Supermarket

The setting, characters, and plot snagged me pretty fast. The meta writing style was an interesting way to pop between reality, fiction, and fantasy. The casual nature of the language resonated with me in a way that I enjoyed, but I think it could have used a few more onion-like layers to protect the line in the plot. Fun and fast read for a neat story with engaging mental health, race, and societal dynamics to boot.

I can't say I was super excited about reading this book, but I was interested. I'm a fan of Bobby Hall/Logic and think he's a capable storyteller, given his sci-fi inspired concept album, The Incredible True Story has a good story in my opinion. Suffice it to say, I was interested to see what he'd bring in a narrative format. Unfortunately, there's not much promising about Supermarket, from the third of what I've read at least.

It's a rather juvenile first attempt at telling a story that has potential, riddled with thinly-conceived characters and racially stereotypical caricatures I couldn't help but roll my eyes at (such as a black character named DayDay who refers to Flynn, the main character, and Ted, their branch manager, as white niggas.). The protagonist Flynn is, for all intents and purposes, a stand-in for Bobby, placed in a colorless setting surrounded by characters only meant to push his story along instead of breathing life into it.

As I said, the idea behind the novel shows promise, and could make for an interesting mystery/thriller. But the narrative style and structure do not match its potential. Bobby frames the first chapter good enough, but then uses flashbacks to give us details on Flynn's life and how he ended up in the situation he's in. But the backstory is one-dimensional at best and doesn't elicit any kind of sympathy from the reader. There are high and low moments, but no room to let them breathe as Bobby goes from one scene to the next, giving his own “peace, love, positivity” spiels any chance he gets.

The book reads more as Bobby talking to you rather than you actually exploring a character. Of course, someone inexperienced with a first-person perspective could fall into that trap, and unfortunately Bobby does just that. He tells the story in a way that feels convenient rather than challenging. There's no payoff for events happening, no cause and effect. The events are just happening linearly, but there's nothing surrounding them to give them weight.

I don't know how this book was published in the state it's in. More than likely, it got pushed as hard as it did because of Bobby's rise in popularity following his third album Everybody, which touched on topics such as suicide, race, and anxiety. But at the end of the day, Bobby needs to work on honing his literary craft if he's looking to publish more books. I feel he has good concepts, but taking the time to craft a decent outline, write multiple drafts, and go through numerous editing sessions is needed in my opinion. I didn't expect Supermarket to be an amazing book, but I didn't think this is what we'd get.

Honestly, I was expecting it to be worse than it was. I am very fond of Bobby's music, so the soundtrack was what drew me to this book. The story had a nice pace, a straightforward plot, and clear wording. When I finished, I wished there had been some references to the soundtrack itself, but I was still quite happy with the read, even if I wasn't wowed by it.