Kind of felt like the author couldn’t decide whether to write a memoir about her time in the One Direction fandom OR an actual in-depth look into how the fan culture of the 2010s shaped the modern day internet, focused on more than one fandom. So it kind of ended up being a half-assed combination of both, where she universalizes her own anecdotal experiences in the 1D fandom, glosses over genuine criticisms of how fan culture impacts both fans and creators, and rushes through vague references to  actual social science research into other fan communities or broader fan culture. To be honest, I probably would not have read this book if I knew it was going to be 100% about One Direction (and I love One Direction).

I dislike that this is tagged as a sociology book because it truly is a journalistic memoir peppered with vague descriptions of actual research into fan culture that she never really grapples with.

Read Monia Ali’s substack “Fandom Exile” instead for a much more thorough, critical, and personal look at fandom culture (that also has a focus on One Direction).

+ "Woman" by Harry Styles is a good song!!