THE BAND

A recently canceled K-Pop band member known by his fans as “the Hot One” bides his time in the McMansion of a Chinese American psychologist he meets in the aisles of H Mart.

At the height of a successful career as the eldest (and best-looking) member of a K-Pop band, Sang Duri finds his life crashing down around him when the lyrics of his latest single stoke the friction among the nations of Korea, China, and Japan. In an attempt to avoid the public eye and spare his bandmates from further scrutiny, Duri convinces a psychologist—the nameless narrator of Ma-Kellams’ novel—to let him stay with her family in their palatial home. The psychologist, already unhappy in her marriage, is sympathetic to Duri’s plight and agrees to take him in. As they spend more and more time together, the lines of their complicated relationship begin to blur until it is unclear who is actually relying on whom. Little do they know that Duri’s disappearance from the spotlight will result in a shocking act of violence that will rock the music industry to its core. While Ma-Kellam’s novel is a scathing indictment of fandom and the way the industry often turns a blind eye to the mental health of its stars, the book lacks the charm and depth of character necessary to keep readers fully engaged. The use of footnotes—explaining everything from different types of plastic surgery to what the H in H Mart stands for—may be clever, but it feels unnecessary to the story and distracts from the main plot, which struggles to get off the ground.

A satirical examination of the stars and fans of the music industry.