Famous People

by Justin Kuritzkes

This fresh, smart novel in the guise of a celebrity memoir probes the inner life of a mega-famous pop star

Why I really decided to write this book now is like, the world seems to be spinning out of control, you know? People are so mad at each other. People are taking life so seriously. People are losing hope. And I think, honestly, it’s because people are so rooted in their own particular spot in the universe.

But something happens to you when you’re touring all around the world all the time. Something happens to you when you visit some country you’ve never heard of and you see your face on the side of a bus being used to sell some soda that you didn’t even know existed, and you call up your people and you’re like: Yo, did we agree to this? And they tell you: Yes, it was part of an overall deal with East Asia.

Something happens: You realize how tiny you are.

Honestly, that’s what amazes me the most with a lot of the people I meet: they think they’re so big. They think, ultimately, that the universe revolves around them. And I’m beginning to think that it’s only when you live a life like mine—it’s only when you’re in a position where you don’t even really own yourself, when you can’t even really say that you’re a citizen of any particular country—that you realize that we’re all just tiny pieces of cosmic dust floating through the void until we disappear forever and we’re never heard from again.

So begins the life story of our uber famous twenty-two year old narrator. A teen idol since he was twelve, when a video of him singing the national anthem went viral, his star has only risen since. Now, haunted by the suicide of his manager-father in the wake of their painful parting, unsettled by the very different paths he and his his teenage love (and girl pop-star counterpart) “Mandy” have taken, and increasingly aware that he has signed on to something he has little control over, he begins to parse the divide that separates him from the “normal people” of the world, and enlighten the rest of us along the way. Sneakily philosophical, earnest and funny, Justin Kuritzkes's Famous People is a rollicking, unforgettable look at the clash between fame and the human condition, and what it really means to be “normal.”

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Audiobook

224 pages, Hardcover

First published July 9, 2019

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Am I being punkd?

Is this a real book?

Did this book win one of those contest to write the worst book possible?

I shall now write my review in the style of this book.

I was like like like like like like, you know like. Just like you know super dope lol! Like you know just like like just like like just like like you know lol! You know

This book is hot garbage!

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly don’t understand why this book has such a low rating on goodreads. I don’t mean to be a sassy binch but I feel like if you didn’t like this book because it used lol or like then you are probably also the kind of person who doesn’t understand art. Sure, the rambling prose is jarring for the first few pages but it is easy to adapt and easy to see what the author is trying to achieve with language. The stylistic choices were smart and added to the experience of being in this flawed and brilliantly constructed characters head. Famous People is profoundly moving and insightful. It is relevant, intimate, authentic, and one of a kind in a very modern way. It angers me that the rating on such a beautiful and unique book is so low for such a shallow reason.

[Tucker Almengor]

Many thanks to Henry Holt & Company for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

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[Regina Jenkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book hurt my head to much rambling about nothing like LOL if I could remove that phrase from this book. I felt that I was seeing this through a nine year old girl's view I just could not really get invested in the story.

[Jamie Rosenblit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written as a “celebrity memoir” - Famous People is almost as if a Kardashian/Justin Bieber/insert any pop culture figure here wrote a memoir sans ghostwriter. This will definitely not be for everyone but Kuritzes hit the nail on the head stylistically for me here! So short, it almost reads as a novella, which is the perfect length for this intentionally disjointed, all over the place story. From skyrocketing to fame as a child to a detailed list of every tattoo on his body, this reads like the tell all memoir we all want from our favorite stars - BEFORE their PR reps sanitize it!

I received an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

[Crystal Zavala · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am going to describe this book as satirical and possibly fan fiction. I kept thinking of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.

I read this book in one sitting. Once I adapted to the the way the book was written, I couldn't put it down. The book is written by an unnamed boy? man? from when his video went viral at the age of 12 until now. He never says how old he is at the time of the writing, but I get the sense that he is probably still a teenager. The frequency of the word "like" was hilarious and horrifying. I would love to know how many times the word appears in the book. Maybe 4000 or so times. Too many for a drinking game. The book is written without any chapters and is just one long stream of consciousness. It is as if he voice recorded himself talking and then had it typed up word for word with no editing.

I am not entirely sure why I loved this book so much. Probably because it was so unique. And probably because I could envision a young, narcissistic "famous person" writing this.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh my gosh. I couldn’t even get to 5% in this book. It is like reading a pop culture magazine. The amount of “like”s in the first page alone was enough to make me roll my eyes. Perhaps it gets better but I’m not going to wait and find out.

[Basic B's Guide]

Stylistically this book is just not for me. It’s written as a fictionalized celebrity memoir but it’s too disjointed for me. The narration rambles on for me and there is no point I felt like I could set this down and come back to it as there are absolutely NO chapters 😳. I do believe this book does have an audience but unfortunately it’s not me.

[Ransom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Imagine sitting down and listening for several hours to an arrogant, self-absorbed 15-year old ramble in a stream-of-consciousness jumble. I had difficulty discerning a plot, any real conflict, or any significant character development. Had this been an actual celebrity memoir, I would have stopped reading 20 pages in since the grammar and writing were so poor, being constantly sprinkled with "LOL," "like," and profanity. However, since this was fiction in the guise of a memoir, I was hoping that the author would give it some direction by the end. Unfortunately, it ends about how it starts, bordering on some kind of existentialism.

I also struggled since the book doesn't really succeed as either a memoir or a study of the human condition. No celebrity publisher or agent would ever let something like this get published with all the grammatical errors, personal secrets that are divulged, and NDAs that are broken. If you want a celebrity fix, I'd suggest reading an actual memoir. If you want something deeply philosophical, there's plenty out there that's more clear and cogent and will make you feel like you gained something intellectually.

I appreciate the effort to use the vehicle of the celebrity memoir to say some important things, but I just didn't feel that it worked in this case. It might have worked much better had this been written from the point of view of the main character at 85 years old, humbled and looking back. Trying to seriously listen to an uneducated teenager act like an expert and preach about "dope," "next-level" stuff while he's making transparently terrible decisions about his life is asking a bit much.

I received a copy of this book for free as a Goodreads Giveaway.

[Jypsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Famous People is an okay read. It's a good idea executed poorly. The story is just too immature and choppy. I found it lacked substance and needs fleshing out more. It's not for me.

[KarnagesMistress · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Sneakily philosophical" is the phrase that was used on the back cover, and it is the phrase that I keep coming back to when trying to explain why I didn't dislike this book. It is easy to criticize this book on its surface. The text is the kind of unedited stream-of-consciousness you would expect from a Millennial, complete with an abundance of LOLs. You have to be able to look deeper, however. This is a book that swerves between parody and satire. It's that parody aspect, the cursing, "likes," and "LOLs," that seem to turn readers off, probably because Kuritzkes does such a good job with it that you'll forget our narrator isn't real. The satire sections, however, they will make you think. For example, there is a section towards the middle of the book that discusses how neither the very poor nor the very rich can fully participate in certain aspects of society. I found that to be a read-it-out-loud-word-for-word-to-your-significant-other section. Look, the book isn't very long: just over 200 pages. I would suggest that you give it a try. It's not a big investment if you don't like it, but worthwhile if you do. This book will also satisfy the 2019 Watauga County Public Library Reading Challenge categories: A book published in 2019; A Book About Culture; A Book With a Cover You Hate; A Book By An Author You've Never Heard of Before. I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways on Tuesday, June 18, 2019. It is an advance reader's edition.

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an arc copy of this from a Goodreads giveaway.

I wanted to like this book, but I found it to be incredibly dull and quite tone deaf. Written in the language of a teenage boy, the book was filled with like and LOL.

The main character found himself to be most enlightened while choosing never to pick a side in debates of right and wrong. It was basically an hommage to talking crap about every single person in his life.

I was less than impressed and it took 100% concentration to stay involved in the story.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s funny reading the reviews of people who didn’t get that in the ramblings of a young stupid famous guy are some deeper philosophical questions. I realize that this book is like reading one long text message, but I actually found it an easy read because of that. For those that see it as an insult to literature, I have seen some of the plays here in New York by this author and can assure you he’s fully capable. I find it masterful that he knew the rules, and intentionally broke them.

I have always been really fascinated with fame. Not necessarily to acquire it but what it does to people, how we define it, and what people do once they think they have it. This “memoir” explores that.

For those that can swallow that the author (gasp) uses LOL and all the other text expressions (eve though it’s perfectly acceptable in professional business settings), there is a lot of character, humanity, and depth to the world of this famous person.

It’s navigated with humor and naïveté and was seriously one of my favorite books of the year.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I rarely put books down without finishing them, but this book is so obviously not for me that I don't want to go through the process of forcing myself to read and review it. I got 10% in and just could not get interested in the rambling nature of the narrative or any of the disconnected plot threads. I think I understand what the author was trying to do here in terms of writing a fictionalized celebrity tell-all without a filter, but I found myself not caring at all about this child star's take on his own career trajectory.

I received this e-ARC via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[joaqui. · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes down to it, no one else can make your decisions for you. They can give you advice, they can tell you what shit looks like from where they’re standing, but you’re the only person who’s standing in your skin, so you’re the one who’s gotta make the call. It might make some people laugh, and it might make some people upset, and it might even make some people feel like they know better than you, but if you don’t start living your own life, who will?





I seriously think this is a very clever book. Like if you get it, you get it.

[Brooke · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dumb

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was completely taken off guard by how much I loved this. Written as a fictional memoir in progress, with a liberal sprinkling of "likes" and "LOLs," Famous People's narrator is a Bieber-esque pop star that launched to fame at the age of twelve and has been a mega pop icon ever since. What could easily come across as a gimmicky premise steadily gives way to deeply felt observations on how our modern idea of fame as an end in itself (i.e.YouTubers and influencers "famous for being famous") erodes a person's selfhood, making the person and the product increasingly difficult to parse. The narrator is funny, sharp, deceptively self-conscious, and eager to please; in other words, he is both the ideal young star, and also the perfect slab of meat to toss into our grinding celebrity image machine.

The book emphasizes how being famous is one of the most unique and extreme human experiences there is, marked by a dichotomy at its heart: fame is both mysterious, elusive and intensely coveted, but also a panoptic & ludicrous deal with the devil. Somehow, Famous People is more satisfying than if it were written by an actual famous person.

[James Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel about a Bieber-esque pop star writing his memoir begins as a semi-comic romp about a level of celebrity and fame most "normal people" can't even imagine. As it zips along, though, Famous People widens its net. The unnamed protagonist believes he understands the world from his perch as an inescapable pop culture phenomenon. But as he writes this memoir, and interrogates the motives and thoughts of the most important figures in his life (namely, his popstar ex-girlfriend, his mentor-turned-stepfather, and his number one fan with whom he regularly corresponds), his perspective about life and his place in it constantly evolves. It's the most introspective novel about a character who punctuates nearly every sentence with "LOL" you're ever likely to read--and it's to Justin Kuritzkes' credit that he never treats his protagonist like a punch line.

[Kerry Cullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

whip smart, very funny, and endearingly philosophical

[BookTrib.com]

“I been famous since I was twelve,” opines our teen pop star narrator at the start of Famous People. “The thing about being famous for so long is that like, you never really hang with any normal people anymore, because it’s just weird for everybody.”

Despite this assertion, Famous People (Henry Holt) is a novel about normal people, or at least people who consider themselves to be normal. Sure, they’re famous musicians, reality TV stars and controversial authors, but none of them are particularly unusual. They each have the same capacity for heartbreak, for disappointment, for disillusionment.

The unnamed narrator, a Top 40 icon, remarks that the only difference between him and an ordinary person plucked from the sidewalk is that the world wasn’t made for someone like him. The nature of fame makes his presence anywhere an event. It’s hard to have relationships and know definitively whether he’s speaking with sycophants or people who actually like him, respect him and think he’s funny. He’s a totally normal guy, he insists. It’s the fame that makes him unusual.

An unusual narrator usually lends itself to unusual narration, as is the case here. Debut author Justin Kuritzkes tells the pop star protagonist’s story chronologically, albeit in a stream-of-consciousness comprised of staccato nonsequiturs. Background information on the narrator’s parents and on-again off-again girlfriend is drip-fed to the reader and he even acknowledges withholding important pieces of the story so he doesn’t get ahead of himself.

The rest of the review: https://booktrib.com/2019/07/famous-p...

[aki · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this bc the author also wrote the movie challengers! very engaging read, i ended up really liking it and finding the thoughts justin has on fame and how celebrity works interesting if not particularly unique but i could see people getting irritated by the writing style. there's a lot of use of the word "like" and "LOL" but i don't know what to tell you that's how a lot of people speak, and given that this book was meant to be an auto-biography from a vapid justin bieber type celebrity it checks out. there was a stretch in the middle where i was getting bored bc i was hoping for some kind of plot to occur but once i embraced it as being a fake memoir it all came together a lot better for me. i already thought this beforehand but this did become even more clear to me after finishing this book that the kind of worldwide hyper fame that truly famous people are subjected to genuinely is a kind of abuse. there is just no hope of being normal in that context. this is honestly more of a three point five book but i just rounded up but it got me out of a reading slump bc it was eminently readable and for that i'm grateful!

[Angel Hatfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

He had famous since he was twelve. He had made a video of him singing the National Anthem and got like ten thousand views the first week. He was doing some crazy stuff with his voice. He used to be able to hit high notes-like girls could, before his voice dropped. But his voice was still tight. The thing about being famous for so long is you don’t really hang with any normal people. But at the same time you are connected to normal people than even than most normal people were. Because you are one of the few that really looked at them. Here’s his daily grid: he gets up, he goes to the studio, he turns out some tracks, he goes to the gym, he goes and takes his singing lesson, he goes takes his guitar lesson- he can play all the cords but he wants to be good-, he takes meetings, he listens to stuff. Sometimes he’s on the road. It’s never as fun as you think it would be. He never backs out of his shows, they wait in line for hours , days even, just to hear the songs they’ve already heard a million times on the radio. He never once backed out of his commitments to something, it was the least he could do. Than he decided he could do more and that’s when he decided to write a book. The publishers had been reaching out to him for awhile. He decided it was time to tell his story. The really famous people are mostly chill. His mother was a dental accident and his dad had worked at the radio station. His father killed himself. It was after he was famousHe and his father were estranged. He found out about his father after he landed from a paparazzi who had asked him how he felt about his dad and what happened today. The paparazzi got quiet and he knew something was up and said “ what the f--- are you talking about?” The paparazzi stammered” he killed himself, your father is dead.” He grew up in a regular town and was a regular kid. He started singing in church , he sang all the solo parts. His parents would come and watch him and they were proud. Than his father started talking like he was his manager. They made good business partners. They both had the fire in them. There was a time when his father wanted to crush it. His dad had been in a grunge band and for a second it looked like his band was gonna have a moment. But grunge was basically done. His father still sometimes played in bands. So his father put all his hopes of killing it onto me, his son. He moved out to LA when he was about fourteen and he than got together with Mandy. I couldn’t finish this book. We didn’t even get a name for the famous young man. This just didn’t hold my attention and I finally gave up trying to force myself to read it. I am sure there are people out there who will enjoy this book. It just wasn’t for me.

[Grace Zernhelt · Rating 4 out of 5]

[3.75]
the concept of the man who wrote the screenplay for challengers and queer also writing this book…
i had fun! i don’t know why but the “like”s, “lol”s and lots of swearing really did not bother me as much as some people who read this book, i dont know if it was because i had the audiobook so it felt more like someone talking than reading a bunch of rambling, but idk i think people are way too harsh on a comedic fake memoir

[Drew Kolenik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good! Fast read as well. Impressive to write from the voice of an under educated child pop star turned young adult and still managed to have these really profound and beautiful passages. Such a hard task to blend those two voices but Justin does it very well. A funny book with an excellent use of “LOL” that also has a very tender heart. Hope he writes another book soon

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

LOL
LOL
LOL
LOL
LOL...

Seriously, when did text acronyms become so goddamned common in written language.

A decent read, but needed to dial-down the douche-speak a few clicks.

[Laura Roncisvalle · Rating 2 out of 5]

quero escrever uma resenha depois pois tenho sentimentos conflitantes

[Georgia Barber · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried really really hard to finish this book. It was so painfully bad I just couldn’t do it. 2 stars might be generous. EDIT: upon reflection, 2 stars was too generous.

[Dipanshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is insane. Wouldn't expect anything else from the writer of Challengers.

There's a level of care and understanding in the writing that somehow perfectly juxtaposes with the narcissistic tone of the protagonist. Absolutely could not stop reading.

[Megan Maine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just really could not get into this book. It needs a serious edit to remove a thousand 'likes' and 'you knows'. I felt like I was reading one of my 8th graders papers the way it was written with simple sentence structure, lols inserted in, and the constant use of the word like. I understand that it this is the way the author intended the book considering it is suppose to be a memoir write by a 22 superstar who became famous at 12 and didn't have much of an education after that, but it was still hard to read. I am not exactly sure who the intended audience is for this book because with the language and sexual and drug references I wouldn't give it to my students even the seniors, and I feel it is too simple for adults. Also some of the ideas presented in the book I just couldn't get behind, at one point it was the like the superstar was saying suicide was this great final act, he wasn't actually endorsing it but it could be taken that way by young adults or people struggling with suicidal thoughts. Then at another point he stated that all normal people aren't really living and that we need people like him, superstars, to be able to even try to live just a little. I just kept thinking I why am I reading this. I will say at the end of the book the superstar's ideas did change some so there was that redeeming quality. I don't want to be mean because the book hit its concept well. I hope that there are some that do like this book because I am sure the author put a lot of hard work into it and I would like to see people like his work.

[dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

lol