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A review by justabean_reads
Y/N by Esther Yi
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Reader, this is a strange, strange book. The general outline is a Korean-American living in Germany (not unlike the author) becomes obsessed with a singer from a kpop boy band, to the point where she a) starts writing and posting readerfic, and b) moves to Korea to try and find him, convinced he'll fall in love with her. Which is a mood, but weirdly I didn't click with it.
Maybe it'd make more sense to someone who's in a kpop fandom, as I'm into tangentially aware of what that's like from helpful people on my reading list, but even so it felt like more of a meta-commentary about identity than any kind of experience from someone actually in fandom.
The main character has a massive case of "not like the other girls," where she doesn't even like the band until she sees them live and becomes obsessed with one of the boys, and then is upset to learn that he's the most popular one, before deciding that's okay because her love for him is Different™ (so I guess she's basically a Snape Wife?). No one likes her readerfic because it's so weird (It's an AU where they're both philosophers, and then don't end up together.) Which is a legit way of being in fandom, but... Also no discussion of queerness at all, but I guess that's generally less of a thing over on the readerfic side of fandom, but one would think the m/m side of fandom would at least get a mention.
Which that brings me around to how weird the kpop side of things was. No other kpop bands are mentioned, which maybe is just a sign of the MC's singular focus, but even when she goes to Korea, it seems like the band she likes is the only one. They way the band lives is not how kpop bands live, and the description of the industry is just... odd.
Given that the writing is baroque, with a lot of fifty-cent words and unexpected similes, I can only conclude all of this was on purpose, see it being mostly a meta-commentary. The prose was sometimes really fun and fun, but after a whole book where every single character talked the same way the narration did, readerfic and all, it ended up feeling very "I have a masters in fine art, and this is my first novel."
Which, when you're reaching out for what you think is going to be a shared cultural experience, was somewhat othering, but maybe that was the point too.
Maybe it'd make more sense to someone who's in a kpop fandom, as I'm into tangentially aware of what that's like from helpful people on my reading list, but even so it felt like more of a meta-commentary about identity than any kind of experience from someone actually in fandom.
The main character has a massive case of "not like the other girls," where she doesn't even like the band until she sees them live and becomes obsessed with one of the boys, and then is upset to learn that he's the most popular one, before deciding that's okay because her love for him is Different™ (so I guess she's basically a Snape Wife?). No one likes her readerfic because it's so weird (It's an AU where they're both philosophers, and then don't end up together.) Which is a legit way of being in fandom, but... Also no discussion of queerness at all, but I guess that's generally less of a thing over on the readerfic side of fandom, but one would think the m/m side of fandom would at least get a mention.
Which that brings me around to how weird the kpop side of things was. No other kpop bands are mentioned, which maybe is just a sign of the MC's singular focus, but even when she goes to Korea, it seems like the band she likes is the only one. They way the band lives is not how kpop bands live, and the description of the industry is just... odd.
Given that the writing is baroque, with a lot of fifty-cent words and unexpected similes, I can only conclude all of this was on purpose, see it being mostly a meta-commentary. The prose was sometimes really fun and fun, but after a whole book where every single character talked the same way the narration did, readerfic and all, it ended up feeling very "I have a masters in fine art, and this is my first novel."
Which, when you're reaching out for what you think is going to be a shared cultural experience, was somewhat othering, but maybe that was the point too.