Arts & Entertainments

I'd rate this 3.5 stars."Handsome Eddie" Hartley dreamed of being a successful actor. After being noticed in a small play, he started to get parts in commercials and small roles on television. But despite his good looks and his desire to succeed, his career never took off. Now, at age 33, he teaches acting to students at the Catholic boys' school he used to attend, and despite the fact that he and his wife Susan are struggling to have a child—something that is taking both a financial and an emotional toll—he's happy with his life, even if it didn't turn out like he had hoped.Well, sort of. You see, Martha Martin, star of the wildly popular television show Dr. Drake and a perennial fixture in the entertainment media, used to be Eddie's girlfriend. Eddie thought he and Martha had something special, but when her career took off, she quickly left him behind, never to speak to him again. And although Eddie has moved on with his life, he can't help but feel a little envious, a little bitter each time he sees Martha in the media.Desperate for the money to support another fertility treatment, Eddie reluctantly jumps at the idea to sell an old sex tape that he and Martha made back in the day. He figures that no publicity is bad publicity, so if the attention around the leaked sex tape gives him the chance to get back into the spotlight, he won't complain. But Eddie drastically underestimates the effect the tape will have on his life, his marriage, his career, his relationships with others, and his dream of finally becoming an actor. He won't ever have control of his life ever again.Christopher Beha's Arts & Entertainments is a satirical look at our obsession with celebrities and reality television, and just how manipulated reality really is. While the book strives to be outlandish, and is in some ways, it's scary how some of the more ridiculous things the book pokes fun of have actually happened on television—or probably will soon. This book had particular relevance for me as I watched a former Bachelorette have an ultrasound on television last night to determine the sex of her unborn child (despite the fact that magazines had already reported she and her husband knew the sex of their baby in advance).This is a funny, entertaining book, and a very quick read. It all seems fairly familiar, especially if you have any knowledge of our celebrity-obsessed culture, but that doesn't detract from its appeal. The only thing I couldn't quite figure out was whether Beha was saying that everyone really wants to be a star of their own reality television series, or if his characters all were ultimately as shallow as they appeared.I wasn't sure what to expect of this book, but I enjoyed it. It's a fun summer read—and the perfect complement to the magazines you might pick up at the newsstand or the grocery store. (But it's a book, so you can feel slightly superior.)

I liked the book overall. It's a fast interesting summer read (though it kind of falls apart for me at the end.) It actually made me feel sorry for a guy who started out the story by selling a sex tape of him and his famous ex-girlfriend which has to be a pretty impressive feet but then I started thinking it's mostly because everyone around him is so horrible Eddie's the best of a bad lot and he can't quite ever extract himself.I really thought the end with the birth and all that started to go a bit over the top but then I wouldn't be surprised if "reality" television goes there soon anyway. I kept going back and forth about whether people would actually believe this stuff I hate the stuff. Weirdly I also didn't think the book was very funny. I mean it's an interesting satire and this is just my personal opinion in play but mostly I thought it was sad.

Eddie has strung a life together following his failure as an actor. His famous girlfriend Martha remains a shooting star, but she has left him. Now he is prep school teacher married to Susan who is desperate to have child. They cannot afford the treatments.As he watches the light go out of her eyes, he makes a deal with the devil, otherwise known as reality TV. This has a bit of froth and a dollop of dark humor. Many of the scenes are entertaining. However just as reality shows have become a clichéd part of life, so this book struggles to escape the traps of the genre. At a time when reality shows are based on the life after the reality show, many of the observations are already thick on the ground. While the first hand view point attempts a separation, the league of celebrity blogs have already mined much of that gold.

A clever satire giving the Average Joe a look at the darker side of Hollywood. As absurd as this story line would once have seemed to me 10 years ago, I suspect it is now more nonfiction than not! The proliferation of reality shows proves that America has an endless appetite for sordid, sad, fall-from-grace tales, and that Hollywood is happy to keep feeding this beast for as long as it pays. Beha has captured this beautifully in this funny (but sad!), well-written mockumentary.

It would be hard not to be entertained by this quick-read novel as it's such a fun skewering of reality TV and celebrity infotainment. But I also found it provocative as it made me think about the very blurred lines between reality TV and reality. Rather like being inside an MC Escher drawing as the utter falseness of a reality show becomes the real reality.

Interesting book, it was like reading People magazine every day. Eventually the drama of show business got to me, but the book was worth the read. Sucked you in, just like the tabloids, wondering what happens next. It also made me look at the tabloids in a different light.

I liked the premise and it was a fun read. The author did a good job of exposing the shallowness of our celebrity obsessed culture. But the story became too predictable and less interesting as it progressed.

Do you have some free time this summer and want a great summer read that is exceptionally well written? This is the book for you! While there is a small element to the book that “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”, it quickly evolves into a funny and witty story about unanticipated consequences. While on the beach, refrain from considering the relationship of life and reality TV and just enjoy the book. I certainly did.