Despite a narrative that overflows with lido-deck costume parties...the novel’s tone largely foregoes the hard-candy finish of camp or satire for more measured and melancholic comic drama ... The linear plotting in American Fantasy picks up various strands of mild conflict and self-actualization as it goes, with a sweet late-game wisp of wish-fulfillment romance. But like the ship on its short route...it mostly moves unhurriedly, a throwback melody bobbing along on a current of Top 40 party playlists and gentle emotional swells.
Straub’s most compelling achievement is her ability to capture the sanctity of shared obsession ... Annie’s perspective is sharp, observant, and tinged with self-conscious humor, which anchors the book emotionally. The setting itself is brilliantly conceived ... Yet where the book shines conceptually, it falters in execution. Much of the narrative operates at the level of observation rather than dramatization ... The book is filled with sharp cultural commentary and memorable lines, yet it can feel slight, as though its most compelling ideas are sketched rather than fully realized. Still, the novel’s cultural timing is astute.
Straub’s hordes of fans will happily fall for Annie on her journey to figuring out what’s next, and the very recognizable zeitgeist Straub captures so effortlessly.
Buoyant ... Emma Straub's seventh book blends joviality and disappointment, nostalgia and realism, via the stories of three people on board a boy band reunion cruise.
