The Band

I should just stop picking up books which have blurbs that start with “whip-smart”.

I came for “its indicting portrayal of mental health and public obsession, fandom, and cancel culture” and to be honest I didn't get much of that. There's a couple of scenes that deal with the fickle nature of fandom and media but what I really got was a psychologist who confirmed most of my negative assumptions about psychologists and a story told largely from what I assume to be the least interesting POVs. Even with all that nicer prose or a more engaging style could have easily saved this book and there were moments where it was clear that the author is capable of writing engagingly so I'm not sure why this padded outline is what we ended up with.

Neutral 2.5 rounded up,