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mynameisrebecca's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Racism
cheye13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
First of all: the band in the book is not One Direction - but it's One Direction. This book is for people who were (are) intense One Direction fans during their hype, but on the older end (like fans 18 & up, rather than 13-16yos they were initially marketed to); fans who were just as crazy, but had a smidgen of self-awareness about it. Fans who read/wrote RPF but didn't genuinely believe any of the band was secretly dating each other. Fans who now look back on One Direction and think "they were (are) just regular dudes." A heavy and specifically boyband fanaticism with a sprinkling of realism. Probably also helpful if the reader's a queer woman (and managed to avoid that whole "i'm gonna marry [boybander]" phenomenon).
This book isn't written like a marketable, mainstream novel. It's written like a - very good - boyband fanfiction. I'm obsessed with it. This may be my favorite book of the year.
EDITED TO ADD: you know that Bob's Burgers episode where Louise wants to slap BooBoo? Take that, age it up, satirize it a little further, and pad out the plot to fill a novel. i.e. if you Understood™ Louise in that episode, you'll get this book.
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Outing
Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
difficult to discern when the fatphobia was intentional (i.e. from character pov) or incidental from the author's pov. readers are likely prepared for the manner of sexual assault the girls perpetrate on the boy band (limited to groping and lewd comments), but likely unprepared for the manner of sexual assault committed by one of the boys on a female fan:magicalghoul's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Now, about the book: Enjoyed the concept and the writing style but the rampant fatphobia and the smidge of racism really ruined it for me— just because it's satire or dark humor doesn't mean you get a free pass to punch down.
The outdated (even for 2016) teen slang sometimes took me out as well, but on a second thought I'm glad it went for a known evil (tumblr fandom slang) over a recent one (stolen aave in stan circles).
It was entertaining at least, even if I found myself wishing it had pushed for more at times. Solid three star book.
Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Racism, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Grief
A character tells another about a situation where she was humiliated and slut shamed.radiocryptid's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I'm going to move on to the real turning point of the story, the point I thought would have made the book better. The girls return to the hotel room after roaming around for a bit to find Rupert P dead. I thought, finally yes the girls are going to be pushed to make some moral decisions and question their ethics, but instead, all they do is moan and whine. They dump Rupert P back into his penthouse hotel room with the other Rupert's, the girls have to hide in a cupboard as the other Ruperts just arrive back as well. And what do they do seeing their close friend and bandmate dead on a bean bag? Slut shame him and cry about how the band is going to break up now. Yup. I know. What in the actual fuck. The only Rupert that had any sense was Rupert K, who just happened to be Frances' favourite and also they kiss and have a little love story which is so fucked up on so many levels. You would think the story would end with the Rupert's calling the police and having a full on investigation but oh no instead Rupert X (side note, Barret Wilbert Weed, the person reading the audiobook, does not know how to pronounce Xavier and it is so frustrating) and Rupert K THROUGH RUPERT P OFF THE BUILDING TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE A SUICIDE EVEN THOUGH HE WAS STRANGLED TO DEATH AND IT'S VERY OBVIOUS AND WOULD SHOW UP IN THE AUTOPSY LIKE WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK????? Okay but let's talk about who actually murdered Rupert P, because it wasn't any of the girls and it wasn't any of the Ruperts and it wasn't suicide. It was Rupert P's fake girlfriend who just HAPPENED to find the room the girls were staying in and just HAPPENED to swindled a key card out of the front desk and just HAPPENED to overhear the girls talking about Rupert P being tied up in their room so she snuck and in and quote en quote "killed him out of passion" by accident. What the actual fuck. Michelle, the fake girlfriend, was angry with Rupert P because he didn't book her a room in the hotel. BOOK IT YOURSELF LIKE WHAT THE FUCK HE ISN'T EVEN YOUR ACTUAL BOYFRIEND???? Want to hear the most fucked up part? She doesn't even go to jail in the end. You know who does? Rupert X and Rupert L, I mean they did throw a dead body off the top of the building which is incredibly fucked, but they didn't KILL him??? And the girls, they got off scot-free as well. And um what kind of police investigation was there??? Has no one ever heard of security cameras?? That would have shown the girls move the body everywhere? That would have shown Michelle go into the girls' room at the time of death? That would have shown absolutely everything??? There is no logic to anything that happens in the book. It's blatantly racist, sexist, homophobic, slut-shaming, suicide-joking mess of a book. There was so many opportunities to make this book great. Why couldn't the girls band together when they find the dead body? Why can't we see them trying to transport the body where there was no camera's? Through the vents or something? Why can't we see the girls make up and realise that the boy band is awful and that Rupert P didn't deserve to die? Why can't we see some justice for Michelle?
This book is disgusting, disturbing, poorly written and offensive.
Graphic: Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Violence
Minor: Suicide