Books Sellevision: A Novel
Books and Publications Average Rating:

Rating: - Formulaic, trite, smellevision?
I bought this book because I went to a conference in which Burroughs gave a pretty decent speech. I read two of his books (Magical Thinking and Sellevision) and the humor must have gone over my head. I don't really care what grown ups do in their spare time, as long as it doesn't frighten the horses, but this one seems cliche-ridden and the jokes fall flat. I know the literary marketplace has niches, but Sellevision's only redeeming virtue was that it was a quick read. He missed some of his best opportunities at humor, and the "poetic justice" fizzled out when the exploititative director of programming John Smythe winds up happily divorced with his jailbait girlfriend at a cheap motel. Max, the gay protagonist goes from flop (no pun) to failure to porn star (I wondered how long it would take for him to get there, since the plot development almost telegraphed it). Thin on plot, two-dimensional characters with cardboard brains. How long did it take the author to dusctate this one? Mybe John Watters could do something with it, but he would have to bring it to life with a decent writer.

---

Rating: - An Eccentric Spoof and Fun Read
SELLEVISION is a relentlessly funny novel about the on- and off-air shenanigans at a Philadelphia television station, modeled after QVC or the Home Shopping Network.

Hawking the usual simulated-diamond jewelry and impossibly hokey gadgets, SELLEVISION's hosts are predictably cheerful as they point out -- with perfectly manicured fingers -- the merchandise's unique features. But behind the scenes, these retail jockeys are as eccentrically unkempt as any characters you've ever known.

Here you will meet Max Andrews, who as the book begins, is fired for accidentally exposing his penis to a live audience of 20 million during a `Toys for Tots' segment. When Max tries to explain how the wardrobe malfunction occurred, executive producer Howard Toast, scolds him with one of SELLEVISON's signature scandalous lines: "...seven-year old children and their mothers just should not know that you're uncircumcised."

Then there's Peggy Jean Smythe, Sellevision's perky, high-profile hostess. When a viewer begins to stalk her by e-mail with twisted observations about her hairy earlobes and husky voice, the folksy Peggy Jean quickly comes unglued. Abandoning her good Christian values, Peggy Jean will stop at nothing to cope with her troubling image issues.

The number of kooky characters is nearly endless which is one of SELLEVISION's charms. But the real star here is first time novelist, Augusten Burroughs's wildly boyish imagination. Almost like that nutty kid in the back of your seventh grade class, Burroughs pushes every joke to the nth degree in a gleefully, unjaded way.

Part "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," part "Best in Show," SELLEVISION a fun read for those who appreciate popular culture almost as much as a good laugh.

-- Regina McMenamin

---

Rating: - Fun Read
This book is a quick and fun read. Personally, I am fascinated by shopping networks, and admit that it is a guilty pleasure. Despite the fact that this book is a satire, it is frighteningly close to the real thing. Pick it up for a fun quick read.

---

Rating: - Lacks a likable main character
I did not care for this book as much as Dry: A Memoir. The latter capitvated me and made me laugh out loud and was difficult to put down. Sellevision however left me wanting and I abandoned it around the halfway point.

I did not find in it the sense of humor I loved in Dry. And I did not find a character that I liked and cared about and wanted to see triumph at the end. Similarly I did not find a character that I hated enough to be rooting for his or her downfall. All of the characters seem to be shallow shopaholics and I guess that just doesn't hold my interest. Let them shop their lives away, who cares?