Canceled by Tim Cann Book Review – Is there anything you wouldn’t do for fame?

Why-Tee. Eff-Bee. Eye-Gee. Lane and her daughters have risen to the top on all platforms. Naturally, the next logical step would be to establish themselves in the entertainment industry, attempting to evade the fickleness of online fame. Blonde, beach bodied, raunchy and rich; all the ingredients needed to manufacture a reality television star have already been instilled into the girls from an early age by their ambitious mother—turned momager—should’ve made the transition from phones and laptop screens to prime slot viewership easy! That and their insatiable thirst for fame. Having an industry producer for a husband and step-father wouldn’t hurt either! Lane and her girls have it all figured out. However, the cost of celebrity beyond the financial presents an unanticipated tribulation. The road to stardom is riddled with obstacles Lane and her girls intend to bypass, clad in six-inch red-bottom Louboutins no less, but are quick to realize that their expectations will not always align with reality. 

Spoiler-Free Plot

John is a writer by trade. A comedic writer, to be specific. The cancellation of his sketch show bought him a one way ticket to unemployment. While his passion for writing fuels him, sustaining himself on passion alone won’t be enough to pay his bills. At the best of times, wordsmiths such as himself earn a meager wage, and a prolonged absence from his craft would plunge his desirability, and his financial status to unthinkable lows. Into total obscurity and beyond. When Martin reaches out with a new gig, John jumps at the opportunity to work again. Eager to leave his fast food diet the moment his new earnings reflected in his account.

Lane bred her children for the limelight. After her failed attempts at integrating herself into the upper echelon during her beauty queen days through her own sweat and tears, she was finally introduced to the great equalizer: the Internet. Her time had passed her by—a hard pill to swallow for someone who clung onto her now threadbare glory days—so she would elevate her entire family’s position by living vicariously through her daughters. Her son, Lucas, was a write off. It would have to be the girls. Whether through a successful marriage to a suitable partner or through their own hard work, the fame they got on their knees, praying to God for would be theirs in the end. No matter what. They would risk everything for it. Spiraling deeper and deeper into mindless compliance, forfeiting privacy and their dignity to make things work. The saying “no publicity is bad publicity” exists for a reason…with Lane and her girls being one of them.

My Take on Canceled

As we creep closer towards the middle of November, with the help of this book, I have already surpassed a target I hadn’t thought I’d be able to reach until the final week:

My  “Word of the day” challenge quota has been prematurely fulfilled! Bloviation. Execrable. Mien. Politesse. Sartorial. Counteracting the influencer drivel with some solid vocabulary restored the book to literary equilibrium. Poking fun at influencers would be considered low hanging fruit but the inclusion of the “unique” speech adopted by a sizable number of this group works well with the overarching themes of this story. While the state of the entertainment industry, paired up with technological advancements like AI, we are headed towards a dystopian future constructed with Orwellian inspirations; the language used ( Why-Tee, Eye-Gee etc) highlights this in an effective way. It feels a little 1984. Same with the live streaming scenes reminiscent of ‘Big Brother’. On a lighter note, the practice of reading ridiculous usernames aloud did elicit a few giggles out of me.

Absurdism colors everything in this story. From the hyperbolized stereotypes of characters based on their identifiers, right down to the ending. People, speech, the plot all have elements of over the top exaggeration that works well in Greek-style tragedies. As I was reading, I struggled to pinpoint the exact demographic that would make up this novel’s target audience as some of the absurd characterizations became a little bit too overhand for my liking and I believe that the different groups represented by characters in the story may feel some aversion to what they’re reading, making it hard to connect with the type of humor chosen. Reining in certain scenes, parts of the speech, some of the vulgarity would result in a less autotelic piece of work, becoming more reflective on the commentary surrounding influencing, internet culture and the entertainment industry. I would’ve loved more behind the scenes insight into the more serious aspects of creating a reality tv show and talent management e.g the closed door meetings with the network/production, brand deal meetings, conversations with managers et cetera. Something to further expose the fakery and fabrication of the final product, similar to what was done in the fictional show “UnREAL”.

With that being said, I did enjoy how the aforementioned absurdism brought about a very meta moment about a third of the way into the story when a stoned John tasks himself with the planning for his own novel. A writer writing a book about a writer who wants to write a book. Without having looked into the author, Tim Cann’s background, it makes you wonder whether the lives and characters he writes about bear strong resemblance to existing people, or are an amalgamation of different persons. A disclaimer wouldn’t be necessary with some tweaking of names, locations and a few storylines. I wish to canonize this thought, whether intentional on Mr Cann’s part or not. It adds an unexpected layer of mystery.

Age Rating

18 years and above

Content Warning

Drug Use. Foul Language. Sexual Content.

---