Superfan

SUPERFAN riveted me. I was a frog being boiled as Zhang pulled me page by page into the book's orbit, with writing that is deceptively perceptive, yearning, and engaging all at once. SUPERFAN is not only an insightful examination of the all-encompassing natures of fandom and stardom, it's a story about ultimately learning to feel whole.

Rachel Khong, New York Times bestselling author of Real Americans

As catchy, appealing, and achingly tender as a boy band's hit ballad, Superfan dazzles and captivates, while raising vital questions about fandom, celebrity, and the performance of self. Jenny Tinghui Zhang captures the complexities of emerging adulthood in all its tenuous glory.

Kirstin Chen, New York Times bestselling author of Counterfeit

Superfan was addictive and seductive. It perfectly captures the loneliness of youth, the allure of online community, and the dangers of obsession. I read it and immediately wanted to recommend it to all of my friends.

Tasha Coryell, author of Love Letters to a Serial Killer

Breathtaking and heartfelt, SUPERFAN is a cosmic collision of two fractured lives pulled into each other’s orbit through an astonishing series of events. With an eye for both the personal and the universal, Zhang reveals how the past and present versions of ourselves can never be outrun—with consequences as devastating as they are redemptive. SUPERFAN doesn’t just redefine the fan-star relationship, it explodes it from the inside out.

Elaine Hsieh Chou, author of Disorientation

Zhang swerves from her breakout Wild West-set debut, 'Four Treasures of the Sky,' to a more contemporary subject: a lonely, Chinese American college freshman in 2010s Texas who forges an intense parasocial attachment to a K-pop-style boy band. (And those boys, as a parallel narrative shows, are facing emotional turmoil of their own.)

The New York Times (27 Books Coming in February)

Between the Taylor Swift effect, BTS fever, and the rise (and rise) of Heated Rivalry, fandoms are having a moment—making it the perfect time to dig into Jenny Tinghui Zhang’s alternately heartrending and thrilling new novel.

Vogue

Jenny Tinghui Zhang’s compelling novel smartly explores interconnected themes of loneliness, connection, and obsessive fandom…Superfan is a touching modern coming-of-age story.

Apple (February Favorites Staff Pick)

Achingly relatable…Zhang pulls at the troubled threads of what it means to be and to have admirers from a brightly colored quilt of internet-informed contemporary fiction… Zhang punctuates chapters with numbered posts from that world, internet snippets convincingly riddled with fan fiction terms and forum keywords illustrating the peculiar, at times perilous, position of fans among their idols…Superfan ponders what it means to be a fangirl and decides that it’s bigger, always, than the boys themselves.

The Austin Chronicle

Zhang digs deep into modern fandom and the ways technology encourages fans’ parasocial relationships in this sensitive, nuanced portrait of two misfits searching for a place to belong...Teens will empathize with Minnie's struggle to fit in and her experience of finding connection and discord in online fan culture.

Booklist (starred review)

Equally dark and dazzling, like a spotlight flickering on a dim stage. This is a book I’ll be recommending to all my coolest friends.

LitHub

Zhang writes about obsessive fandom with the knowledge of an insider, tossing in heaps of scandals and fandom minutiae…It’s affecting to witness Minnie’s and Eason’s hard-fought journeys to self-acceptance. An earnest exploration of toxic fandom and coming of age.

Kirkus Reviews

Set in a world where the line between fan and friend blurs, the novel explores both fandom’s intoxicating sense of belonging and the darkness that festers underneath.

Bustle (The 10 Best New Books Of February)

Jenny Tinghui Zhang's first novel, Four Treasures of the Sky, still sticks with me. Her writing brings you into the complex characters and worlds she creates and I’m thrilled about her sophomore novel, Superfan, where she explores the horrors and magic of fandom during a shared time of loneliness.

Electric Lit (67 Books by Women of Color to Read in 2026)

A story of obsession, fandom, and how the two can intersect in both heartwarming and horrifying ways, Jenny Tinghui Zhang’s Superfan feels rather perfect for the moment we’re finding ourselves in, pop culturally speaking

Den of Geek (The Most Anticipated Books of 2026)

A deliciously smart page turner, Superfan takes on our lonely culture where strangers on message boards become stand-ins for real-world friends and fandom takes the place of genuine connection. Sly and inventive, Zhang writes perceptively and her curiosity lies with the absurdity of a contemporary world bent on splitting us into private and public selves while offering few off-ramps to true happiness. A timely read.

Laura Warrell, author of Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm

Elegantly and empathetically written…in this novel’s gentle, understated hands, neither one will lose themselves completely to the thrall of postmodern celebrity…it deserves plaudits for bucking cliché in the parasocial canon. So does Zhang, for humanizing and giving depth to one of our more derided subcultures and musical genres. It should win her new admirers—some of whom might be saved from turning into Hellians themselves.

Teddy Wayne, The New York Times