Kill the Boy Band by Goldy Moldavsky
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
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.
From thrilling new talent Goldy Moldavsky comes a pitch-black, hilarious take on fandom and the badass girls who have the power to make—or break—the people we call “celebrities.”
MY OPINION: ***
Okay, I finished this book in a day, which adds a lot to its "compelling" factor. I went into this book semi-excited because I've heard both good and bad things about it and came out feeling very... meh.
It definitely wasn't as HORRIBLE AND BAD as some people made it out to be but it also wasn't the MOST AMAZING BOOK EVER as others have said. There was a lot in it that I liked and a lot in it that fell short.
This book centers around four fangirls of this band called The Ruperts which is meant to be a play on all real boy bands but really had a lot of connections with One Direction (no shade, this is just what I thought). Now, I know many people have a bad idea of fangirls: i.e. we're crazy, obsessed, annoying, dumb, etc. I say 'we' because I am a huge fangirl of a lot of different singers and bands and I found myself in a lot of these passages and I found a complete opposite of what I consider 'fangirls' in others.
We have Erin, who's this crazy-sweet girl who I disliked from the beginning (to be completely honest, I disliked all of the characters in this book, and when I say ALL, I mean ALL). We have Isabel, who tries to be this badass, creepy, sardonically wicked girl who I couldn't find any sort of admiration for. We have Apple, who I liked at first but as soon as we met Rupert P., all my feelings for her changed. She went from okay to she's-a-little-aggressive-and-disgusting. And last, we have our main character whose name I never really caught because she changes names throughout the entire book (I'm sure her real name was probably said but I just wasn't paying close enough attention). I remember her being Samantha, so let's call her that.
BASICALLY this entire book is a murder-mystery that I didn't hate but also didn't love. The four girls decide to kidnap Rupert P. (though Samantha is definitely against it) and tie him up in their hotel room (they bought a hotel just for the chance to meet them since The Ruperts were also staying in that hotel--something I would honestly do :P). All of them have very different ideas about what they want to do with him: Apple literally wants to grope/grind/basically molest him, Erin was very neutral about it but didn't want to let him go (because she hates him and everyone else in the band), Isabel wants to use his secrets for her online celeb blog/website thing, and Samantha wants to let him go before they get in trouble.
Now let me get something straight before you start feeling bad for this guy:
Rupert P., as reported by Samantha, Isabel, and Erin (Apple LOVES this guy for some reason), is HORRIBLE. He's the "Ugly Boy" of the boy band because apparently ALL boy bands have to have one. AND:
"The Ruperts canceled their second American tour because you said you had mono when you were actually seen all over Vegas gambling hundreds of thousands of dollars for four weeks straight."
"The fact that you're a Roman Polanski sympathizer."
"The time you punched that baby in the finger."
"That time you drunkenly called in to that radio station and spoiled the ending of Game of Thrones."
"The time you threw up on the entire first row at the Berlin concert."
"The nudes. The racism. The ageism. The sexism. The well-documented hatred of you own fans. The bordering-on-disturbing Troll doll collection."
Yeah, so that's Rupert P.
Now, all of the girls end up casually leaving him alone tied up in their room and when they come back, lo and behold, he's DEAD.
This whole book was honestly messed up but in a good way. There were parts about it that creeped me out and then there were parts about it that made laugh. There was a lot. Be warned: there's child pornography, homophobia, and sexual harassment, and I didn't like how it was handled in the book.
However, I loved the rest of it. There were several passages that really resonated with me:
"Other people may have seen fangirls as crazy teenage girls obsessed with a fad, but they couldn't understand the small but important joy you can get from indulging in these fandoms. They didn't understand that a new gif of Rupert K. grinning at you could be the difference between a crap day and a beautiful one. They didn't get the friendships that formed, the community of people who shared your same joy. Maybe it obsession, but it was also happiness; an escape from the suckiness of everyday life. And when you find something that makes you happy and giddy and excited every day, us fangirls know the truth that everyone else seems to have forgotten: You hold on to that joy tenaciously, for as long as you can. Because it's rare to get excited about anything these days. Ask your parents."
This is definitely how I feel about certain bands.
*Also that 6SoG at the end... 5SOS anyone?*
I would recommend this book to fangirls, murder-mystery lovers, and everyone in between!
Main Character: "Samantha"
Sidekick(s): Isabel, Erin, Apple, Rupert K., etc
Villain(s): The killer, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: Though it is unlikely, none of the events are impossible in real life.
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