens with two quotes from ''

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...

'' analogous to how an eating disorder creates a disassociation between the body, the self and the idea of disliking the body you were created in, as Nash describes. The

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, with a metal umlaut) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop music, hip hop, funk, industrial music, industrial, and grunge. Nu ...

song "Blood Pigs" by

Otep Otep was an American nu metal band. The band was formed in November 2000 in Los Angeles by frontwoman Otep Shamaya. The band is noted for their style of "art-house nu metal", and their strong political stances. Throughout the course of several ...

comes up many times in the novella for its relevance to sexual trauma.

Plot

Set in 2005, Lucy is an 18-year-old girl nearing her high-school graduation and currently lives in a trailer with her mother. The story is seen through the view of

LiveJournal LiveJournal (), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, as a way of keeping his high school ...

entries Lucy creates that primarily exist to track the calories she takes in each day while she struggles with

anorexia Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Individuals wit ...

. Her entries as seen by a small audience who share eating disorders and encourage self-destructive eating habits. She is also having a relationship with two boys Brian and Mike who have sex with her while they cheat on their girlfriends.

Reception

''Gag Reflex'' was listed on transgressive fiction author Dennis Cooper's favorite media of 2022 on his personal blog.

BuzzFeed News ''BuzzFeed News'' was an American news website published by BuzzFeed beginning in 2011. It ceased posting new hard news content in May 2023. It published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was strong ...

listed it as one of the 17 books from independent publishers to read in 2022. It received positive reviews from Punk Noir Magazine, The Rumpus, and

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

. Emmeline Clein, author of book ''Dead Weight'' on the topic of eating disorders, has stated she read ''Gag Reflex'' and explored eating disorder forums in research for her book.

References

2022 novels Bildungsromans {{2020s-novel-stub Novels set in the 2000s Fiction about self-harm Novels about eating disorders Novels about the Internet Novels about social media