Fieldwork as a Sex Object
“One of my books of the year. I loved her last novel When I Hit You, but Fieldwork as a Sex Object is even better. Brave, bold, original and brilliantly written.”
Spotify Book of the Month, July 2026 · Lit Hub, 34 Books You Need to Read This Fall · Starred review, Shelf Awareness
On her birthday, Amy wakes to a stoning in the digital town square that could cancel the likes of Kim Kardashian. Her executioners? A cartel of unhinged virgins styling themselves after V for Vendetta — except these keyboard warriors are on a ruthless crusade to wipe out desi jezebels and Make India Hindu Again. A muscular, monumental work of internet literature in which the online turns offline turns bloody, Fieldwork as a Sex Object is not a novel you read but a novel that reads you: what are you prepared to risk for what you claim to believe?
“A pithy, savagely funny tale of online shaming and the Indian manosphere … Kandasamy’s sharp humour provides much-needed relief from the anger of the internet and I found myself laughing many times at her wicked, tart observations … Kandasamy is one of India’s most exciting writers precisely because she doesn’t pull any punches — on the contrary, she really packs them in.” — Fatima Bhutto, The Guardian
“The book brilliantly captures the hopelessness of being carried along on a wave of mob hatred … But it comes perfectly balanced between anger and comedy … Like all Kandasamy’s novels, this is an intense book: the reader might need a lie down afterwards too.” — John Self, The Observer
“A snappy and furious assault on incels, the caste system, internet echo chambers, modern romance, and so much more … A visceral reminder of how cruel this world can be to women simply because they’ve made men feel bad … It made me want to get off social media for good, it made me crack up multiple times, and it caught me by total surprise several times more … It might be one of the great depictions of this terrible time.” — Drew Broussard, Lit Hub, 34 Books You Need to Read This Fall
“Scathingly funny, deeply wise … The narrative voice is snappy and filled with furious, unfiltered wit … Kandasamy exhibits a clear understanding of how to package brutal truth into an arresting reading experience … This vibrant outcry of a novel will leave readers entertained and shaken.” — Jaclyn Fulwood, Shelf Awareness, starred review
“There has never been a book quite like this.” — The Irish Times
“Savvy, fierce novel about racism, misogyny, and India’s caste system.” — Cory Oldweiler, The Boston Globe
“Through her trademark razor-sharp writing … a nuanced narrative about race, politics, sex and sexuality, resulting in a novel that will simultaneously shock and reel in readers.” — Asma Siddiqui, Vogue India
“This one hits hard.” — Publishers Weekly
“The best book of the year. Fieldwork as a Sex Object is compulsive, confronting, wild and utterly original. A powerful read.” — Nussaibah Younis, author of Fundamentally
“An uncompromising, unrelenting and unbelievable tour-de-force that nails far-right incels to the wall by their nutsacks.” — Nikesh Shukla
“There will be poetic justice when this fierce and brilliant novel goes viral.” — Lemn Sissay
“Brilliant and brutal. In this fascinating novel, Kandasamy reveals with a delicate sort of mastery the many modes of oppression exercised against women.” — Pilar Quintana, author of The Bitch
“A revolutionary book by one of the greatest writers of our era.” — Nikita Gill
“A South Asian feminist Uncut Gems.” — Ash Sarkar
“Her prose is electric, at once brave and poetic and satirical.” — The Paris Review
“Meena Kandasamy is building a spiky, angular, fiercely singular corpus.” — India Today
Read reviews by Fatima Bhutto in The Guardian and John Self in The Observer.