Scan barcode
A review by captwinghead
K-Pop Confidential by Stephan Lee
3.0
3.5 stars
cw: fatphobia, disordered eating, featurism
This was a lot more enjoyable than the last book I read on K-pop trainees, “Shine” by Jessica Jung. I really enjoyed Lyla Lee's "I'll Be the One", but that was a Korean American doing a K-Pop competition in America. This book starred a Korean American travelling to South Korea to be a trainee - an entirely different and way more stressful situation.
I like Candace as a character just fine. Unlike some other novels I've read, she knows how much her family sacrificed for her to take advantage of the opportunity and actually does more to show respect for that sacrifice. She still takes some unnecessary risks (YoungBae and One.J), but it's clear she loves her family and isn't being truly reckless about it. I wished the story hadn't had that YA element of her literally stumbling into the whole opportunity, though. The odds of thousands of people with more knowledge of the Korean language, formal dance and vocal training, all getting eliminated as they pick the girl who can only sing is a bit hard for me to believe. The odds of a company traveling all the way to NY to select one person, also hard for me to believe.
Anyway, the trainee experience sounded like what you hear from girl groups when they're allowed to talk about their honest memories. Hiding food, extreme practice time, the dating scandals. All of that seemed accurate, as best I can tell. I liked that this book moved past the catty girl stereotypes and showcased more of the sisterhood. That's a lot more progressive than books that reduce female characters to mean girls and never move past that.
The only aspects of this book that tripped me up were dialogue issues. Aside from some cringey lyrics (Unicorn, for example), anytime Imani or Ethan spoke, I cringed. Imani said "Girl, bye" like every other line, Ethan threw in some "Yass, queen"s and most of the Gen Z slang aged poorly. Reading this in 2023, it had already aged poorly. "Shooketh" died a slow painful death a while ago and its used more than once in this book.
I could be reaching, I hope that I am, but it felt like SLK was based off of BTS. 2020, biggest K-Pop group in the world and the first to really explode in America. They sing and rap and (iirc) started from a small company. The book took quite a few digs at whoever Wookie was meant to be (if I'm right and this was based on BTS). Like it being a "choice" for him to be someone's bias and for groups to not be made of all perfect members because they each need a "Wookie". If I'm right, which member of BTS was that meant to be? It felt mean spirited.
Anyway, overall, this was entertaining and enjoyable. The dialogue did take me out at times, but it's a solid recommend if you're into this type of story.
cw: fatphobia, disordered eating, featurism
This was a lot more enjoyable than the last book I read on K-pop trainees, “Shine” by Jessica Jung. I really enjoyed Lyla Lee's "I'll Be the One", but that was a Korean American doing a K-Pop competition in America. This book starred a Korean American travelling to South Korea to be a trainee - an entirely different and way more stressful situation.
I like Candace as a character just fine. Unlike some other novels I've read, she knows how much her family sacrificed for her to take advantage of the opportunity and actually does more to show respect for that sacrifice. She still takes some unnecessary risks (YoungBae and One.J), but it's clear she loves her family and isn't being truly reckless about it. I wished the story hadn't had that YA element of her literally stumbling into the whole opportunity, though. The odds of thousands of people with more knowledge of the Korean language, formal dance and vocal training, all getting eliminated as they pick the girl who can only sing is a bit hard for me to believe. The odds of a company traveling all the way to NY to select one person, also hard for me to believe.
Anyway, the trainee experience sounded like what you hear from girl groups when they're allowed to talk about their honest memories. Hiding food, extreme practice time, the dating scandals. All of that seemed accurate, as best I can tell. I liked that this book moved past the catty girl stereotypes and showcased more of the sisterhood. That's a lot more progressive than books that reduce female characters to mean girls and never move past that.
The only aspects of this book that tripped me up were dialogue issues. Aside from some cringey lyrics (Unicorn, for example), anytime Imani or Ethan spoke, I cringed. Imani said "Girl, bye" like every other line, Ethan threw in some "Yass, queen"s and most of the Gen Z slang aged poorly. Reading this in 2023, it had already aged poorly. "Shooketh" died a slow painful death a while ago and its used more than once in this book.
I could be reaching, I hope that I am, but it felt like SLK was based off of BTS. 2020, biggest K-Pop group in the world and the first to really explode in America. They sing and rap and (iirc) started from a small company. The book took quite a few digs at whoever Wookie was meant to be (if I'm right and this was based on BTS). Like it being a "choice" for him to be someone's bias and for groups to not be made of all perfect members because they each need a "Wookie". If I'm right, which member of BTS was that meant to be? It felt mean spirited.
Anyway, overall, this was entertaining and enjoyable. The dialogue did take me out at times, but it's a solid recommend if you're into this type of story.