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Didn’t See That Coming
Jesse Q. Sutanto
Written by Amanda Ramirez, originally published in Publishers Weekly
Nov 16, 2023
Didn’t See That Coming
Jesse Q. Sutanto
Written by Amanda Ramirez, originally published in Publishers Weekly
Nov 16, 2023
Jesse Q. Sutanto explores themes of misogyny in the gaming community and beyond in her new YA novel, Didn’t See That Coming, her second work set in Indonesia. Seventeen-year-old Kiki Siregar plays her favorite virtual game using the handle DudeBro10 and has persuaded fellow players that she’s a boy—including her in-game best friend, Sourdawg. But she can’t escape harassment IRL after transferring to an ultra-conservative school, where classmates patronize her for her outspoken personality and school administrators do nothing to curb escalating bullying. On top of that, she learns that Sourdawg attends the same school—and might just be the schoolmate she dislikes most. Sutanto spoke with PW about her own experiences as an online gamer, how her school days informed the novel, and how challenges like Kiki’s affect her children in the real world.
Read the full article here.