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3.24 AVERAGE
3.24 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
I was so excited to read this book and waited on the library waitlist for SO long, only to be disappointed. I’m a big fan of Stephanie McNeal’s reporting so I was surprised at how surface-level this book was. McNeal writes at the end that she wanted the message of the book to be that influencers are important. And that *does* come through, absolutely. But I feel like McNeal treats these influencers with kid gloves. She skirts around issues worth digging into — like Shannon Bird going on a trip with Papa John, or influencers’ responses to the 2020 protests or the 2021 insurrection. Often I felt like the readers were told “Oh, this thing happened” and then we just……moved on to the next feel-good topic. The influencers were almost never looked at critically, and McNeal wrote very few negative things about the influencers she spoke with (or influencers in general). Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want an expose on the “seedy underbelly” of influencing. I just wanted an accurate look at the state of things, and this wasn’t that.
informative
lighthearted
fast-paced
informative
medium-paced
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
lighthearted
informative
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
I was ready for a nuanced look at the influencer economy. This was not it. I appreciate that McNeal takes her subjects and their industry seriously, but ultimately her take was surface-level, even with a specific scope of three particular influencers.
The book would have greatly benefitted from a tighter edit, particularly regarding organization of themes/chapters, reliance on cliches, ass random commas, and repetition. Parts were so redundant that I got the impression she was trying to hit a minimum word count.
The book would have greatly benefitted from a tighter edit, particularly regarding organization of themes/chapters, reliance on cliches, ass random commas, and repetition. Parts were so redundant that I got the impression she was trying to hit a minimum word count.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
This book mainly talks about three influencers. It talks about how they got to the point where they were able to support themselves being influencers. It talks about the challenges they faced. The book also talks about others such as managers, publicity agents, photographers, and others who support the influencers. It also talks about people who dislike influencers and attack them online. I found the book interesting and informative.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Sexism