Reality Bites

My blog doesn't have an enormous readership or anything. (Though a few truly random posts have drawn a disproportionate number of hits from, I can only assume, the odd Google search. I hope everyone finds what I thought of BlacKkKlansman compelling.) Still, I'll use whatever pull I do have to direct a few eyeballs toward a book published by a friend.

The Completely Unverified True Story of a Reality Television Superstar is a novel by Matt Schild about... well, the title isn't trying to mislead you. Mick Rhodes is coerced into participating in a reality TV show that reunites the cast of the show he was (in)famous for years earlier. His dust-up became the stuff of reality TV legend, completely destroyed his relationships beyond the show, and basically sent him spiraling. The novel is about whether he's really learned anything, whether he can keep true to himself once he's back in front of the cameras, and whether this new experience will destroy whatever of him is left.

The novel is written in the first person, and this is where it shines. The plot is fun, especially if you'd ever been drawn into The Amazing Race, Survivor, Road Rules, or really any other reality TV series. But if you come for that, you stay for the snark. The character of Mick has a pretty high background level of disdain for just about everyone and everything (himself included, at times). He also has a vast pop culture vocabulary. So reading the book often feels like a long, geeky, and catty conversation.

Yes, for those of you who don't know the author personally, there are healthy elements of "write what you know" here. Still, Mick Rhodes is a character, a goes-to-11 personality that Matt does develop and inhabit. He's not an altogether likable character -- though neither the character himself nor the novel as a whole expect you to receive him that way. For a story in which almost everyone is some degree of horrible, I found it to be a pretty fun and brisk read.

You can grab the ebook easily (Kindle, Nook), and I can honestly say that I would have given it the thumbs up even if I didn't know its author personally. It is more for the reader who values a clever turn of phrase over a densely-packed narrative, but it's stronger than many a "first novel" I've read. It sure would be great if Matt could find enough success with it to carve out the time to write another.