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The Band
Whip-smart, darkly funny, and biting debut follows a psychologist with a savior complex who offers shelter to a recently cancelled K-pop idol on the run.
Sang Duri is the eldest member and “visual” of a Korean boy band at the apex of global superstardom. But when his latest solo single accidentally leads to controversy, he’s abruptly cancelled.
To spare the band from fallout with obsessive fans and overbearing management, Duri disappears from the public eye by hiding out in the McMansion of a Chinese American woman he meets in a Los Angeles H-Mart. But his rescuer is both unhappily married with children and a psychologist with a savior complex, a combination that makes their potential union both seductive and incredibly problematic.
Meanwhile, Duri’s cancellation catapults not only a series of repressed memories from his music producer’s earlier years about the original girl group whose tragic disbanding preceded his current success, but also a spiral of violent interactions that culminates in an award show event with reverberations that forever change the fates of both the band members and the music industry.
In its indicting portrayal of mental health and public obsession, fandom, and cancel culture, The Band considers the many ways in which love and celebrity can devolve into something far more sinister when their demands are unmet.
Sang Duri is the eldest member and “visual” of a Korean boy band at the apex of global superstardom. But when his latest solo single accidentally leads to controversy, he’s abruptly cancelled.
To spare the band from fallout with obsessive fans and overbearing management, Duri disappears from the public eye by hiding out in the McMansion of a Chinese American woman he meets in a Los Angeles H-Mart. But his rescuer is both unhappily married with children and a psychologist with a savior complex, a combination that makes their potential union both seductive and incredibly problematic.
Meanwhile, Duri’s cancellation catapults not only a series of repressed memories from his music producer’s earlier years about the original girl group whose tragic disbanding preceded his current success, but also a spiral of violent interactions that culminates in an award show event with reverberations that forever change the fates of both the band members and the music industry.
In its indicting portrayal of mental health and public obsession, fandom, and cancel culture, The Band considers the many ways in which love and celebrity can devolve into something far more sinister when their demands are unmet.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published April 16, 2024
About the author
Christine Ma-Kellams
8 books70 followersIn Puerto Rico, the kids called me “La Chinita” because my birth name--“Xiao Ma”--was impossible to pronounce. (My father, fresh out of China’s Cultural Revolution, moved us there thinking that Puerto Rico was the 51st state because it said “U.S. territory” on the atlas).
These days, I have a degree in Spanish and am a psychologist by day to solve precisely this kind of childhood mystery. At night I write stories, and every once in a while, one of the good ones will show up here on GoodReads.
These days, I have a degree in Spanish and am a psychologist by day to solve precisely this kind of childhood mystery. At night I write stories, and every once in a while, one of the good ones will show up here on GoodReads.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
November 17, 2023
This was quite tough to read. The writing style really lacked for me due to the lack of depth in the characters (outside of the MMC) and lack of character development. It actually made me not want to read this book. It read more like a non-fiction book, just stating "facts" but lacked depth. Thankfully, it's barely over 200 pages, so I kept pushing, hoping it would get better. The writing style didn't. However, around page 100 the storyline got better, not amazing but better than it was in the beginning (boring). I really wanted to love this because based on the synopsis, it had really good potential to be a great book. This just fell flat for me. I gave it 2 stars for pages 100-170. But the rest just didn't do it for me. Maybe I just couldn't connect due to the author's writing style, I don't know.
I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.
I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.
June 10, 2024
I should just stop picking up books which have blurbs that start with "whip-smart".
I came for "its indicting portrayal of mental health and public obsession, fandom, and cancel culture" and to be honest I didn't get much of that. There's a couple of scenes that deal with the fickle nature of fandom and media but what I really got was a psychologist who confirmed most of my negative assumptions about psychologists and a story told largely from what I assume to be the least interesting POVs. Even with all that nicer prose or a more engaging style could have easily saved this book and there were moments where it was clear that the author is capable of writing engagingly so I'm not sure why this padded outline is what we ended up with.
Neutral 2.5 rounded up,
I came for "its indicting portrayal of mental health and public obsession, fandom, and cancel culture" and to be honest I didn't get much of that. There's a couple of scenes that deal with the fickle nature of fandom and media but what I really got was a psychologist who confirmed most of my negative assumptions about psychologists and a story told largely from what I assume to be the least interesting POVs. Even with all that nicer prose or a more engaging style could have easily saved this book and there were moments where it was clear that the author is capable of writing engagingly so I'm not sure why this padded outline is what we ended up with.
Neutral 2.5 rounded up,
April 10, 2024
4.25 stars
A satirical, literary take on the K-pop, idol making industry, The Band pleasantly surprised me because it turns out to be not at all the straightforward drama I was expecting—its characters larger-than-life, the humor brutally dry and self-deprecating, and it really hones in on the objectification of performers (they are replaceable parts, not people), how media scrutiny, industry demand, and pressure from fans result in an individual's emotional crisis.
I can see this being a polarizing read because of its free-form format and metafiction structure. While I find some of the fragmentation to be a little overdone (the footnote doesn't really add much to the core narrative), I greatly appreciate the unfiltered juxtaposition of East (many Korean dialogs/slang are left phonetically transcribed) and West (The humor is VERY American—I get Park and Recreation vibe), the fever dream of a plot, and how it manages to hit me emotionally by the end. I'll also add it is at a near-perfect length just tipping over the 200-page mark.
The Band is unabashedly written for a niche audience, someone with basic knowledge of how the K-pop industry functions (such as trainee debt), who appreciates the pop culture phenomenon but not intentionally shying away from its problems, AND also loves literary fiction. It is a challenging cross section to hit, but I do hope it will find its way to the right audience, as overall I find it to be an atypical, refreshing and sharply written read.
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
A satirical, literary take on the K-pop, idol making industry, The Band pleasantly surprised me because it turns out to be not at all the straightforward drama I was expecting—its characters larger-than-life, the humor brutally dry and self-deprecating, and it really hones in on the objectification of performers (they are replaceable parts, not people), how media scrutiny, industry demand, and pressure from fans result in an individual's emotional crisis.
I can see this being a polarizing read because of its free-form format and metafiction structure. While I find some of the fragmentation to be a little overdone (the footnote doesn't really add much to the core narrative), I greatly appreciate the unfiltered juxtaposition of East (many Korean dialogs/slang are left phonetically transcribed) and West (The humor is VERY American—I get Park and Recreation vibe), the fever dream of a plot, and how it manages to hit me emotionally by the end. I'll also add it is at a near-perfect length just tipping over the 200-page mark.
The Band is unabashedly written for a niche audience, someone with basic knowledge of how the K-pop industry functions (such as trainee debt), who appreciates the pop culture phenomenon but not intentionally shying away from its problems, AND also loves literary fiction. It is a challenging cross section to hit, but I do hope it will find its way to the right audience, as overall I find it to be an atypical, refreshing and sharply written read.
**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**
August 20, 2024
Ok, NOPE. Pretentious.
The synopsis has very little to do with the book. I find the way the author dealt with Korean language was awkward (sometimes translating things weirdly, i.e., 미국사람 as Yankee when, I mean, sure. But it’s American. Yankee has some sort of connotation; OR at times she’d write the romanization and then give you a weird footnote with the Korean, no translation. I found two Korean sentences awkward but obv I’m no expert, and I would’ve liked to have the translation of what she meant from herself).
I’m a big fan of two K-pop bands that no longer exist so I’m familiar with the industry. I’ve lived in Korea so I’m familiar with most of the stuff in this book. And I’m sorry but it was just basic and stereotypical and so goddamn pretentious. The chapters had very little happening but there was so much ‘bla bla’ that felt like the author flexing how smart she is.
I do recognize that the metafiction (?) format thingy with the footnotes including references and the author’s thoughts (?) was innovative but it also didn’t work for me. This book has good writing but it’s just all over the place and too pretentious for me to be interested in anything. The stereotypical and basic stuff about the K-pop industry and the hammering on sexist comments and religion just didn’t work for me either. The addition of a K-pop idol’s death was interesting but treated very poorly too, this was about mental health (allegedly) and I just didn’t see anything good or substantial to take from it.
The blurb says this book is supposed to be funny but the only laughable thing here was me reading it.
PS- I loved this sentence: “The issue with being a smart person with a Ph.D. is that you start to believe everything you read in books.” I think it’s the contrary. I don’t know, maybe it’s all satire. Everything about the woman with the PhD was just dumb.
The synopsis has very little to do with the book. I find the way the author dealt with Korean language was awkward (sometimes translating things weirdly, i.e., 미국사람 as Yankee when, I mean, sure. But it’s American. Yankee has some sort of connotation; OR at times she’d write the romanization and then give you a weird footnote with the Korean, no translation. I found two Korean sentences awkward but obv I’m no expert, and I would’ve liked to have the translation of what she meant from herself).
I’m a big fan of two K-pop bands that no longer exist so I’m familiar with the industry. I’ve lived in Korea so I’m familiar with most of the stuff in this book. And I’m sorry but it was just basic and stereotypical and so goddamn pretentious. The chapters had very little happening but there was so much ‘bla bla’ that felt like the author flexing how smart she is.
I do recognize that the metafiction (?) format thingy with the footnotes including references and the author’s thoughts (?) was innovative but it also didn’t work for me. This book has good writing but it’s just all over the place and too pretentious for me to be interested in anything. The stereotypical and basic stuff about the K-pop industry and the hammering on sexist comments and religion just didn’t work for me either. The addition of a K-pop idol’s death was interesting but treated very poorly too, this was about mental health (allegedly) and I just didn’t see anything good or substantial to take from it.
The blurb says this book is supposed to be funny but the only laughable thing here was me reading it.
PS- I loved this sentence: “The issue with being a smart person with a Ph.D. is that you start to believe everything you read in books.” I think it’s the contrary. I don’t know, maybe it’s all satire. Everything about the woman with the PhD was just dumb.
September 15, 2023
The Band is a brutal and unfiltered discussion of fandom culture and the obsessive entitlement fans feel toward those in the public eye. It's satirical and rightfully critical, dealing with mental illness and cancel culture through a lens that demands attention.
I want to speak concisely when talking about this book because it feels important to do so. Not only do I believe that anyone who considers themself a fan of a K-pop idol or group should read this, but anyone who labels themself a fan of any celebrity. Christine Ma-Kellams touches on individual issues within the K-pop sphere but also finds herself delving into conversations that any fan can relate to and/or understand.
There is something beautiful about this novel in that it feels as if it were a self-insert fan fiction, and I mean this with the utmost love as it adds to the story. When speaking of the narrator and the author's life, they blur between the lines of fiction and reality, crossing paths when necessary. There is something to be said for the way she can create a character modeled with the same career, race, and language abilities (I have gathered this much from the about the author section) and bring forth a story that so clearly is meant to negate this very ideal.
And trust me, I can find the irony in combing through her Goodreads before writing about public obsession.
While the synopsis of this story contains what you need to know about The Band before reading it, I want to clarify that it is much more than what you can fit into a few paragraphs. In all honesty, I feel that it could be much more than what the author fits within the small page count (according to Goodreads, 224 pages).
While the heart of the story is about Duri and the narrator's relationship and lives outside of one another, we see glimpses of The Band's producer, nicknamed Pinocchio, and his first attempt at gaining riches and fame through a girl group, while also getting The Band's perspective on Duri's unexpected departure from the group. In seeing the different lives of these characters you are able to see how they deal with fame and their circumstances, all wanting nothing more than for their dreams to become a reality.
The way Ma-Kellams deals with our narrator's savior complex teeters on the line of bizarrely inappropriate while finding yourself questioning whether you would do any different if placed in her position. The hints at having an intimate relationship with Duri and never directly saying so allow you to consider if you are truly any better than the obsessive fans she is describing or if she herself is one who balances between telling the truth and altering it slightly to sound more appealing and to feed her delusions.
K-pop and America
A moment that I find myself drifting back towards is the fictional group's appearance on an American talk show wherein they undergo a stressful situation that is foreign to them even more so than being in a foreign country. The members find themselves scared for their lives because the comedian host believed that she was surprising them. Without giving spoilers away, I wanted to mention this moment in the novel for the sheer reflection that it brings forth when speaking of America and its inability to see how it is perceived outside of its borders.
This section of the book brought a memory back from a year or so ago when Stray Kids were performing in the US on the fourth of July. I remember seeing jokes online about them not recognizing the holiday and the fireworks, believing that they were gunshots. In all honestly, I didn't think much about those jokes again until reading that talk show scene in the novel.
There is something to be said that I can't find the correct words for when speaking about America's belief that other countries and their citizens understand our lifestyles. As Ma-Kellams states in the novel, "America is a land so free—or perhaps so addicted to the idea of freedom—that its people can gun each other down in broad daylight with weapons they can find at the same place a man can get condoms." While some may gain no new knowledge from this moment in the novel or others for that matter, I do feel that there are times for readers to reflect deeply on their actions and/or beliefs.
Mental Illness
The last piece of The Band that I want to talk about is how it deals with mental illness. As it's a close subject to myself, going into this book I wanted to pay attention to how the author allowed the characters to approach that conversation.
We see Duri, who for the first time in seven years, isn't directly under a microscope. He finds himself struggling to cope with living when the world that knows him believes he needs to be canceled for his most recent music video. The metaphorical microscope lens is cracking, threatening to shatter on him.
Throughout the story, Duri finds himself struggling to keep afloat. It's a truly beautiful and simplistic approach to the discussion of depression and specifically how it pertains to those in the public eye who are treated as robots instead of humans.
Conclusion
In the end, I found The Band to be the perfect blend of satire and fiction. It never diverges from its initial path and keeps you from finding lackluster moments as there is so much to this story squeezed into the small page count.
Anyone who has ever considered themself a fan of someone in the public eye should pick this up as I truly believe that you can gain something from this novel. And for the K-pop fans, I will eternally recommend them to pick The Band up whether they read consistently or rarely. This is a book for them when it comes to learning and educating themselves about K-pop and Korean culture, while still being entertaining, funny, and heartwarming at moments.
A big thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
I want to speak concisely when talking about this book because it feels important to do so. Not only do I believe that anyone who considers themself a fan of a K-pop idol or group should read this, but anyone who labels themself a fan of any celebrity. Christine Ma-Kellams touches on individual issues within the K-pop sphere but also finds herself delving into conversations that any fan can relate to and/or understand.
There is something beautiful about this novel in that it feels as if it were a self-insert fan fiction, and I mean this with the utmost love as it adds to the story. When speaking of the narrator and the author's life, they blur between the lines of fiction and reality, crossing paths when necessary. There is something to be said for the way she can create a character modeled with the same career, race, and language abilities (I have gathered this much from the about the author section) and bring forth a story that so clearly is meant to negate this very ideal.
And trust me, I can find the irony in combing through her Goodreads before writing about public obsession.
While the synopsis of this story contains what you need to know about The Band before reading it, I want to clarify that it is much more than what you can fit into a few paragraphs. In all honesty, I feel that it could be much more than what the author fits within the small page count (according to Goodreads, 224 pages).
While the heart of the story is about Duri and the narrator's relationship and lives outside of one another, we see glimpses of The Band's producer, nicknamed Pinocchio, and his first attempt at gaining riches and fame through a girl group, while also getting The Band's perspective on Duri's unexpected departure from the group. In seeing the different lives of these characters you are able to see how they deal with fame and their circumstances, all wanting nothing more than for their dreams to become a reality.
The way Ma-Kellams deals with our narrator's savior complex teeters on the line of bizarrely inappropriate while finding yourself questioning whether you would do any different if placed in her position. The hints at having an intimate relationship with Duri and never directly saying so allow you to consider if you are truly any better than the obsessive fans she is describing or if she herself is one who balances between telling the truth and altering it slightly to sound more appealing and to feed her delusions.
K-pop and America
A moment that I find myself drifting back towards is the fictional group's appearance on an American talk show wherein they undergo a stressful situation that is foreign to them even more so than being in a foreign country. The members find themselves scared for their lives because the comedian host believed that she was surprising them. Without giving spoilers away, I wanted to mention this moment in the novel for the sheer reflection that it brings forth when speaking of America and its inability to see how it is perceived outside of its borders.
This section of the book brought a memory back from a year or so ago when Stray Kids were performing in the US on the fourth of July. I remember seeing jokes online about them not recognizing the holiday and the fireworks, believing that they were gunshots. In all honestly, I didn't think much about those jokes again until reading that talk show scene in the novel.
There is something to be said that I can't find the correct words for when speaking about America's belief that other countries and their citizens understand our lifestyles. As Ma-Kellams states in the novel, "America is a land so free—or perhaps so addicted to the idea of freedom—that its people can gun each other down in broad daylight with weapons they can find at the same place a man can get condoms." While some may gain no new knowledge from this moment in the novel or others for that matter, I do feel that there are times for readers to reflect deeply on their actions and/or beliefs.
Mental Illness
The last piece of The Band that I want to talk about is how it deals with mental illness. As it's a close subject to myself, going into this book I wanted to pay attention to how the author allowed the characters to approach that conversation.
We see Duri, who for the first time in seven years, isn't directly under a microscope. He finds himself struggling to cope with living when the world that knows him believes he needs to be canceled for his most recent music video. The metaphorical microscope lens is cracking, threatening to shatter on him.
Throughout the story, Duri finds himself struggling to keep afloat. It's a truly beautiful and simplistic approach to the discussion of depression and specifically how it pertains to those in the public eye who are treated as robots instead of humans.
Conclusion
In the end, I found The Band to be the perfect blend of satire and fiction. It never diverges from its initial path and keeps you from finding lackluster moments as there is so much to this story squeezed into the small page count.
Anyone who has ever considered themself a fan of someone in the public eye should pick this up as I truly believe that you can gain something from this novel. And for the K-pop fans, I will eternally recommend them to pick The Band up whether they read consistently or rarely. This is a book for them when it comes to learning and educating themselves about K-pop and Korean culture, while still being entertaining, funny, and heartwarming at moments.
A big thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!
Read
October 11, 2023THE BAND follows Sang Duri, the eldest member and “visual” of a Korean boy band at the apex of global dominion. But when his latest solo single accidentally drudges up ancient rivalries between East Asia’s three superpowers (Korea, Japan, China), he suddenly finds himself cancelled by the group’s notorious fandom known as much for their commitment as their obsession.
To spare the band from the fallout with fans and cope with his own increasing anxiety, Duri disappears from the public eye by hiding out in the McMansion of a Chinese-American woman he meets in an Angeleno H-Mart. But she is both unhappily married with children and a practicing psychologist with a savior complex, a combination that makes their potential union both seductive and incredibly problematic. Meanwhile, what no one foresees is that Duri’s cancellation catapults not only a series of repressed memories from his music producer’s earlier years about the original girl group whose tragic disbanding preceded his current success, but also a spiral of increasingly violent interactions between his band and the public that ultimately culminates in an award show bombing whose reverberations forever alter both the fates of the members themselves and the nature of the music industry.
In its indicting portrayal of mental health and public obsession, fandom and cancel culture, THE BAND considers how old tribal allegiances based on ethnicity or history can disrupt modern-day celebrity and the many ways in which love devolves into something far more sinister when its demands are unmet.
To spare the band from the fallout with fans and cope with his own increasing anxiety, Duri disappears from the public eye by hiding out in the McMansion of a Chinese-American woman he meets in an Angeleno H-Mart. But she is both unhappily married with children and a practicing psychologist with a savior complex, a combination that makes their potential union both seductive and incredibly problematic. Meanwhile, what no one foresees is that Duri’s cancellation catapults not only a series of repressed memories from his music producer’s earlier years about the original girl group whose tragic disbanding preceded his current success, but also a spiral of increasingly violent interactions between his band and the public that ultimately culminates in an award show bombing whose reverberations forever alter both the fates of the members themselves and the nature of the music industry.
In its indicting portrayal of mental health and public obsession, fandom and cancel culture, THE BAND considers how old tribal allegiances based on ethnicity or history can disrupt modern-day celebrity and the many ways in which love devolves into something far more sinister when its demands are unmet.
Shelved as '2024'
June 3, 2024📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books
August 30, 2023
I was extremely excited for the opportunity to review THE BAND! As soon as I saw the description on NetGalley, I knew it was something I had to at least attempt to get my hands on-- I've been involved fairly heavily in fandom culture throughout my young adult life, and the sociological dynamics behind it fascinate me. While I"m not a KPOP fan myself (and believe my perception of this book would be drastically different if I was), I observe the fandom implosions from afar with equal parts shock and intrigue.
THE BAND is an intellectual deep-dive into such parasocial relationships and infighting, told through the lens of a jaded Chinese-American psychologist. MC lives a perfectly stable and utterly unsatisfying life in a California McMansion with her negligent husband and interchangeable children. When she runs into Sang Du-ri at H-mart, a member of the international megahit The Band on the lam after facing internet cancellation, she shelters him in her home and begins a tumultuous and complicated relationship. The narrative flips between the narrator and Du-ri, The Band's manager, and the members of his failed girl group.
I found the beginning somewhat slow, and struggled to become fully invested in the story. I felt that it flipped a bit too frequently between perspectives and took a bit too long to really delve into the narrator's POV, which made it difficult to emotionally connect. However, I really enjoyed the opportunity to view the inner workings of the industry from various perspectives: band members, managers, fans, and outsiders, Korean and American outside. Once I reached a certain point, however, the narrative streamlined and the pace of events started to pick up, and I started to read at a much quicker pace, with more dedication. The hanging threads of the extraneous characters started to tie together and I found myself pulling out my phone between meetings and classes to keep following them.
Some characters in THE BAND were more fleshed out more than others, but the main narrator was in my opinion the most unique and most unexpected. The tone and voice of the book strikes a peculiar balance between detached and personally overinvested, academic and colloquial, cruel and compassionate, analytical and understanding. The style feels almost like a blend between a nonfiction report and a personal essay narrative, which sounds strange--- and it is--- but works for the tone of the story. The writing is wonderfully rich, extremely well-informed and well-researched, but still maintains humor, levity, and voice. I have to agree with one of the blurbs that THE BAND couldn't have been written by anyone else; Ms. Ma-Kellams possesses a unique talent for both prose and journalism that lends itself excellently to the bizarre and compelling nature of the story. The book delves into some dark and fascinating subject matter regarding the parasocial, toxic, and all-consuming nature of the fan-idol relationship, the exploitation within the industry, and the psychological phenomena behind it--- mirrored in smaller scale by the narrator and Du-ri's relationship. I would be remiss if not to mention the footnotes that pop up throughout each chapter. On my e-ARC, tapping them brought me to an index at the end of the chapter. I can't tell how I feel about them as a stylistic choice: on one hand, they inject both additional voice and supplemental information, but I also found them distracting and jarring. If I were reading on a physical book, I think flipping back and forth would have been a bit frustrating and would have removed me from the narrative.
THE BAND wasn't what I thought it would be, but I'm glad it wasn't; it's hard to think of a book quite like this one. I can see this blowing up upon its release due to the subject matter, but I can also (ironically) see the possibility of backlash from fans expecting something lighter. All in all, I look forward to Ms. Ma-Kellams' next release, and commend her for the achievement that is THE BAND.
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
THE BAND is an intellectual deep-dive into such parasocial relationships and infighting, told through the lens of a jaded Chinese-American psychologist. MC lives a perfectly stable and utterly unsatisfying life in a California McMansion with her negligent husband and interchangeable children. When she runs into Sang Du-ri at H-mart, a member of the international megahit The Band on the lam after facing internet cancellation, she shelters him in her home and begins a tumultuous and complicated relationship. The narrative flips between the narrator and Du-ri, The Band's manager, and the members of his failed girl group.
I found the beginning somewhat slow, and struggled to become fully invested in the story. I felt that it flipped a bit too frequently between perspectives and took a bit too long to really delve into the narrator's POV, which made it difficult to emotionally connect. However, I really enjoyed the opportunity to view the inner workings of the industry from various perspectives: band members, managers, fans, and outsiders, Korean and American outside. Once I reached a certain point, however, the narrative streamlined and the pace of events started to pick up, and I started to read at a much quicker pace, with more dedication. The hanging threads of the extraneous characters started to tie together and I found myself pulling out my phone between meetings and classes to keep following them.
Some characters in THE BAND were more fleshed out more than others, but the main narrator was in my opinion the most unique and most unexpected. The tone and voice of the book strikes a peculiar balance between detached and personally overinvested, academic and colloquial, cruel and compassionate, analytical and understanding. The style feels almost like a blend between a nonfiction report and a personal essay narrative, which sounds strange--- and it is--- but works for the tone of the story. The writing is wonderfully rich, extremely well-informed and well-researched, but still maintains humor, levity, and voice. I have to agree with one of the blurbs that THE BAND couldn't have been written by anyone else; Ms. Ma-Kellams possesses a unique talent for both prose and journalism that lends itself excellently to the bizarre and compelling nature of the story. The book delves into some dark and fascinating subject matter regarding the parasocial, toxic, and all-consuming nature of the fan-idol relationship, the exploitation within the industry, and the psychological phenomena behind it--- mirrored in smaller scale by the narrator and Du-ri's relationship. I would be remiss if not to mention the footnotes that pop up throughout each chapter. On my e-ARC, tapping them brought me to an index at the end of the chapter. I can't tell how I feel about them as a stylistic choice: on one hand, they inject both additional voice and supplemental information, but I also found them distracting and jarring. If I were reading on a physical book, I think flipping back and forth would have been a bit frustrating and would have removed me from the narrative.
THE BAND wasn't what I thought it would be, but I'm glad it wasn't; it's hard to think of a book quite like this one. I can see this blowing up upon its release due to the subject matter, but I can also (ironically) see the possibility of backlash from fans expecting something lighter. All in all, I look forward to Ms. Ma-Kellams' next release, and commend her for the achievement that is THE BAND.
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
July 31, 2023
I wish this was 648292994 pages long
April 22, 2024
I liked this book. It's weird and niche and voicey and self-involved and not a lot happens in it, but that's OK - the point, even! - if you're its target audience, which is to say, an academic slash self-consciously intellectual slash cerebrally inclined reader who's also a big fan of pop culture and/or BTS. (I am not actually a fan of BTS, but I make up for it with my college One Direction phase.) I have a lot of friends who are in this category, and so there are a lot of people I would specifically recommend this book to, although I suspect it would not appeal as much to a general audience.
HOWEVER - for all its obsession with academic footnotes and facts, I can't forgive it for calling Justin Bieber "American." But maybe that's just because I read an ARC and they'll correct it in the final version, lol.
I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
HOWEVER - for all its obsession with academic footnotes and facts, I can't forgive it for calling Justin Bieber "American." But maybe that's just because I read an ARC and they'll correct it in the final version, lol.
I received an eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Read
July 10, 2024I love the idea of The Band but I'm concerned that the topic (a K-pop band whose lead singer gets cancelled) is an unlikely match for the experimental/metafiction narrative style (which reads a little like a rambling academic paper, complete with footnotes.)
I LOVE a writer who takes chances and I wish I were the perfect reader for this. I think a scholar of K-pop might appreciate it more; I am just a casual fan.
I feel like this review needs a footnote. Note: Happiness Falls by Angie Kim had a similar narrative structure, but for some reason I found that easier to read and in fact, really liked it.
Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review!
Jen Ryland Reviews
I LOVE a writer who takes chances and I wish I were the perfect reader for this. I think a scholar of K-pop might appreciate it more; I am just a casual fan.
I feel like this review needs a footnote. Note: Happiness Falls by Angie Kim had a similar narrative structure, but for some reason I found that easier to read and in fact, really liked it.
Thanks to the publisher for providing an advance copy for review!
Jen Ryland Reviews
September 1, 2023
I don’t even know what to sayyyyyyy! This book is a weird hilarious combination of k-pop fandom and armchair academic analysis. I thought it was hilarious, but it is definitely not for everyone. The first half is a bit slow and all over the place, but when it all starts to come together, it really sings.
October 2, 2024
I initially was going to give this a very low rating due to its blasphemy and general disgustingness in regards to Christianity. However, in reading a book not just about the world but about the world (imagine I said that in a very mournful but also disgusted voice), did I really think I could expect anything else? I also was irritated at the approach several people who gave very low ratings took to the content of this book. So - I'm rating this instead for what I believe it is, a book about k-pop boys, gender, sex, celebrity culture, groupthink, and the internet.
If I was still me at 17 - a teenaged white girl device-banned from Twitter for being very zealous about how BTS's primarily female fans needed to acknowledge the problematic aspects of the parasocial worship of a group of men who did not care about them personally, lied to them, and made money off of them (while the former fantasized about having relations with, dating, and marrying the latter - all while being delusional enough to believe that their precious boys AREN'T lying about their girlfriendless status) - I would have paraded a physical copy of this like people did with Mao's Little Red Book during the Cultural Revolution.
It is a testament to the author's creative genius that I wonder about what she'd think of me if she ever read my review or met me personally. After finishing this book, I know that she could write a devastating (for me), life-altering (for me) dissection of the psychosexual delusion/dysfunction within the mind of a former anti-BTS feminist who tweeted about hating BTS's impact on young female minds (all the while having pictures of Rap Monster, ordered en masse from Amazon) hanging above her desk, who converted to Catholicism and now will not say the F word.
Such a piece of writing would be devastating for me because I would have to face the disgustingness of seeing the worst aspects of myself (I know she'd pick them out immediately) written out clearly. And it would be life-altering because I have a feeling I would memorize it almost immediately, word-for-word, and it would play in my mind every time I humiliated myself or felt profound shame, anger, or disappointment towards my own thoughts or actions. That's how skilled the author is at describing the inner-workings of people who definitely believe that their minds could NEVER be read or even understood by others (especially if they don't understand them, themselves). That is a gift on its own.
If I was still me at 17 - a teenaged white girl device-banned from Twitter for being very zealous about how BTS's primarily female fans needed to acknowledge the problematic aspects of the parasocial worship of a group of men who did not care about them personally, lied to them, and made money off of them (while the former fantasized about having relations with, dating, and marrying the latter - all while being delusional enough to believe that their precious boys AREN'T lying about their girlfriendless status) - I would have paraded a physical copy of this like people did with Mao's Little Red Book during the Cultural Revolution.
It is a testament to the author's creative genius that I wonder about what she'd think of me if she ever read my review or met me personally. After finishing this book, I know that she could write a devastating (for me), life-altering (for me) dissection of the psychosexual delusion/dysfunction within the mind of a former anti-BTS feminist who tweeted about hating BTS's impact on young female minds (all the while having pictures of Rap Monster, ordered en masse from Amazon) hanging above her desk, who converted to Catholicism and now will not say the F word.
Such a piece of writing would be devastating for me because I would have to face the disgustingness of seeing the worst aspects of myself (I know she'd pick them out immediately) written out clearly. And it would be life-altering because I have a feeling I would memorize it almost immediately, word-for-word, and it would play in my mind every time I humiliated myself or felt profound shame, anger, or disappointment towards my own thoughts or actions. That's how skilled the author is at describing the inner-workings of people who definitely believe that their minds could NEVER be read or even understood by others (especially if they don't understand them, themselves). That is a gift on its own.
Read
July 26, 2024Christine Ma-Kellams’s debut novel, THE BAND, takes readers on a journey through the music industry, cancel culture, and the complexities of fame. At the center of the story is Sang Duri, the eldest member of a K-Pop boy band at the peak of global superstardom. When the lyrics of his latest single ignite tensions between Korea, China, and Japan, Duri seeks refuge in the home of a Chinese-American psychologist, and it is through this nameless narrator that the story is told.
Ma-Kellams weaves a satirical tapestry, exposing the dark underbelly of fandom and the industry’s indifference to mental health. The footnotes—ranging from plastic surgery explanations to H Mart trivia—add clever layers, even if they occasionally distract from the main plot. The novel’s exploration of blurred lines between fame and vulnerability keeps readers engaged.
Duri and the psychologist form an unlikely bond, their complicated relationship unfolding against a backdrop of intrigue. Duri’s disappearance from the spotlight sets off a shocking chain of events, revealing the high stakes of fame. While the characters lack depth at times, their interactions remain intriguing.
Balancing tension and humor, the fast-paced narrative leaves readers both entertained and contemplative. Whether you’re a K-Pop aficionado or a curious observer, THE BAND offers a fresh perspective on stardom and the consequences of fame with biting satire, memorable characters, and a thought-provoking narrative.
Ma-Kellams weaves a satirical tapestry, exposing the dark underbelly of fandom and the industry’s indifference to mental health. The footnotes—ranging from plastic surgery explanations to H Mart trivia—add clever layers, even if they occasionally distract from the main plot. The novel’s exploration of blurred lines between fame and vulnerability keeps readers engaged.
Duri and the psychologist form an unlikely bond, their complicated relationship unfolding against a backdrop of intrigue. Duri’s disappearance from the spotlight sets off a shocking chain of events, revealing the high stakes of fame. While the characters lack depth at times, their interactions remain intriguing.
Balancing tension and humor, the fast-paced narrative leaves readers both entertained and contemplative. Whether you’re a K-Pop aficionado or a curious observer, THE BAND offers a fresh perspective on stardom and the consequences of fame with biting satire, memorable characters, and a thought-provoking narrative.
December 2, 2023
The Band by Christine Ma-Kellams. Thanks to @atriabooks for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A K-Pop star disappears and hides out with a Chinese-American he meets in H-Mart.
This was a slow read for me and very hard to get into it. It reads like a non fiction, especially in the first half of the book. About 100 pages in, it is a bit easier to read. The format and pacing doesn’t change, but you get into the story and start to understand the plot that becomes entertaining. The cultural aspect was interesting to me and I learned a lot from the read.
“The more powerful a person is the easier it is for the team to simply Will their plans into existence, come what may.”
The Band comes out 4/16.
A K-Pop star disappears and hides out with a Chinese-American he meets in H-Mart.
This was a slow read for me and very hard to get into it. It reads like a non fiction, especially in the first half of the book. About 100 pages in, it is a bit easier to read. The format and pacing doesn’t change, but you get into the story and start to understand the plot that becomes entertaining. The cultural aspect was interesting to me and I learned a lot from the read.
“The more powerful a person is the easier it is for the team to simply Will their plans into existence, come what may.”
The Band comes out 4/16.
March 19, 2024
I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
2.5 rounded to 3
This was a tough one to read for me, I think the writing style just wasn’t for me and that is ok. A good portion of it read more like non-fiction and was difficult to get into. Because this one is relatively short I decided to keep reading in the hopes things changed, and something pique my interest like the synopsis. I will say, the storyline did get better towards the end but it still didn’t rope me in the way I was hoping. I feel like there was definitely potential here, but it just wasn’t for me. I know many others will fully enjoy this!!
2.5 rounded to 3
This was a tough one to read for me, I think the writing style just wasn’t for me and that is ok. A good portion of it read more like non-fiction and was difficult to get into. Because this one is relatively short I decided to keep reading in the hopes things changed, and something pique my interest like the synopsis. I will say, the storyline did get better towards the end but it still didn’t rope me in the way I was hoping. I feel like there was definitely potential here, but it just wasn’t for me. I know many others will fully enjoy this!!
May 8, 2024
I liked reading this book, especially being it was about K-pop because I have a lot of friends who are into Kpop but I know little about it but I'm fascinated by the way the bands are created and how the entertainment industry in Korea works. I think the talks of mental health, fan culture, and all that goes with it is an interesting idea and I like that this book talked about it because from what I've seen with the kpop industry, it is not an industry to talk much about it (however it luckily seems to be changing). I like how the book focused on one member primarily but also gave light to each member and allowed for me to learn about them. I think that it was a cool book with a good concept.
May 25, 2024
Thank you Atria Books for allowing me to read and review The Band on NetGalley.
Published: 04/16/24
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Humor & Satire
Stars: 2
My opinion: A convoluted mess with filthy dialogue. I wasn't impressed and am certain that in the marketing scheme I was counted in the +/- percent.
The synopsis along with humor & satire genre headers drew me to this book.
This wasn't written for me.
Published: 04/16/24
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Humor & Satire
Stars: 2
My opinion: A convoluted mess with filthy dialogue. I wasn't impressed and am certain that in the marketing scheme I was counted in the +/- percent.
The synopsis along with humor & satire genre headers drew me to this book.
This wasn't written for me.
May 7, 2024
I feel, that in an attempt to be clever, Christine Ma-Kellams missed writing what could have been a pretty cool book about a Korean K-Pop style band.
The needless verbiage almost obliterated the storyline, leaving me disappointed and disinterested.
The needless verbiage almost obliterated the storyline, leaving me disappointed and disinterested.
April 30, 2024
Interesting and sometimes funny/silly, but a little messy.
July 23, 2024
The perfect nerdy combo of everything I love reading about. I feel like people who gave this book low ratings didn't get the point lol
July 24, 2024
As a fan and witness of the spectacle of K-pop and “teenage” pop music on the whole, there’s so much here that really gets it right. It’s clear a lot of research was done, especially when it comes to saesang/darkly obsessive fan culture. This is what tips this story into 4-star territory, but if you aren’t as familiar with K-pop, it might hold less interest. Regardless, this is well written full of rich characters with a ton of secrets.
December 3, 2023
Oof, I went into this one really wanting to like it and ended up immensely disappointed.
As for the plot, it's... kind of there, I guess. The characters... exist. Things... happen.
...You know what, I'll just go ahead and list what I liked about the book: the writing was often witty, and the author brought up valid insights into fandoms and fans' parasocial relationships. As for everything else...
Okay. This book varies wildly between nothing important happening and trying to cram so much into its condensed length that fifteen things are going on simultaneously and we glimpse them so briefly we can't get attached. Maybe it's that often witty yet obnoxiously vague voice the narrator takes, but the whole book reads about as involved in its plot as a Wikipedia article; I have, in fact, read more interesting Wiki pages.
If this book was longer, we might get some character growth, but as it is, everyone is there acting insufferably for a couple of pages and then they're gone for our next group of cast members to make brief, uninspiring cameos. Duri (who the narrator coyly insinuates she had sex with but no she didn't but maybe she did but no but) is written like an actual person, but everyone else may as well be idealized cardboard cutouts, just as flat and not even as colorful.
I don't know. All books require some suspension of belief, but everyone in this book talked and acted like, well, characters. Way back in high school, my creative writing teacher pointed to a bit of dialogue I wrote and said, "Is this really something a [INSERT NOUN HERE] would say?" And for every one of the characters in this book, the answer I found to this question was frequently, no. What they did, how they acted--I just couldn't relate.
This book isn't horrible; you might like it. Even though I tried, I just couldn't. If you want to read thinly (VERY thinly) veiled, terrible self-insert fanfiction about K-pop bands, I recommend heading to AO3 instead.
As for the plot, it's... kind of there, I guess. The characters... exist. Things... happen.
...You know what, I'll just go ahead and list what I liked about the book: the writing was often witty, and the author brought up valid insights into fandoms and fans' parasocial relationships. As for everything else...
Okay. This book varies wildly between nothing important happening and trying to cram so much into its condensed length that fifteen things are going on simultaneously and we glimpse them so briefly we can't get attached. Maybe it's that often witty yet obnoxiously vague voice the narrator takes, but the whole book reads about as involved in its plot as a Wikipedia article; I have, in fact, read more interesting Wiki pages.
If this book was longer, we might get some character growth, but as it is, everyone is there acting insufferably for a couple of pages and then they're gone for our next group of cast members to make brief, uninspiring cameos. Duri (who the narrator coyly insinuates she had sex with but no she didn't but maybe she did but no but) is written like an actual person, but everyone else may as well be idealized cardboard cutouts, just as flat and not even as colorful.
I don't know. All books require some suspension of belief, but everyone in this book talked and acted like, well, characters. Way back in high school, my creative writing teacher pointed to a bit of dialogue I wrote and said, "Is this really something a [INSERT NOUN HERE] would say?" And for every one of the characters in this book, the answer I found to this question was frequently, no. What they did, how they acted--I just couldn't relate.
This book isn't horrible; you might like it. Even though I tried, I just couldn't. If you want to read thinly (VERY thinly) veiled, terrible self-insert fanfiction about K-pop bands, I recommend heading to AO3 instead.
June 7, 2024
thank you to atria books for a copy of the arc via netgalley, full review to come!
May 21, 2024
5/17/2024 A hell of a book. Full review tk at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
5/21/2024 Reading this book was a distinctly disorienting experience, in the best way possible. Was I reading the author's diary? Did this thus make us best friends? Obviously the answer to both questions is no, but it still felt like a weirdly intimate experience, as if a good friend was telling me all about a recent bizarre experience she'd had, in much the same manner I recount things, minus the academic citations.
The unnamed narrator begins by talking about a fictional K-Pop group named, simply, The Band. Frankly, the only pop culture opportunity missed here was the lack of allusion to the Canadian-American group of the same name. We get a bit of a lesson on K-Pop as we're introduced to each member, plus Pinocchio, the impresario who put them together.
When a song and music video released for The Band member Sang Duri's birthday accidentally sets off an international firestorm, Duri goes into hiding in California. In an Asian grocery store, of all places, he meets and ingratiates himself with the narrator, and winds up staying in her house for a while, to the bemusement of her husband and kids. The narrator is unhappily married, and recognizes that, as a psychology professor, she has a bit of a savior complex. As her relationship with Duri unfolds, outside drama threatens to take him away from her for good.
Honestly, this book was the most grown-up version of boy band fanfic I've ever read. And, gosh, that's definitely not even describing it properly. Insofar that all boy band fiction -- hell, all fiction about musical groups -- is fanfic in some form, this brilliant homage to the musical genre easily navigates and communicates the specific nuances of K-Pop to readers like myself who know very little about it. K-Pop fans will, I imagine, find much here that speaks to them too.
What makes this more interesting than your average novel of bad romance, tho, is the amount of attention paid to cross-cultural interactions, whether they be between Asians, Asian Americans and/or white Americans. I love the acknowledgment of the broad differences between all three -- as someone who straddles both of the first two categories, I always find it desperately irritating when Asian Americans pretend that we are a monolith, and then try to extend that to people from Asia as well. It always feels like a capitulation to the kind of white people who can't be bothered to learn cultural nuances beyond othering everyone who looks racially different from themselves. The fact that Duri's "cancellation" comes about not because of being a sex pest or worse, but stems from ancient ethno-nationalistic grudges, is both a refreshing change from the usual way fame is discussed in Western culture, as well as a distinctly Asian form of ridiculousness. I drank down Christine Ma-Kellams' wry depiction of it all as if it were nourishing broth.
Because she gets it. She knows that Asian and American relations can be difficult and weird, and that Asian Americans straddling the two correctly form their own entity, a unique synthesis of both cultures that doesn't need to be wholeheartedly endorsed by either parent group to be perfectly valid. As a "younger" or perhaps I should say less established culture, Asian Americanness is allowed to choose differently from any of its inputs.
Besides her excellent observations on culture, Ms Ma-Kellams also writes with maturity and verve on the subject of love and, especially, marriage and its modern-day socioeconomic underpinnings. And, man, I get it. Raising kids is expensive and hard here in America, where the social net is so frayed that a core nuclear family often has little choice but to grimly stick together in order to pay all the bills. The author deftly and often hilariously explores the complicated feelings that necessarily arise from this status quo.
For being only a little over 200 pages, this was a very dense book that felt like a gossipy, entertaining and scandalous chat with an old friend. In much the same way that pop bands in particular encourage parasocial relationships with their fans, this book really draws in the reader with an intimacy that feels almost entirely authentic. It's an astonishingly clever feat of writing that examines, too, the perils of fame, advances in technology, and the meaning of justice. There's so much to this book that I don't even know how to categorize it really, and can only recommend it as an excellent read for any polymath who enjoys a healthy dose of pop culture with their contemporary socioeconomic musings.
The Band by Christine Ma-Kellams was published April 16 2024 by Atria Books and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
5/21/2024 Reading this book was a distinctly disorienting experience, in the best way possible. Was I reading the author's diary? Did this thus make us best friends? Obviously the answer to both questions is no, but it still felt like a weirdly intimate experience, as if a good friend was telling me all about a recent bizarre experience she'd had, in much the same manner I recount things, minus the academic citations.
The unnamed narrator begins by talking about a fictional K-Pop group named, simply, The Band. Frankly, the only pop culture opportunity missed here was the lack of allusion to the Canadian-American group of the same name. We get a bit of a lesson on K-Pop as we're introduced to each member, plus Pinocchio, the impresario who put them together.
When a song and music video released for The Band member Sang Duri's birthday accidentally sets off an international firestorm, Duri goes into hiding in California. In an Asian grocery store, of all places, he meets and ingratiates himself with the narrator, and winds up staying in her house for a while, to the bemusement of her husband and kids. The narrator is unhappily married, and recognizes that, as a psychology professor, she has a bit of a savior complex. As her relationship with Duri unfolds, outside drama threatens to take him away from her for good.
Honestly, this book was the most grown-up version of boy band fanfic I've ever read. And, gosh, that's definitely not even describing it properly. Insofar that all boy band fiction -- hell, all fiction about musical groups -- is fanfic in some form, this brilliant homage to the musical genre easily navigates and communicates the specific nuances of K-Pop to readers like myself who know very little about it. K-Pop fans will, I imagine, find much here that speaks to them too.
What makes this more interesting than your average novel of bad romance, tho, is the amount of attention paid to cross-cultural interactions, whether they be between Asians, Asian Americans and/or white Americans. I love the acknowledgment of the broad differences between all three -- as someone who straddles both of the first two categories, I always find it desperately irritating when Asian Americans pretend that we are a monolith, and then try to extend that to people from Asia as well. It always feels like a capitulation to the kind of white people who can't be bothered to learn cultural nuances beyond othering everyone who looks racially different from themselves. The fact that Duri's "cancellation" comes about not because of being a sex pest or worse, but stems from ancient ethno-nationalistic grudges, is both a refreshing change from the usual way fame is discussed in Western culture, as well as a distinctly Asian form of ridiculousness. I drank down Christine Ma-Kellams' wry depiction of it all as if it were nourishing broth.
Because she gets it. She knows that Asian and American relations can be difficult and weird, and that Asian Americans straddling the two correctly form their own entity, a unique synthesis of both cultures that doesn't need to be wholeheartedly endorsed by either parent group to be perfectly valid. As a "younger" or perhaps I should say less established culture, Asian Americanness is allowed to choose differently from any of its inputs.
Besides her excellent observations on culture, Ms Ma-Kellams also writes with maturity and verve on the subject of love and, especially, marriage and its modern-day socioeconomic underpinnings. And, man, I get it. Raising kids is expensive and hard here in America, where the social net is so frayed that a core nuclear family often has little choice but to grimly stick together in order to pay all the bills. The author deftly and often hilariously explores the complicated feelings that necessarily arise from this status quo.
For being only a little over 200 pages, this was a very dense book that felt like a gossipy, entertaining and scandalous chat with an old friend. In much the same way that pop bands in particular encourage parasocial relationships with their fans, this book really draws in the reader with an intimacy that feels almost entirely authentic. It's an astonishingly clever feat of writing that examines, too, the perils of fame, advances in technology, and the meaning of justice. There's so much to this book that I don't even know how to categorize it really, and can only recommend it as an excellent read for any polymath who enjoys a healthy dose of pop culture with their contemporary socioeconomic musings.
The Band by Christine Ma-Kellams was published April 16 2024 by Atria Books and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
April 15, 2024
Christine Ma-Kellams’s whip-smart, darkly funny, and biting debut, The Band, follows a psychologist with a savior complex who offers shelter to a recently cancelled K-pop idol on the run.
This book was completely unexpected! I’m not sure what I expected though–perhaps a literary drama. This is much more of a satire, which delighted me. I love that biting, dry humor that layered just under the surface. I am actually not a huge K-Pop fan, though I find the popularity of K-Pop to be fascinating. I think this book could replace K-Pop with [celebrity] and still work, and the story is only about K-Pop on the surface and speaks much more about how celebrity “talent” is used like a piece rather than a person.
The story reads a bit like fan fiction, in a fun way. It felt like a love letter to K-Pop fans. It seems to me like the author and narrator blend together at certain points in the story, as though Ma-Kellams wrote herself into the K-Pop world and imagined playing a small part in it. The story centers around Sang Duri, a cancelled Korean boy band member who caused an uproar among the public after releasing a controversial solo.
Duri hides from the public outcry in the mansion of a Chinese-American woman he meets in Los Angeles. Ma-Kellams writes the narrator as a psychologist with a savior complex (and I’ll say as a psychologist myself, this type of unhinged savior complex is sadly not uncommon in our field). The relationship between the narrator and Duri is at the center of the book, but it’s also only one small piece of the broader story. The book weaves together many related stories—the Band’s producer and his attempts to work with a girl group, the other members of the Band dealing with the fallout from Duri’s departure and cancellation.
The narrator is a bizarre character, and I do love a character that is boldly strange. Her relationship with Duri is unclear—the book hints heavily at a sexual relationship between the two. The spotlight is on the narrator but also on the reader. Aren’t we all guilty of being too interested in the salacious and private details of celebrities’ lives? Don’t we all sometimes feel entitled to know intimate things about these idols, as though they don’t deserve privacy because of their career?
The book is written in a freeform style that was exactly what a story like this needs, but also may not appeal to every reader. I think in part that’s because it’s hard to get a concrete grasp on the story. It’s very dream-like in the way it unfolds across the page. There isn’t a dull or extraneous moment—for such a loosely flowing narrative, Ma-Kellams kept it tight in presentation.
Duri’s struggles with mental health in the wake of his scandal felt authentic. This is a man whose entire identity for years became what the public saw him to be, and not who he truly was. The very same public and fandom cancelling him begs the question if Duri can find himself again and not take on what others think of him. Fellow people pleasers out there will have a small moment of comradery with this aspect. How do we learn to not see ourselves by someone else’s definition of who we are?
A book for the K-Pop fans out there, but really for anyone who appreciates a novel approach to storytelling and a broader message about obsession, celebrity, and fandom, and the toll those can take on the person at the center of it.
Thank you to Atria Books for my copy. Opinions are my own.
This book was completely unexpected! I’m not sure what I expected though–perhaps a literary drama. This is much more of a satire, which delighted me. I love that biting, dry humor that layered just under the surface. I am actually not a huge K-Pop fan, though I find the popularity of K-Pop to be fascinating. I think this book could replace K-Pop with [celebrity] and still work, and the story is only about K-Pop on the surface and speaks much more about how celebrity “talent” is used like a piece rather than a person.
The story reads a bit like fan fiction, in a fun way. It felt like a love letter to K-Pop fans. It seems to me like the author and narrator blend together at certain points in the story, as though Ma-Kellams wrote herself into the K-Pop world and imagined playing a small part in it. The story centers around Sang Duri, a cancelled Korean boy band member who caused an uproar among the public after releasing a controversial solo.
Duri hides from the public outcry in the mansion of a Chinese-American woman he meets in Los Angeles. Ma-Kellams writes the narrator as a psychologist with a savior complex (and I’ll say as a psychologist myself, this type of unhinged savior complex is sadly not uncommon in our field). The relationship between the narrator and Duri is at the center of the book, but it’s also only one small piece of the broader story. The book weaves together many related stories—the Band’s producer and his attempts to work with a girl group, the other members of the Band dealing with the fallout from Duri’s departure and cancellation.
The narrator is a bizarre character, and I do love a character that is boldly strange. Her relationship with Duri is unclear—the book hints heavily at a sexual relationship between the two. The spotlight is on the narrator but also on the reader. Aren’t we all guilty of being too interested in the salacious and private details of celebrities’ lives? Don’t we all sometimes feel entitled to know intimate things about these idols, as though they don’t deserve privacy because of their career?
The book is written in a freeform style that was exactly what a story like this needs, but also may not appeal to every reader. I think in part that’s because it’s hard to get a concrete grasp on the story. It’s very dream-like in the way it unfolds across the page. There isn’t a dull or extraneous moment—for such a loosely flowing narrative, Ma-Kellams kept it tight in presentation.
Duri’s struggles with mental health in the wake of his scandal felt authentic. This is a man whose entire identity for years became what the public saw him to be, and not who he truly was. The very same public and fandom cancelling him begs the question if Duri can find himself again and not take on what others think of him. Fellow people pleasers out there will have a small moment of comradery with this aspect. How do we learn to not see ourselves by someone else’s definition of who we are?
A book for the K-Pop fans out there, but really for anyone who appreciates a novel approach to storytelling and a broader message about obsession, celebrity, and fandom, and the toll those can take on the person at the center of it.
Thank you to Atria Books for my copy. Opinions are my own.
May 4, 2024
The Band demands a high level of reader investment. This will please K-pop fans who are also into literary fiction. More casual readers might not want to put in that kind of work, and they would miss out. It’s worth digging in. The untranslated Korean asides are bound to leave some folks feeling like outsiders, which may be the point but can be off-putting. There’s more than enough substance in the pages to overcome the exclusion, but why have it at all? That said, the book is a rewarding experience. It’s not the beach read I expected.
The story introduces a complex cast of eleven, plus NPCs as needed. In short order we meet four girl band members, each with a role in the story’s events, their slippery producer, Pinocchio, then we get Duri and his three bandmates; next, a wealthy, predatory backer, and finally the narrator. A lot of people, for a novel just over 200 pages. I burned a good chunk of gray matter I couldn’t afford just keeping rivalries and idiosyncrasies for two sets of band members straight. It pulled me out of the early part of the story more than I’d like.
With such a big cast, the web of relationships and their emotional undercurrents will metastasize. The big cast calls for a longer narrative. Fifty more pages or so would do it. The story needed to unpack the characters in a way that gives them space to breathe and bleed on the page. (Isn’t that why we read?) I fault the developmental editor for this. It bugs me, because the premise is terrific, and the writing is brilliant. I wanted Duri to be the primary focus but didn't get enough interiority to make the emotional connection I wanted with him. He’s sympathetic, cracking under the weight of celebrity and the industry’s insane expectations. His jumping ship in H-Mart (of all places) makes him a wanted man in every sense of the term. I’d have liked to see more of his struggle. The story’s too-tight construction and narrator’s voice work against it. They’re the reason for giving it four stars, not five.
The narrator remains cloaked for the first part of the story even as she repeatedly breaks the fourth wall. It’s unsettling not to know who is speaking to you, like holding a dialog with a ghost in H-Mart. The early part of the story had me wondering who was commenting on society, celebrity, the music biz and K-pop – making me laugh out loud or highlight a quote – until the narrator made her appearance and I was able to connect her with the dry, witty discourse on East West cultural differences. The commentary overshadows the characters (can’t I have both?) Also, the unnamed narrator remains an observer. She’s a fifth wheel and not central to the plot. Her attraction to Duri remains only that (can I have just one steamy sex scene? pretty please – oh wait, this is literary fiction. Keepin’ it highbrow). I wanted more – much more – of the relationship between Duri and her. That, or a bit less of the narrator. But again, shoot the editor. The writing sparkles. All in all, this is well worth the read.
The story introduces a complex cast of eleven, plus NPCs as needed. In short order we meet four girl band members, each with a role in the story’s events, their slippery producer, Pinocchio, then we get Duri and his three bandmates; next, a wealthy, predatory backer, and finally the narrator. A lot of people, for a novel just over 200 pages. I burned a good chunk of gray matter I couldn’t afford just keeping rivalries and idiosyncrasies for two sets of band members straight. It pulled me out of the early part of the story more than I’d like.
With such a big cast, the web of relationships and their emotional undercurrents will metastasize. The big cast calls for a longer narrative. Fifty more pages or so would do it. The story needed to unpack the characters in a way that gives them space to breathe and bleed on the page. (Isn’t that why we read?) I fault the developmental editor for this. It bugs me, because the premise is terrific, and the writing is brilliant. I wanted Duri to be the primary focus but didn't get enough interiority to make the emotional connection I wanted with him. He’s sympathetic, cracking under the weight of celebrity and the industry’s insane expectations. His jumping ship in H-Mart (of all places) makes him a wanted man in every sense of the term. I’d have liked to see more of his struggle. The story’s too-tight construction and narrator’s voice work against it. They’re the reason for giving it four stars, not five.
The narrator remains cloaked for the first part of the story even as she repeatedly breaks the fourth wall. It’s unsettling not to know who is speaking to you, like holding a dialog with a ghost in H-Mart. The early part of the story had me wondering who was commenting on society, celebrity, the music biz and K-pop – making me laugh out loud or highlight a quote – until the narrator made her appearance and I was able to connect her with the dry, witty discourse on East West cultural differences. The commentary overshadows the characters (can’t I have both?) Also, the unnamed narrator remains an observer. She’s a fifth wheel and not central to the plot. Her attraction to Duri remains only that (can I have just one steamy sex scene? pretty please – oh wait, this is literary fiction. Keepin’ it highbrow). I wanted more – much more – of the relationship between Duri and her. That, or a bit less of the narrator. But again, shoot the editor. The writing sparkles. All in all, this is well worth the read.
November 29, 2023
I've had the unique privilege of encountering Christine Ma-Kellams' work both in the form of academic journal articles I've cited in my work as a trainee psychologist, and now in the form of her first full-length novel. Ma-Kellams brilliance is apparent both in her academic work and in her literacy prowess: her prose is sharp, darkly funny, and often evisteratingly honest in its exploration of toxic idol culture and its intersection with human psychology. The story interweaves several parallel stories, all of which revolve around a fictional K-Pop idol group known as The Band, seemingly a close parallel to real life groups such as BTS. Between the failed girl-group proceeding The Band, a cynical LA psychologist who finds herself the unwitting caretaker of a depressed Band member in hiding, and the tribulations of The Band itself, the novel explores heavy themes of racism, mental health, cancel culture, and the intoxicating but carceral nature of fame.
I've never been involved in K-pop idol culture but have always found the parasocial relationships common within it to be fascinating: the gloss of love and obsession painted over a practice that can be deeply dehumanizing, and, when practiced from a Western lens, unintentionally but often significantly racist. Ma-Kellams explores this dynamic with a dry humor that belies deeper frustration and exposes the raw underbelly of institutions and and practices that strive to appear bengin yet propagate unimaginable abuse. I also loved the tidbits that speak to Ma-Kellams psychologist background, inducing experimental studies cited in footnotes and a fascinating annotated bibliography.
The were only two aspects that didn't quite land with me. The first was the degree to which it was difficult to separate art from artist: although the novel is not advertised as autobiographical, psychologist in the book bears incredibly close similarities both in lifestyle and background to Ma-Kellams, and I often found myself getting pulled out of the story by trying to guess how much of the characters' thoughts and feelings paralleled Ma-Kellams own. There's nothing wrong with writing what you know, and in fact I think this likely gave the story particular strength and specificity, but it also felt intensely personal in way that I wasn't expecting. The second thing that surprised me was a major event that occurs near the end and feels both hugely unexpected and somewhat dissatisfying: I feel like the book could have gone without it and been equally, if not more, strong.
I've never been involved in K-pop idol culture but have always found the parasocial relationships common within it to be fascinating: the gloss of love and obsession painted over a practice that can be deeply dehumanizing, and, when practiced from a Western lens, unintentionally but often significantly racist. Ma-Kellams explores this dynamic with a dry humor that belies deeper frustration and exposes the raw underbelly of institutions and and practices that strive to appear bengin yet propagate unimaginable abuse. I also loved the tidbits that speak to Ma-Kellams psychologist background, inducing experimental studies cited in footnotes and a fascinating annotated bibliography.
The were only two aspects that didn't quite land with me. The first was the degree to which it was difficult to separate art from artist: although the novel is not advertised as autobiographical, psychologist in the book bears incredibly close similarities both in lifestyle and background to Ma-Kellams, and I often found myself getting pulled out of the story by trying to guess how much of the characters' thoughts and feelings paralleled Ma-Kellams own. There's nothing wrong with writing what you know, and in fact I think this likely gave the story particular strength and specificity, but it also felt intensely personal in way that I wasn't expecting. The second thing that surprised me was a major event that occurs near the end and feels both hugely unexpected and somewhat dissatisfying: I feel like the book could have gone without it and been equally, if not more, strong.
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