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Festival Pembaca Indonesia 2011, 4 Desember 2011, plaza area GOR Soemantri Brodjonegoro, Jakarta
Indonesian Readers Festival 2011, December 4, 2011,plaza area GOR Soemantri Brodjonegoro, Jakarta
My Goodreads review:
The most succinct way to describe this book would be the opening lines to Harry Styles's song "Watermelon Sugar:" "Tastes like strawberries on a summer evenin' / And it sounds just like a song." American Fantasy is a sweetie of a book, packed with 1980s/1990s pop culture nostalgia vibes and the wistful personal memories that accompany what the world remembers, plus different perspectives from the music industry (band, crew, and fans). Am I a better person for having read this book? No. Did I learn anything? No, but it drove home some points about fame that I knew to be true. But it was pure joy, so much so that I eschewed all TV in favor of finishing it in just 3 evenings.
Revolving around the fictional boy band Boy Talk and taking place over the 4 days of their 2023 cruise, we follow a few main characters from the band, a tour manager from the cruise production crew, and an unlikely attendee. I've previously declared Emma Straub a queen of family dynamics, and the family here is a music fandom. The characters may seem disparate, but they're connected by music. I deeply agree with this thought from Sarah, the tour manager: "She wanted to be close to music, which was, she still believed, as close as humans could get to the divine, whatever that meant. Not god. Not heaven. Just actual transcendence, connection, the web that slung around everyone's shoulders when they were all standing in a room together, listening to live music they loved." p. 265
Inspired by Emma Straub's experience on the very real 2023 NKOTB cruise, it depicts the microcosm of one fandom, but the beauty is in the elements that are universal. The list of names she interviewed as part of her research process is pretty epic - Susanna Hoffs! Keri Russell! Lin-Manuel Miranda! Joe McIntyre! - and American Fantasy has quite a bit to say about the all-consuming pressures and the deal with the devil that fame can be.
I've been on exactly 1 cruise ever, and it was indeed a music cruise - Jam Cruise 5 in 2007. The access to the artists seems incredible, there are themed parties every night, and the creativity of the fans' costumes and decorations demonstrates the deep dedication to these artists. This level of fandom brings to mind a quote from the movie Almost Famous, from the Band-Aid Sapphire: "They don't even know what it is to be a fan. Y'know? To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts."
Yay, Emma Straub! Her stories are always a fun escape from our current dumpster fire reality, but they're never vapid or sappy, and the character development and world-building are always A+.
Festival Pembaca Indonesia 2011, 4 Desember 2011, plaza area GOR Soemantri Brodjonegoro, Jakarta
Indonesian Readers Festival 2011, December 4, 2011,plaza area GOR Soemantri Brodjonegoro, Jakarta
...the more extraordinary things you will learn!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/ordinary-life
NgaBOOKburit GRI: Nonton Bareng Coraline
Perpustakaan Kementrian Pendidikan & Kebudayaan Jakarta
18 Juni 2016
Festival Pembaca Indonesia 2011, 4 Desember 2011, plaza area GOR Soemantri Brodjonegoro, Jakarta
Indonesian Readers Festival 2011, December 4, 2011,plaza area GOR Soemantri Brodjonegoro, Jakarta
Without power and therefore AC, it was 107 degrees inside (115 degrees outside) so I was trying to stay as quiet and still as possible.
From my Goodreads review of this book:
Michael Pollan's meticulously researched book heightened this awareness, as there are so many more levels and intricacies involved in any food's journey than I ever knew. It's absolutely essential reading for anyone who thinks and cares about what they're eating on a daily basis. Combining investigative journalism with his own personal experiences across the different food systems, Pollan is able to present topics that could easily feel like a lecture in an extremely engaging narrative. It's broken up into three logical sections that introduce the reader to the history of each and real people working within them: Industrial / Corn, Pastoral / Grass, and Personal / The Forest.
As Pollan so astutely points out, America doesn't have a "stable national cuisine" (compared to France, for example), a fact that our capitalist-driven food system uses to its advantage along with the reality that most of us choose to be blissfully ignorant about what's actually happening in our food chain. Nature cannot be treated like a machine, though big factory farming has certainly made herculean yet deleterious efforts to do so. What's in the supermarket for the consumer is usually so far removed from the process that brought it to the shelf.
The old adage "you are what you eat" couldn't be more literal - what you eat becomes you - your cells, your health, your longevity, your energy levels. I'd rather spend a bit more money on food I know is part of a harmonious ecological system than whatever is the least expensive. Admittedly, I'm guilty of falling for what Pollan cleverly calls Supermarket Pastoral (my new favorite term).
...in her wildness, she is a wanderess, a drop of free water. She knows nothing of borders and cares nothing for rules or customs. 'Time' for her isn’t something to fight against. Her life flows clean, with passion, like fresh water.”
― Roman Payne www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/wandering