I’m a long time fan of Suzanne Park so when I saw the cover of Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous I gasped. What an amazing, precious, colorful cover! The ARC power-at-be granted my request and I began reading this thoughtful YA about technology usage, romance, and connection. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
Sunny Song’s Big Summer Goals:
1) Make Rafael Kim my boyfriend (finally!)
2) Hit 100K followers (almost there…)
3) Have the best last summer of high school everNot on Sunny’s list: accidentally filming a PG-13 cooking video that goes viral (#browniegate). Extremely not on her list: being shipped off to a digital detox farm camp in Iowa (IOWA??) for a whole month. She’s traded in her WiFi connection for a butter churn, and if she wants any shot at growing her social media platform this summer, she’ll need to find a way back online.
But between some unexpected friendships and an alarmingly cute farm boy, Sunny might be surprised by the connections she makes when she’s forced to disconnect.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
TW: racism
Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous is a tender and thoughtful YA about social media and connection. It’s about family, romance, expectations, and friendship. It’s rare that I relate so fully with a main character, but I saw so much of myself in Sunny. In the ways she has a goal, in her planning and her drive. Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous is fast paced and Park delivers a story that will sweep you away. At the same time, what resonated with me while reading was this Influencer culture.
The ways it can separate us from a feeling of self. The boundaries between the public persona we have, and the one underneath it all with vulnerabilities, fears, and mistakes. As someone who reviews books, as you can tell, I think a lot about where this line lies in my own life. What do we choose to share with the world? Does social media enhance or distract from connection? I’m not sure if Park meant to make me so thoughtful as Sunny grapples with questions about whether we let social media define us.
Overall,
Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous is a book I read in basically two days. It is full of heart and, with its questions about social media and boundaries, provides thoughtful consideration to our modern social presence. We can miss things in front of us because we’re wrapped up in our phones, but we can also fail to see them because of our own ideas, biases, or hopes. Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous forces us to think about who we are. What is the essence of ourselves, and what/who do we serve on social media.
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Find Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous on Goodreads, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org & The Book Depository.