REVIEW: ‘#famous’ by Jilly Gagnon

I was so excited to get my hands on this book when it came out. I literally hunted for it in my local bookstores. The catalyst behind my excitement was most likely the cute cover. Plus, I was in the mood for a fluffy yet meaningful YA contemporary.

You know exactly what you want. Exactly who you are. You don’t care what anyone thinks about you. —Kyle

The blurb:

In this modern-day love story, Girl likes Boy, Girl takes photo of Boy and posts it online, Boy becomes accidentally insta-famous. And what starts out as an innocent joke spirals into a whirlwind adventure that could change both their lives—and their hearts—forever. But are fame and love worth the price?

Told in alternating points of view, #famous captures the out-of-control thrill ride of falling for someone in front of everyone.

#famous primarily explores how love can blossom in a typical high school setting wherein popularity is everything that matters. Unsurprisingly, the mean jocks and cheerleaders are at the top of the social hierarchy, while the plain-looking nerds are at the bottom. You don’t have to guess where Kyle and Rachel belong. Regardless of its lack of originality, I suppose this book was intriguing because it was inspired by a real human phenomenon: Alex of Target, an ordinary boy who suddenly became popular when a girl published a cute photo of him online.

It is easy for me to enumerate the things I liked about #Famous. I enjoyed the simplistic writing, the short chapters, the dynamics within Rachel’s family, as well as the insightful depiction of social media. I honestly think that this book can be used as an effective cure for a reading slump; it’s possible to read it in just one sitting.

However, it is much easier for me to rant about this book’s shortcomings. The romance was lackluster and even instalovey; Rachel was annoyingly insecure; Kyle was frustratingly insensitive (or naive?); and the author had this weird way of using colons every now and then. Most importantly, this book disappointed me because I found it hard to relate to the protagonists, who kept on making small problems big. Come to think of it, most of the drama in this book was actually pointless.

Taking all of these in consideration, I felt moderately happy about this book. It was cute, entertaining, and quite insightful. However, overall, it was not on par with my favorite contemporary novels. I probably would have loved this book during my early bookworm days. I therefore give #famous solid 3 stars.