Vanessa Kisuule’s Neverland is a powerful and deeply self-aware work of non-fiction focusing on one’s personal relationship with fandoms, hero worship, and everything that comes with it.
Kisuule is a writer, poet and spoken word artist, whose poem on the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol got over 600k views on Twitter in three days. Her poetic sensitivity lends itself to this work of prose as the reading experience is touching, seamless, and truly pleasurable, even if some of the subject matter can be disturbing or triggering.
Not in a bad way. Kisuule looks back at her life as a fan of Michael Jackson with a mixture of gratitude and wonder, and the confusion and anger that came following the allegations which have tainted the experience of being a fan of his art following his death. Neverland is fascinating in the way it explores the reality of being in a fandom before the internet, the inner workings of which is something that many of the Gen Z wouldn’t know about, and something truly sentimental for the ones that were privy to the experience.
There are many questions asked in Neverland: can we separate the artist from their art, why is it so hard to accept that our heroes aren’t behaving in a way that aligns with our own values, and some of them are never answered. What is especially potent in Kisuule’s work is the way she turns the question around and demands from herself – and, by extension, the reader – to face their own, often flawed, humanity.
Neverland: The Perils And Pleasures Of Fandom, Vanessa Kisuule (Canongate)
Price: £18.99. Info: here
words GOSIA BUZZANCA