## Details * Title:: [[What Am I, A Deer?]] * Authors:: [[Polly Barton]] * Tags:: #fiction * Read:: [[2026-07-12]] * Instagram :: https://www.instagram.com/p/Dattn8PDmQg/?img_index=1 ## Editions - Edition:: [[Fitzcarraldo Editions]], Author Collection, Signed, No. 1135/2500, 2026 - Original Copyright:: 2026 - Pages:: 240 ## Purchase * Bookshop.org:: https://bookshop.org/a/94437/9781804272176 ## Annotations What Am I, A Deer? is a trip. Barton’s free indirect discourse plugs the reader straight into the narrator’s mind, following her obsessive thoughts and sharp observations as she navigates the relationships and upheavals of a new job in a new city. I found the narration echoes many of [[Jon Fosse]]’s narrators, though it’s much less metered incantation and much more Asle with ADHD (there’s even a minor character named Aslan, which feels too pointed to be coincidence). There are a lot of ideas floating around here, and they’re tied together well. I found the thread linking translation, gaming, and karaoke, all as expressions of “the unquenchable desire to be someone else,” especially interesting. And for all its controlled narrative chaos, the book manages to be genuinely funny. To wit, the title: I had no idea about Isabella Rossellini’s Seduce Me series on YouTube until this book, from which we get the title and a running joke throughout. The [@fitzcarraldoeditions](https://www.instagram.com/fitzcarraldoeditions/) edition is a beaut, too.