Let me be honest with you: I avoided “American Fantasy” based on its premise. Emma Straub’s novel revolves around a ’90s boy band nostalgia cruise and a) I get extremely seasick and b) I am, ahem, not demographically appropriate for that boy band era. But my book apps kept recommending it, so I took the plunge. Once I started reading, I did not stop.
There are three alternating narrators in “American Fantasy”: Sarah, a no-nonsense cruise director just dumped by her galpal, 50-year-old Annie, recently divorced and making the best of a vacation she was supposed to take with her true believer sister, and reluctant Boy Talk vocalist Keith, strong-armed by his bandmate brother into participating. In sensibility, I fall closest to skeptical Annie, who observes rabid fandom on display all around her with anthropological amazement; she never forgets that her younger sister, laid up with a broken leg, is a member of that particular tribe.
Luckily for Annie, her replacement roommate is an old hand at Boy Talk cruises. Maira expertly guides Annie, reeling from a career setback as the cruise gets underway, through carefully choreographed activities. Non-judgmental and ready for a good time, she companionably orders one Sexy Sunrise refill after another for them both to enjoy.
Not so smooth sailing
Sure enough, just as Maira predicted, Annie quickly falls back under the sway of the band she once adored in her youth. Back then, she was “a Shawn girl,” fond of the older Fiore brother who in adulthood does all that he can to keep Boy Talk fans happy. Scotty, closeted during the band’s heyday, is painted as likable and desperate for cash, while Corey just wants to soak in the adulation and rehabilitate his Hollywood bad boy image. Pony-tailed libertarian Terrence spends the cruise pawing over his new wife; in a running joke, he is frequently referred to as the least liked member of the band.
Sarah, meanwhile, has her own challenges corralling the band and a hapless young employee. Shawn’s bearded guru further unsettles the band’s already tenuous equilibrium as we learn more about Keith’s chilly marriage.
Why I like it
At its heart, “American Fantasy” is a story about embracing change and breaking old habits that no longer fit. As someone who learned how to start over early, I’m a big believer in the power of change at any age. Yes, it can be messy and fraught, especially when forced upon you, but that does not mean it is not worthwhile. To her credit, Straub does not shy away from the turbulence her characters navigate on the giant vessel, emotional and otherwise. (Poor Keith suffers from sea sickness in addition to vexed feelings about his brother and spotlight-stealing Corey.)
At the same time, the author keeps the narrative lightly comedic; she has fun with the fan experience but avoids getting too pointed about it. She embraces the fantasy elements inherent in such ventures — the chance to see your childhood crush up close! — and incorporates wish fulfillment into a plot that keeps humming along, just like the cruise.
Inspired by New Kids on the Block
Unlike me, Straub comes by her affection for boy bands naturally. As a kid, she was crazy about New Kids on the Block and got the idea for “American Fantasy” after seeing an ad for a cruise with the band in 2022. At the time, she told Vogue, she was grieving her father’s death and had just finished “a sad book.”
One year later, “American Fantasy” already sketched out in her mind, she boarded a NKOTB cruise to get a better feel how these nostalgia-fueled boy-band ventures actually operate.
“I didn’t go on the cruise until 2023, and I had spent basically all of that year planning the book, so I already had all of the characters,” she told the Vogue interviewer, a self-proclaimed Backstreet Boys fan. “But observing how it all went down and imagining how the characters would interact with each other onboard was really helpful.”
The author knows there are people that have negative associations with fandom — I, for one, am highly ambivalent about the fanboy approach to entertainment journalism — but makes a case for its positive aspects.
“I think it’s meaningful to love something and to be a fan of something — to care and to talk about that thing with other people who love it,” Straub recently told Buzzfeed. “Fandom sometimes gets in trouble in the internet age for being toxic, and there are darker sides of it, but there’s also the beautiful, sweet heart of it.”
Algo world
Sometimes, like Annie, you just need to let go of your reservations and surrender to the experience. Given the array of novels that give me pause, I’m extra glad for the ones I speed through with nary a cringe, as was the case with Riverhead’s “American Fantasy.” Much as I hate to admit it, algorithms sometimes know me better than I know myself.
Pic of the week: Snails in the wind
Came across hundreds of snail blowing in the wind on a trail near my house.
Originally published on my Lititude substack.