The following edition of the text was used in the creation of this study guide: Tulathimutte, Tony. Rejection. Harper Collins, 2025. Kindle AZW file.

“The Feminist” follows a man who sees himself as progressive, especially about gender, but grows increasingly bitter due to romantic failures. In high school and college, he has mostly female friends but no romantic success. After being rejected by a friend, he sends her increasingly obsessive emails: a pattern he repeats with five other women. In his twenties, still a virgin, he’s mocked by coworkers for his awkwardness, particularly for asking consent before a kiss. A failed online dating experience and an unsatisfying hookup with a woman he once rejected leave him more resentful. At a picnic, a friend calls out his self-pity and manipulative tendencies. After an argument, he’s asked to leave and becomes socially isolated. After kicking a woman’s stroller during a public meltdown, he joins an online group for men who blame their romantic failures on having narrow shoulders. As a moderator, he posts a misogynistic rant after being challenged. The story ends with him walking into a restaurant in a ski mask, implying violence.

“PICS” centers on Alison, who hooks up with her friend Neil. He takes a photo of her during oral sex at her reluctant consent. The next day, he tells her he doesn’t want a relationship. Hurt but composed, Alison shares the encounter with her group chat. Opinions about Neil vary. Later, Neil shows up to meet Alison another woman, Cece. Alison gets drunk and makes rude comments. Neil calls her out the next day, accusing her of playing the victim. Alison vents in her group chat, but friends grow weary and criticize her: especially after she makes racially insensitive remarks about Cece’s race. Alison spirals into depression, obsesses over Neil and Cece’s relationship, and becomes more isolated. She adopts a hostile pet raven named Pootie. At a dinner party, Pootie bites her. Later, she asks a guest to pay for a stain on her couch, sparking arguments about her self-pity and racism. Her friends leave the group chat, cutting ties. Neil invites her to his wedding reception. She attends, drinks heavily, and confronts him about the past. He barely remembers the photo, so she shows it to him. Alarmed, he deletes it and warns her not to drive drunk. She does anyway. The next morning, she realizes that Pootie the raven has escaped.

“Ahegao: Or the Ballad of Sexual Repression” follows Kant, a young Thai American man who comes out as gay in a mass email. While the response is supportive, he is still feels he is harboring a secret because his violent sexual fantasies remain hidden. He starts working out and meets Julian, a man he also matches with online. They date and grow close, but their one sexual encounter fails. Kant avoids further intimacy, his fantasies clashing with reality. Despite Julian’s patience and encouragement, Kant’s hyper-specific sexual expectations drive a wedge between them. He stops responding to Julian. He withdraws into porn, gaming, and isolation. Eventually, he hires a performer named Cory to make a custom video acting out an extreme, unrealistic fantasy featuring a version of Julian. By mistake, he sends the request to his “coming out” email list. The story ends with Kant unaware of the error.

“Our Dope Future” is a Reddit-style post by a 37-year-old man, Maximus Aurelias Horney, seeking advice after a failed relationship with Alison from. Reading between the lines, it's clear he was coercive and manipulative. He messaged Alison for months before she finally agreed to a date, which he mishandled. He pushed her into a spontaneous trip to Barcelona. She lost her job afterward and eventually moved in with him, only to discover his small apartment and invasive behavior. He secretly installed a tracking app on her phone, blocked her messages, and monitored everything from her heart rate to menstrual cycle. Her mental health declined, and she became emotionally withdrawn. When she wanted to leave, he guilt-tripped her and stalled, insisting they shared “goals.” He revealed a disturbing plan to have 12 children with her and isolate them using a private language. Alison moved out that night. He ended the post asking readers for advice, still clueless about his own role in her suffering. In edits to the post, he reacts angrily to criticism, reveals his identity, and accuses others of manipulating the comment section. Alison and his exes comment to contradict him. He claims he now lives on a floating ocean pod with women from a developing nation, participating in his fertility plan. The final edit reveals he's been arrested in Thailand for human trafficking.

“Main Character” is framed as an online investigation into a viral scandal, Botgate, sparked by a post from Bee, a Thai American and Kant’s sibling. Bee recounts a life of alienation and provocation. As a child, they "sold" their gender to a classmate. At Stanford, they refused to define their gender at a co-op meeting, irritating progressive students. Bee later befriends a woman named Zamira, who claims to be Chinese-Malaysian. After a fallout, Bee finds out she is actually a white woman named Bethany. After their mother’s death, Bee becomes addicted to Twitter. They create a web of fake accounts, buying followers and faking interactions to evade detection. One controversy, about a Timothée Chalamet post, becomes a viral storm with real users drawn into entirely fake conflicts. Bee reveals they orchestrated the entire incident and that many online dramas are similarly fabricated. They admit the story Bee is telling might itself be fake, with thousands of alternate versions. The story switches to the sleuths debating Bee’s identity. One theory suggests the post is metafiction written by Tony Tulathimutte.

The collection ends with two final pieces: “Sixteen Metaphors”, a list of metaphors for rejection, and “Re: Rejection”, a mock rejection letter to the author critiquing the collection, satirically listing its flaws to preempt criticism.