Thursday, September 22, 2016

Reality Boy by A.S. King

Gerald's just a teen trying to get by until he can get out - working his job, staying out of trouble, keeping his head down at school. But that's tough when you grew up on TV as part of a "reality television" show that especially focused on your outrageous behavior. Everyone's sure his future is limited to either jail or death.

When he makes a couple of new friends at work, Gerald decides instead of acting out he'll take his life into his own hands and determine a new, brighter future.

While the story's slightly fantastical, you know this kind of thing actually happens. It's an acidic look at the unreality of reality television and the tolls it takes on its youngest celebrities.

I enjoyed the audiobook - Gerald's a kid forced into his own mind much of the time, and the narrator Michael Stellman does a great job making Gerald relatable and not just a space case lost in his own la-la land.

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