It’s not as obvious from a glance around on this site, but if you follow me on Instagram or Tiktok, then you know I am ARMY, aka, a fan of the Korean musical group, BTS. I was so excited when we learned they were publishing a book about the first 10 years of their journey together, and even hosted the release day party for my store (which was SO MUCH FUN!). It drove me crazy that I didn’t have the time to read it immediately when it released, but now that I’ve read it, I must talk about it.
Beyond The Story: The 10-Year Record of BTS [Buy Bookshop Amazon] has a pretty unique structure, at least in my opinion. The Editor of Weverse Magazine wrote the majority of the book, telling the higher level story around quotes from Kim Namjoon, Kim Seokjin, Min Yoongi, Jung Hoseok, Park Jimin, Kim Taehyung, and Jung Jungkook. Instead of weaving in the quotes like you’d see in a normal book, this one has them separated by an indent and different color so you know exactly where the boys are speaking.
Another cool feature of this book is the QR codes. There are more than 300 of them throughout the book, helping you see exactly what they are talking about at any particular moment. The QR codes lead to things like their old blog and twitter account, music videos, live performances, behind the scenes videos, etc. There are also pages for each album, showing the cover art, track list, and QR codes for things like teasers. I didn’t check them all out as I was reading because I found it too easy to go down a rabbit hole of other related things, but I do plan on checking more of them out as time goes on.
Now for my thoughts….
This one is hard to review for me. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Did it live up to the vibe that it was supposed to be a tell-all? Not so much. If you’ve been around the fandom for a little while, you probably know at least something of most of these stories. The high level writing felt sanitized of anything too vulnerable, including noting that the book would not include some of the disses that were leveled against the boys.
Portions of the writing’s voice felt a bit odd. It is difficult to describe this juxtaposition effectively,but it kinda felt like the writer considered himself part of the team yet not quite. He’d touch of a song’s meaning, but say “probably” instead of straight up saying it. Mostly, the narrator voice is fine, but occasionally, it just didn’t fit quite right. The writing also has some places where you can feel that it is translated. That isn’t a huge problem since it is a translated work, I would just expect each language version to be a little more polished.
On the flip side of that is the stories straight from the boys. They are the heart of the story, obviously since it is their story, and that shows in their quotations. One of the things I love about BTS is how honest they are about their experiences and that is true in this book. When it’s them sharing about a moment, they don’t hold back. I definitely wanted more of their direct words. However, I do understand the challenge of trying to have seven men tell their personal stories from more than a decade. I mean, just look at how varied their solo music is and you’ll see just how different they are, and the book is already near 500 pages.
Overall, this is an enjoyable albeit emotional reading journey. I read a chapter a night to finish it in a week (because yes, BTS works 7s and BTS into everything possible!) and didn’t feel overwhelmed at all. It just made me love those seven goofballs even more. My rating really just reflects my wish for something deeper and more polished.
Literary HypeWoman 