DNF @ 55%

The primary story was good. The background and inconsequential commentary on pop culture didn’t add anything to the story, and was super distracting from the purported main story. I’m sure others will very much appreciate this book and the story-behind-the-story, but it wasn’t for me.

As an Asian American psychologist who is also a fan of K-Pop, it pains me how much I did not enjoy this book. A part of this may have been down to style of writing as well as narrative choice. I largely found most of the author's decisions such as the extensive usage of footnotes as well as the numerous allusions to BTS distracting. I can understand the pull to model the book's K-Pop group after the biggest K-Pop group to so far ever exist. But at the some point the many shared facts and histories between the Band's members and the members of BTS made the book feel like a work of fan fiction. A self-insert fan fiction at that with the narrator being an Asian American psychologist like the author. It also felt like the author was trying to make a point about the dark sides of stardom, parasocial relationships, and the particular type of obsessive, possessive love K-pop fans in particular are always accused of having. But the commentary on these things felt fairly superficial and nothing that hasn't already been touched upon in other novels such as Idol, Burning. All in all, I really did want to like this book and thought it had an interesting premise. However, it failed for me on execution.

I went into this book expecting one thing - and it definitely wasn't that, but I'm glad I read it. I was expecting a softer fiction piece heavily based on what we often see publicized (and filtered) for K-pop celebrities - and certainly there were some linkages. Christine Ma-Kellams takes us through a fictional lens of past groups, trauma, what a current celebrity would go through, and how some time away- all culminates with a surprising event. If you're reading it and don't see how it all comes together yet, give it time. It was a harsher but more realistic lens than what is often portrayed.

This was an interesting story filled with unnecessary content.

The Band is about a kpop boy group that has experienced some trouble. Sang During, the visual of the group, has written a song that causes strife between Japan, Korea, and China. He is laying low while the group’s image goes back to normal and decides to hide out at a woman’s house that he meets in a grocery store. But amongst his disappearance things get even worse for The Band.

I thought the actual story was really interesting. I'm a kpop fan, so I enjoyed following this group and learning more about fandoms, celebrity life, and celebrity expectations.

However, this book was filled with crude, sexual statements that left a bad taste in my mouth. It was not needed at all in the story and made me uncomfortable. There was also a lot of skewed Christian statements. This is a book about a kpop band. Neither the character's opinion about the Bible or her sexual lifestyle was needed here.

I also felt the first quarter of the book was filler. It took a while to get into the story as we learn a little about a 90s kpop band before jumping into The Band.

This book has some fun suspense in the latter half of the book. I enjoyed seeing the story from the point of view of the band manager, fans, members of the band, and the woman who takes the band member in. I also enjoyed learning more about Korean culture.

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!!

I DNFd this one.
I'm so sorry to say it. I really wanted to like it and yet, I'm still thankful to the publisher and the author for granting me advanced digital and physical access to this one before publication day.

**Thank you so much NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press for providing me with a digital ARC of The Band by Christine Ma-Kellams! All opinions are my own!**

I have grown fond of literary fiction over the last few years and funnily enough, KPOP as well. Ma-Kellams’ The Band explores interactions between a Chinese-American psychiatrist and a runaway KPOP idol from a perspective that shows the obligations of both individuals stripped away from them. While simultaneously exploring the inner workings of the KPOP industry–who makes it and who doesn’t, the life-ruining effects of scandals, and obligations–Ma-Kellams uses her two MCs to show that everyone struggles with reaching contentment in their pursuit of happiness, regardless of fame and fortune.

I enjoyed this novel thoroughly, despite being slightly predictable because of how familiar I already am with the cruelty of the KPOP industry. While I am still getting used to literary fiction, this examination of the two MCs was incredibly clear and digestible.

I tried to like this, honestly I did. I’m shocked I finished the whole thing to be completely honest. I struggled super hard with the writing style, it just wasn’t for me and I was so confused on why there were SOOO many footnotes it just felt unnecessary. There was no attachment for me to the characters AT ALL, which sucked because I wanted to like them.
Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Ma-Kellams brilliance is apparent both in her academic work and in her literacy prowess: her prose is sharp, darkly funny, and often devastatingly 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 toxic and carceral nature of fame.

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC!

it is heavy on fandom culture, very interesting read. Although it's a fiction book sometimes it read like non-fiction with all the real life facts mention throughout the book.

While I enjoyed this book, I think it's being marketed as something it's not. There seems to be an attempt here, from the cover to the blurb, to sell this to fans of YA romcoms, when what it really is is a satire, and a critique of contemporary stan culture--particularly within the juggernaut that is the kpop sphere. There were some funny and touching moments and sharp, insightful points raised about both in this book, but I do find that it suffers at times from telling rather than showing. It feels a bit like the argumentative side of things got away from the author at points and she forgot that she was writing a novel==something that should have been caught in the editing stage more than any fault of her own. It did leave me thinking about some of of its points, though.

Member of popular K-Pop band gets canceled due to the controversey surrounding his latest single.
Interesting look at how band was formed, the fan obsession that follows and cancel culture.
Second half of book was an easier read.
#TheBand #NetGalley

This novel is listed as humor/satire, but it just didn't quite give that read for me. The plotting felt slow rather than quick and over the top as I would have expected.

The Band is an interesting look at fame and K-Pop culture, told from an unusual (and fun) perspective.

3.5/5

As a former (current?) one direction stan, I thought this one would call to me. I thought it would surpass the differences between k-pop (of which I’m not a huge fan) and american/british boy bands, and land mr somewhere in the middle with a book I enjoyed. this was not the case.

The Band is about a k-pop group (aptly named The Band) and their predecessors, an all-girl group whose fate is tied to theirs. Their “prettiest” member, Duri, disappears without a trace, only to meet up serendipitously with our narrator in an H-Mart outside LA. It devolves from (and before) there.

This could have been a great book, but the narrative fell really flat to me. It’s a first person POV most of the time, but the narrator is strange and, to me, uncompelling. Why are we told about about her #MeToo moment (in which she is the perpetrator?) and her extramarital affairs? Why do we go to church and get treated to random outbursts about God and religion? I understand what it was trying to do there, and I think it could have worked, but only in a much longer book than what we got. There was so much foreshadowing, so much “just wait and see” and “don’t say I didn’t warn you!” that it had me exasperated. Let the book go where it’s going to go!

The plot itself was very good, well thought out etc. For all the talk about fandom and obsession, it didn’t really have much to show or say about it. Focusing on the insane pressures and inhumane treatment of stars like this would have been far more compelling in my opinion. For what we got of the k-pop group’s characters, I enjoyed them. Again, not enough for me to really care for them at the big conclusion though. I’m not sure the perspective changes and the time jumps really worked as well as they could have.

thanks to netgalley & atria books for the advanced copy!

I had a really hard time getting into this book, it was not a very believable story

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This is going to be one of my favorite books of 2024. I never expected to love a book about a boy band so much. The characters are realistic and so human. I was engaged in the mystery and the relationships between the band throughout the book. Highly recommended.

Duri, a Korean pop star is hiding out from controversy and by chance meets the narrator, a married female at an H-mart and seeks sanctuary (support? therapy? a friend?) at her home. She is married with two children....who seem just be resigned to have this weird living situation without complaint?

Unfortunately for me, this wasn't a book I could get into. Every time I put it down I had no desire to pick it up again. I found the writing style didn't work for me (also, some of the crude language seemed out of place?) and the footnotes...why? I don't know if the main character of the story is really clear and it seems to lack focus. Is the main story about Duri? Is it about the woman he goes to stay with (we learn equally as much about her backstory)? Or is it about the manager of the band and his former all-female pop group (which gets a lot of air time towards the end of the book)? I just wasn't compelled by the plot or the characters.

Why is it that pastiches of idol fan base always wind up being hits for me? Like Y/N was great and now this one is too! It starts off slow and the characters besides the MMC aren’t the most deep but I think it works great.

Love reading about Korean characters and the Kpop angle was very interesting! Will look out for this author in the future.