Book Blog #191: Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky

Title: Kill the Boy Band
Author: Goldy Moldavsky
# of Pages: 320 (paperback)
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Humor
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Synopsis: Just know from the start that it wasn’t supposed to go like this. All we wanted was to get near them. That’s why we got a room in the hotel where they were staying. We were not planning to kidnap one of them. Especially not the most useless one. But we had him—his room key, his cell phone, and his secrets. We were not planning on what happened next. We swear. 
Review: This is going to be a stream of consciousness review!

(As in, I'm going to include some of my thoughts I had as I was reading the book and thoughts I had after finishing).

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"Why did I love The Ruperts? It was a fair question, and one that I got all the time from schoolmates, randoms on the street, concerned parent, but it was still a difficult thing to answer. Was it their music? It was fun, and I listened to it almost exclusively, but even me, a die-hard Strepur, could admit that it wasn’t anything groundbreaking. I’ll be the first to defend The Ruperts when people say that their music is just bubblegum (who doesn’t enjoy the simple deliciousness of gum sometimes?) or that it didn’t merit any accolades because none of it was written by them (most of the greatest singers in the world don’t sing their own music). But I can also call The Ruperts’ music what it is: catchy, mindless pop."

"Did I love them because they were hot? Because they were hot, minus Rupert P., of course. Rupert K. would always be my favorite, but the others had their charms. Rupert L. was a beefcake. A babe. One hundred percent bona fide. And Rupert X. may have been the most conventionally blond-pretty boy I have ever seen."

Thoughts on the excerpts during reading: I’m a die-hard fan who hates it when my favorites’ music is called bubblegum, so I find it odd that the protagonist is trying to embrace this quality of The Ruperts's music. For me, appearances are a nice bonus, but I'm more concerned with how personable the members of the group are. But I wouldn’t call my favorite groups's music “mindless pop”; even newspapers have been praising their lyrics for their women empowerment and anti-haters themes. But maybe that’s just my inner fangirl showing.

Thoughts on the excerpts after finishing the book: It's undeniable that this book is some version of a One Direction fanfic. The Ruperts are a British boyband who sing "bubblegum music," or music that usually has an upbeat song marketed to pre-teens and teenagers possibly produced in an assembly line process (Wikipedia definition). Although the members of One Direction have participated in writing some of their songs (based on a brief glance at their discography wiki page), Kill the Boy Band is obviously taking a jab at those under this genre who having many songs written by others.

I am not, and never have been, a Directioner, but I'm in a similar fandom. Even though those in the K-Pop fandoms tend to be at some sort of war with One Direction fans, we have more in common than either side are willing to admit (including, for some of us, our unwavering support of the groups). So while The Ruperts are obviously modeled after One Direction (and an even less subtle parody 5sos is revealed at the end of the book, dubbed "6SoG"), I can still relate to the type of obsession with a boyfriend that the book is trying to depict.

However, the excerpt made fangirls seem as if they mindlessly listen to "trash" music while KNOWING its trash. If a fangirl likes a group for the right reasons (for their work as an artist),  she won't think the music is meaningless. Not all fangirls like boy bands ONLY because they're hot.

"She was so lucky her parents got divorced. I would give anything to fly to Europe and see the boys in concert." 

Thoughts on excerpt during reading: I can't believe this line is in the book. She might be trying to look at the situation from a fangirl's perspective and how "lucky" her friend's situation is because she can play her parents off each other to get what she wants, but it makes me dislike the protagonist. As someone who has seen how negatively divorce has affected my friends, the protagonist shouldn't be saying random things like "she's so lucky her parents got divorced" without at least some pretense of understanding.

“I loved being a Strepur. Maybe I was obsessed, but so were millions of other girls. I wasn’t out of my depth. And I was happy in my obsession. But was Erin right? Was I just a drone, wasting my time and potential on boys who would never know I existed?"

Thoughts on excerpt during reading: What I do love about this book is how it explores different perspectives of fan culture, including how people outside of the fandom perceive the fans. There are many fans who are self-aware that their obsession won't last beyond a couple of years but are going to enjoy the fun while it lasts. If fangirls understand their obsession is ridiculous, it's only understandable that people perceive fangirls to be incredibly ridiculous. Our protagonist is going through her struggle with her obsession in this book. It's a question fangirls always ask; are we taking our obsession too far? Is this really worth our time? Not many books talk about fan culture, and it's great how this book is starts this discussion.

General notes after reading: While the book is nothing incredibly thought provoking (the story is told with the voice of a stereotypical teenage girl), for fangirls of boy bands, the qualities described of the protagonist will be surprisingly relatable.

However, for someone who has a neutral or negative views of fangirls in general (i.e. someone who does not consider themselves to be a fangirl, someone who thinks fangirls are being silly/stupid) shouldn't read this book. The appeal is for fangirls to read and relate to a book about other fangirls, and if the reader can't relate, then the poorer qualities of the book stand out more to the reader. The fangirls depicted in Kill the Boy Band are extremists - most fans wouldn't go so far as to kidnap a member of the band, given the opportunity (I hope). The level of craziness of these fangirls is a whole different level, and this can give the wrong impression to a reader who is unfamiliar with the culture.

After reading a few other reviews for this book, I realize that although I found parts of the book relatable and other parts humorous for their exaggeration, some readers may not differentiate the truth from the fiction. The fangirls' actions are not representative of most fans.

This is an extremely quick read; the writing style is rather simplistic (and sometimes irritating with the occasional "obvs" and "quiet frankly"s) and can easily be read in one sitting. I recommend this to fangirls/past fangirls.