Unreality: a novel
Chris Smith
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· 0 ratings · 285 pages · Published: 23 Mar 2023
Sometime between now and when this story occurs, the world of reality tv has had a comeuppance. Think the game show fixing scandal of the 1950s. Its reemergence frames ‘Unreality’ from the perspectives of the viewing audience, network executives, participants (both witting and otherwise), and society as a whole.
The book opens on a rehabilitated Great Lakes freighter now at sea in the Caribbean. The ship has lost propulsion. The seas are calm but the men on board are not. They've been on this creaking tub for a very long time and the idea that they might be on it for even longer could be the final straw.
Adults interested in why people do the things they do will want to read 'Unreality.' Some readers will be disgusted. Others will be exhilarated. Some even smugly satisfied. But in the end, feelings of this sort pass, and the truth emerges.
Put another way, ‘Unreality’ would sit comfortably on a shelf between ‘The Mosquito Coast,’ ‘Deadeye Dick,’ and ‘Black Coffee Blues.’