Review | The Idea of You

Title: The Idea of You by Robinne Lee

Date Published: June 13th, 2017

Dates Read: December 29th, 2021 - January 2, 2022

Current Goodreads Rating: 4.04/5

If you know me personally you know that 2020 was a strange year for me because, five years after they had "gone on hiatus," I became certifiably insane, I mean obsessed, over One Direction and Harry Styles. In a matter of months I managed to follow a crazy amount of 1D and Harry blogs on Tumblr, was gifted two Harry Styles sweatshirts, and, this past Christmas, received a box of over 100 Harry Styles stickers, and three Harry Styles themed coloring books. Apparently my personality is not Harry Potter, it's just obsessing over people named Harry.

Anyways, in the height of this Pan-One-Direction-Demic I found The Idea of You. To be totally honest with you it was recommended to me because it was a book that read like Harry Styles fanfiction that wasn't fanfiction and I was here for it. It took me a little bit to get to it however, and by the time I requested it from my library I was in recovery from my Direc-diction so I was able to read this book, identify how thinly veiled all the characters were, and laugh a little at myself.

Ok, so what happens? Solène Marchand is a 39 year old single mother who has the exhausting task of taking her tween daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band, August Moon. At the meet and greet, Solène is introduced to the August Moon bad boy, Har - I mean Hayes Campbell. In a whirlwind of a year, Solène and Hayes become intimately involved (wink wink, nudge nudge) and have to navigate the world of celebrity, obsession, and "crazy" age gaps.

Ok, so what did I think? Look, this book isn't going to win any awards (though it was nominated for Best Book by a Debut Author in 2017), but it's a quick and somewhat light read. It's especially fun to read and try to decipher who is the representation of which real boy band member. The funniest part of the whole thing - at least in my opinion - is that there is one August Moon member named Liam. Is he the fictional version of Liam Payne? I'd like to think so, but I am also open to suggestions.

Is Zayne in this book? I honestly have no idea. I couldn't keep any of the other boy band members straight.

I will say, this book did bring up some interesting commentary on women's age and their worth in a relationship with a younger man. Many times Solène remarks on how she could be Hayes mother (like an upsetting amount tbh. You're banging the fictional Harry Styles - maybe stop telling him you could be his mom) and she's harassed by fans to the point where her workplace is vandalized and she receives threats in the mail. This harassment spills over into her daughter's life as well where she is constantly accosted and bullied by kids at her school who want to know all the dirty details of her mother's affair with the young boy band member. Lee doesn't shy away from the issue and even calls out the hypocrisy of a relationship like this reversed. If Solène were a guy and Hayes were a girl it wouldn't be an issue, but because the older person in the relationship is a woman she is a predator and is constantly under threat from psycho teens who think they'd have a better chance with the man they've never met or will never know on a personal level.

Like I said, this book is hilarious to read through the lens of identifying who is supposed to represent the real world counterpart, but it also gets a little uncomfortably close to real world celebrity gossip as well. Though this book was originally written and published in 2017, I can definitely see Solène as the fictional counterpart to Styles' current girlfriend, Olivia Wilde. I personally don't care who he dates, but there may have been a time a few years ago when I was delusional enough to think that I could have a chance just because we're the same age (look, 2020 was a year, ok? I realize my crazy and I'm recovering). I may have looked at Wilde critically because of that. I mean she's 10 years his senior, who does she think she is? When in reality, they are both consenting adults and the fact that we automatically assume the woman has seduced or otherwise coerced a younger man into dating or even sleeping with her is just disgusting. Why do we keep putting older women in boxes as though once they've hit a certain age they are no longer able to make connections with men, other women, or anyone younger than them? Why do we even give a fuck?

The Idea of You is not a perfect book. It's a little repetitive and the characters can be a little flat. If you've ever read a somewhat decent Harry Styles fanfiction while scrolling through Tumblr then you've read something around the same quality as this book, but if you do decide to pick up a copy of Robinne Lee's first novel, I highly recommend considering the implications behind the drama of the story. Think about why Solène is portrayed as the villain in so many character's eyes and think about how you feel about her. Does she deserve this treatment just because she made a connection with someone?

Long Story Short:

• 2020 was quite the year in many ways

• Sometimes the strangest books make you think more than you thought

• STOP PUTTING WOMEN IN BOXES AND BINDERS.

My Rating: 3/5