The Love Song of Jonny Valentine by Teddy Wayne
★★★

Jonny Valentine is a very self-aware pop-star protagonist. At 11, he completely understands that his fans love him for the carefully maintained image his manager-mommy Jane and all of his “people” carefully craft.  Jonny is still only 11 thought trying to navigate a very grown up world without a father or any close friends. His only guidance comes from Walter (his bodyguard), Nadine (his tutor), and Jane. Suddenly his absent father starts trying to teach out to him in the midst of a tour that could make or break Jonny’s career. His momager (No?) would never let him talk to his dad, he’s not even allowed to post on his own twitter. Jonny can’t imagine letting his dad go though when the possibility of getting him back is so close.

I was immediately interested when I heard about this book last year. I heard that the character was supposed to be similar to Justin Beiber and I thought it would probably be a great commentary on celebrity status in America and how absolutely absurd it is that we take them so seriously.  Instead, I got roped into a story about a tween fruitlessly masturbating and wondering when the conflict between the momager (I’m keeping it) would come to a boiling point so we could reach a resolution in that weird relationship. This book seemed to have a large source of themes to discuss. Jane’s control over Jonny is scary and strong and the book dances around the subject and has other characters actually concerned about Jonny’s well-being. However, when Jane actually does harm to herself and Jonny’s career, it never truly resolves in the wake of Jonny’s daddy drama. Jonny also touches on the mobs of fans that are “in love” with him without really knowing him and how lonely it is to be a celebrity, again though the topic is only touched on at a superficial level. The one message the book does a great job discussing, the farce of celebrity lives, is force-fed to us while we are busy digesting the other topics. Jonny’s people fake an entire relationship and “back to the beginnings” trip for him all for public approval. Jonny is whipped back and forth wildly between these scenarios and struggles to understand what he feels compared to what he’s supposed to feel. He also struggles to act the appropriate way while still being a hormonal time-bomb on the brink of puberty (as evidenced by his delight of his first pube, something I now wonder if every male in my life was as proud of). As much as I hate to say it, The Love Song of Jonny Valentine should probably has been planned into a series of books to really get a good dig in our society instead of just a singular book lobbing a bunch of complaints in such a fast and hectic way. Jonny Valentine was a brave book and I really hope Teddy Wayne continues to write in the same voice and continues to pursue important ideas like these. Maybe next time though Teddy; flesh them out a bit more for me?