JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
All aboard. Emma Straub's new novel, "American Fantasy," is set on a cruise ship with the same name. It sets sail loaded with fans of a fictional boy band and the band itself, Boy Talk. NPR's Justine Kenin talked with Straub about the book.
JUSTINE KENIN, BYLINE: Before we get to the antics onboard Emma Straub's seventh novel, it's important to know that while the premise may sound silly, it's seriously heartfelt and bursting with joy.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU GOT IT (THE RIGHT STUFF)")
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: (Singing) You got the right stuff, baby.
KENIN: In the fall of 2022, Straub saw a story online about New Kids on the Block taking an annual cruise.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU GOT IT (THE RIGHT STUFF)")
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: (Singing) You got the right stuff, baby. You're the reason why I sing this song.
KENIN: Well, as a child of the 1980s...
EMMA STRAUB: It was just like a bell started to ring, you know, because I knew it could be a novel, and I knew that it would bring me pleasure.
KENIN: So that's why she invented the band, Boy Talk, and their rabid fans, the Talkers. In "American Fantasy," they set sail for five days of debauchery and nostalgia.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU GOT IT (THE RIGHT STUFF)")
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: (Singing) Oh, oh, oh, oh.
KENIN: The boy band, of course, has aged. They're all men in their 50s. Actually, most everyone on the boat is over 50. So that shapes the fun in all kinds of ways.
STRAUB: I mean, the women in the book, for sure, are, like - they're not trying to recreate anything. They're trying to enjoy themselves now. This is an escape. You know, this is a trip that they have looked forward to, planned for a year, and they are going to enjoy it. They are going to enjoy every minute of it.
KENIN: At the book's center is 50-year-old Annie, who's recently divorced and whose job working for an opera magazine is entering a third act. She was a big fan of Boy Talk, but it was her sister, Katherine, who talked her into taking the American Fantasy trip. Katherine ultimately can't make it, so Annie sets sail on her own. Here's Emma Straub.
STRAUB: (Reading) She suddenly had so many questions for her sister - information that Katherine would be spilling over with. What the hell had these guys been doing since she stopped paying attention? When had Sean (ph) started to look like this, and were those really his teeth? Were they all married? Did they have families? Annie had been expecting them all to look the same as the last time she saw them, whenever that was. It was actually such a feminine way to go through the world - people commenting on your looks, strangers pawing at you, people projecting their sexual fantasies on you while you were just trying to do your job.
KENIN: The novel zings with physicality. The men perform on stage. The women ogle after them. There are different theme nights with different outfits to wear. Straub wanted to show how the Talkers feel safe on board.
STRAUB: They could be drinking slushy alcoholic cocktails all day long and they are truly in, like, no danger of being taken advantage of. Like, it's - which is - I mean, it did - it surprised me that I sort of had that thought. But really, like, being somewhere, like at a giant crowded party at 2 o'clock in the morning, drunk and having no fear is - felt extremely freeing.
KENIN: Straub did book herself passage on a New Kids cruise for research. When she returned to land, she interviewed its youngest member, Joey McIntyre, and then he read an early draft of the book.
STRAUB: He read it and gave me great feedback, truly, and feedback that nobody else could really give (laughter).
KENIN: And that was a true thrill for Emma Straub, both the teenage fan girl and the adult author, especially because she wrote "American Fantasy" for the sheer pleasure of it.
STRAUB: I'm really just following my heart and hoping that people meet me there.
KENIN: Justine Kenin, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK SONG, "STEP BY STEP") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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