My Favourite Band Does Not Exist (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
Intended Audience: YASexual content: MildAce/Genderqueer characters: ?Rating: PGWriting style: 3/5Likable characters: 3/5Plot/Concepts: 4/5Idea Diety suffers from anxiety attacks, believing that he’s a character in a book written by a malevolent author. In an effort to control his own life, he created a nonexistent band, Youforia, on the internet. When he runs away from home, he teams up with a literally two-faced girl named Eunice/Eurydice, and soon finds out that his make-believe band might be more real than he ever intended.I’m always curious about stories where the characters end up inside books or videogames or whatever other form of alternate reality they’re engaged in. I was surprised to find that not only is Idea convinced his life is a book, but he and the lead singer of his made-up band are also reading the same book, Fireskull’s Revenant, at roughly the same pace. Segments of the book are scattered throughout the narrative, and in the copy I had, the edges of those pages were colored darker than the rest, and the chapter headings looked different. At first these three realities or universes seem unrelated, but as the story goes on they converge and begin to influence one another in unexpected ways. A favorite scene of mine involves Idea speaking to Reacher (lead singer of Youforia) through Eunice/Eurydice. Although neither of them can see one another, they argue because Idea believes Reacher stole his idea and made a fake Youforia, while Reacher believes Idea is wrongfully posting private information about his secret band online. As a writer I’ve always wanted to have a real-life conversation with my characters, so that trope attracts me.One of the things I enjoyed most about the entire book is that the author plays with stereotypes in every reality. He injects unexpected creativity into situations which would otherwise be completely overdone and boring. So, for example, although Fireskull’s Revenant is about two warring lords, and Fireskull is stereotypically insane and evil (and has a flaming skull), his enemy Johnny Without is cursed (or blessed) with a nearly-indestructible, constantly mutating body and patchwork voice. The real villain of Fireskull’s Revenant was also not immediately apparent. Basically, I thought many scenes of this book would make an excellent animated movie. The humor is spot-on for a clever cartoon, and the dialogue and visuals would fit in well—for example, Reacher’s world has pink foliage and an emerald sky. I think such a film would be pretty entertaining and work well with the author’s writing style.The character descriptions were all quite easy to visualize… actually, most things were brought into pretty clear focus, and the writing style was snappy and quick to read, although the author did repeat descriptions of characteristic appearances or behaviors. The plot was easy to follow but not too simplistic. Although many of the characters were archetypes, the author used this to his advantage. It works with the feel of the book and the humor that is intended. I never sensed that the author was taking himself too seriously.Although Idea and Reacher both have a romantic relationship with Eunice/Eurydice, it was pretty mild and I appreciated that most of the time they just acted like good friends. I also liked that Eunice/Eurydice was a very important female character, perhaps even more important in correcting the problems in all realities than Idea. Certainly nothing could have been resolved without her presence and abilities. She’s also pretty likable. The book doesn’t really pass the Bechdel test, unfortunately, and Eurydice’s rivalry with the only other female band member (which supposedly was not just because she stole Reacher’s affections) is never explained. As for ace and genderqueer characters, there were no possibilities that stuck out to me except that Fireskull seems completely disinterested in anything other than destroying Johnny Without; also, Johnny Without’s body and voice is described as shifting between that of a man, woman, and child. I’m not sure either one really counts, but it was fun to speculate anyway.If you like stories within stories, time travel, or cartoonish plot devices and humor, check this one out. It’s definitely entertaining and a pretty quick read. My only real complaint is that some of the emotional moments were a little bit corny, but that in and of itself was kind of amusing and may have been intentional. If not, I can look past that to appreciate the value of the rest, and the creativity it took to put together. WOW. This is definitely the most original book I've ever read. Devices that are normally clichés, such as time travel, alternate realities, and standard fantasy fare are all combined into one strikingly familiar, yet totally original and inspiring story. You could try to compare it to any other book, but it simply wouldn't make sense. The closest thing I can compare it to is like a PG-13 version of The Pagemaster with some Alice in Wonderland thrown in. Unfortunately, the PG-13 part is where the book loses a star from me. The rock 'n roll atmosphere of vulgar language and drinking comes off as fake and immature in this book. It would have been a much better read if all of that were more believable, or at least pulled out.In any case, it's definitely worth a read--if its occasional teenage immaturity don't put you off before you reach the fabled Chapter 64.Rating: 7.5/10
What do You think about My Favourite Band Does Not Exist (2011)?
The storyline is so CONFUSING! I didn't understand the first pages and decided it wasn't worth it.
—fay
fun read, witty with smart weaving of the storylines.
—laura
Had to give up on this one. Could not get into it.
—Brehm
