Ship It by Britta Lundin

After struggling through a really dense classic for my last read, I was in the mood to pick up something on the lighter side next. I ended up settling on Ship It by Britta Lundin, a young adult contemporary book I've had sitting on my shelf for a few years. I didn't know much about it before I started reading, I bought it on a whim after reading the summary on the inside flap. I thought the story idea was intriguing though, and it always stuck in my mind as one of the books from my massive TBR pile that I wanted to get to soon, so I decided to finally give it a try.

The plot of the novel follows a sixteen year old girl named Claire. She lives in a small farm town in Idaho and doesn't fit in well with the rest of her peers. Her interests are on the nerdy side and the rest of her school is more into sports and 4-H. She is a huge fan of a Supernatural-esque TV show called Demon Heart, which follows the adventures of demon hunter named Smokey and a demon named Heart. She spends most of her time writing fanfiction about the show, in which she pairs up Smokey and Heart together romantically. The characters aren't gay on the show, but she believes that their relationship is headed in that direction and is hoping that they become a couple for real on the series one day. She's not alone in this desire either; thousands of other viewers in the Demon Heart community feel the same way and her fanfiction is incredibly popular online. 

As the story begins, Claire attends a local Comic-Con panel for Demon-Heart and she gets the chance to ask a question during the audience Q&A portion of the event. She asks about the possibility of Smokey and Heart having a romantic connection and Forest, the actor who plays Smokey in the show, reacts poorly. He brushes the question off and treats the concept as ridiculous, which outrages several audience members and causes Claire to leave in a fit of tears. Footage of this incident is quickly posted online and the PR team behind Demon Heart shifts into damage control mode. They manipulate a promotional giveaway to award Claire the grand prize of a ¨superfan experience." They invite her to travel around the convention circuit with them on the Demon Heart tour bus. She will get an all-inclusive trip to three different cities and get to spend time with the cast of the show. Claire is still upset from her experience at the panel, but as Demon Heart's biggest fan, she excitedly accepts the prize anyway. 

She still hasn't given up on her idea of Smokey and Heart getting together though, and she uses her time on the tour to start applying pressure to both Forest and the showrunner, a man named Jaime. She is determined to make them realize that the relationship she wants so badly for her favorite characters makes sense and should make it to the screen. She brings important topics like queer representation and sexism into the conversation, but her aggressive tactics end up causing more harm than good a lot of the time. In addition to her Demon Heart mission, Claire also begins to grapple with her own sexuality when she meets another teen named Tess at the convention. Suddenly, her deep attachment to a gay relationship between fictional characters has taken on a new tone. Is she looking at Smokey and Heart from a purely fan perspective, or is she actually yearning to see her own story reflected in these characters? As the tour draws to a close, Claire must figure out how to proceed without hurting herself, Tess, the Demon Heart fandom, or the show she loves.

I really enjoyed this book as I was reading it. I was probably primed to like anything a little too much after struggling so much with my last read, so I don't think my first impression was entirely accurate. Indeed, the more I sat and thought about Ship It, the more I realized that it had a lot of issues. There are some things that it does really well, but there are also some parts that don't work.

Among the things I really enjoyed in the novel was its depiction of fanfiction and fandom in general. It's clear the Lundin is a part of this community and understands it. As someone who read a whole lot of X-Files and Harry Potter fanfiction back in the day, I understand the yearning for certain characters to get together and the guilty pleasure escapism that writers in the fan community provide. The right terminology and vibes were all there. I also really liked the discussion of representation and sexism that took place throughout the story. It's true that TV and films have a long way to go when it comes to including main characters of different backgrounds and sexualities. It's also true that teen girls are often depicted as unreasonable, childish, or crazy when they like something in large numbers or speak up for what they want. I liked that the novel drew attention to those points. I think it will resonate with a lot of young readers. I really liked the ending too, cheesy as it was.

What was not so great about the story was that a lot of it was very unrealistic. The entire idea of a production team of a television show rigging a contest to take an upset teenager on a convention tour, and giving her unfettered access to the actors and showrunner is pretty laughable. The way relationships developed between the characters often didn't make sense either, with many characters becoming friends too easily or forgiving too conveniently. Claire's behavior was pretty awful at times too. She was pushy and demanding, and not in a way that felt like empowerment. She was often very inappropriate, doing things that were hurtful or even illegal at times in order to try and force her will on others. She never faces meaningful consequences for her behavior either, which I think muddled the message of the story. It's a shame, because I think the story idea (which was based on true events from a Supernatural convention panel years ago) had a lot of potential and the topics Lundin touches on are important. I wish the story had gone in a more realistic direction. I wish Claire was a more introspective and less mean character.

So ultimately, I have mixed feelings about Ship It. If you browse the user reviews on Goodreads for this novel, you'll see a whole lot of 1-star reviews that meticulously outline all the problems in the story. I don't think that the book is all bad though. It made some good points and I enjoyed reading most of it. It's definitely got its share of issues though. I think that the high school audience this was written for will probably like it. Adult readers and savvy teens will probably have difficulties seeing past its shortcomings. At least this book served its purpose of giving me something light to get lost in after my last really tough read!

Challenge Tally

Clear the Shelves 2021: 10/50 (donate)

Total Books Read in 2021: 19