Outraged and outrageous, this scathing satire, Cann’s debut, finds a laid-off sketch-comedy writer so desperate for work that he just rolls with a production assistant role on a reality show starring right-wing debutante, Lane Bryantt, determined to “make Hollywood great again” and her influencer daughters. Despite Lane’s pointed question “Are you a Jew?”, protagonist John strives to please her, her family, and the producer, no matter how degrading or inane the task. As the relentlessly profane, proudly church-going women strive to go from “Wyt Tee and Eye Gee” famous to “TV famous,” John often runs afoul of them, especially after nudging the sisters’ brother Lucas (“I’m incel, and it’s a side effect of being related to you”) into a scene-stealing role.

Even worse for the stars-on-the-rise is the producer’s choice to livestream their lives with up-to-the-moment audio commentary from online viewers broadcast into their own house. Cann emphasizes the cruel depravity of all involved, and this section of the novel—women performing intimate, monetizable parodies of their lives while enduring relentless abuse from strange men—lays bare dark truths about the worst of “reality” and influencer culture. Canceled keeps changing up its game from there, with the sisters eventually fleeing an invasive new contract with a Japanese producer. The arc of these lives bends inexorably toward porn.

Cann’s understanding of the business of TV and streaming is clear throughout, and he scores big laughs and some insights about privacy and consent. The novel’s over-the-topness, though, precludes giving readers reasons to care much about John or anyone else. The prose tends toward wordiness, and the storytelling, while continually inventive, lacks narrative suspense. Cann takes the kind of risks readers might expect with a title like Canceled, offering countless jibes about the women’s bodies and quease-inducing scenes in which a Yale-educated rapper and the Japanese producer, for reasons of their own, speak as comic racial stereotypes, daring readers to abandon the book.

Takeaway: Pointedly outrageous satire of reality TV and influencer culture.

Comparable Titles: Mark E. Greene’s Lobster Wars, Nick Lennon-Barrett’s Reality Bites.

Production grades
Cover: C
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: B