Rating: 
Summary: A "Dazzling Diamonelle" of a Read!
Review: Augusten Burroughs "Sellevision" is a Dazzling Diamonelle of a read! I really loved this book because, as my friend who turned me on to it commented, "It's like the movie Soap Dish set in the world of television retail." The book goes behind the scenes showing us glimpses of the glamourous lives of TV retail hosts and hostesses. The biting humor of the book made me want to go out and buy some of the outrageous products touted on Sellevision such as Moisture Whik Control Panties, the Running Wolf simulated turqoise cabochon belt buckle, or Joyce's Choice Mid-Life Oasis Foaming Bath Puree supposedly created by star of the small screen, Joyce DeWitt. This is a campy read that will have you laughing out loud. If you enjoy dark humor but are looking for a fast and light read, this is your book!
Rating: 
Summary: Have We Got A Deal For You...229 Pages of Hilarity
Review: This marvelously wicked and well written novel was a definite treat to read.Augusten Burroughs will hook you with the very first sentence! What follows is a riotous behind-the-scenes romp through the world of the Sellevision Retail Broadcasting Network. Witness egos clashing on a regular basis! Laugh as the on air talent creatively try to back-stab one another! This entertaining cast of characters are constantly jockeying for a better and more lucrative spot in the limelight, all the while trying to sell you and your family a Princess Diana key fob. It's a devilish mix of "Soapdish" and "American Beauty"! This novel is a delight! Each and every character is well crafted. I still can't find one I like over another. Readers get a look at each of their personal lives, as well as their on-air ones. All of which are screwed up to various degrees! Hilariously so! Of all the cast, Bebe Friedman is the proverbial rat in charge of the cheese. Not only is she one of Sellevision's most popular hosts; but, she also has an obsessive compulsive thing for shopping. Her $19,287.64 American Express bill is a testament to that fact. Plus, as she surmises, she knows that there will be someone somewhere in her life that will love a roulette wheel for a Christmas gift. "Sellevision" is fast, sharp and funny. For his first novel, Augusten Burroughs does a fantastic job of entertaining the reader! I look forward to his next work!
Rating:
Summary: Begin Saturday, End Sunday.
Review: I'm going to admit that I was a little annoyed when I had gone to Barnes & Noble and had them order me this book when it wasn't in stock and then brought it home and realized that I intended to order and buy "Dry", not "Sellevision". "Dry", actually, wasn't in stock either. But, God, what a filthy piece of fiction this is. It is so outrageously funny. How can you NOT love a book that takes Joyce DeWitt (of Three's Company fame) and Debby Boone (yes, THE Debby Boone who annoyed everyone with "You Light Up My Life") and includes them as characters with actual speaking lines? Burroughs takes real-life B-grade celebrities and either includes them somewhere, or makes mention of what their success would have been in a warped, alternate universe (Deborah Norville is now a two-time Emmy winner, Greg Kinnear has now won multiple Oscars, there is now a sequel to Titanic, and yes, Celine Dion has done another bombastic ballad for it). It is actually a very funny and unique touch. The book itself revolves around the fictional Sellevision -- which is like the Home Shopping Network, or QVC, and the people who work or have worked there. The characters Burroughs creates may not be complex, but they don't really need to be. The book takes on all most of it's storylines seperately and the characters don't intermingle with any specific purpose. But, this isn't a psychological thriller... and it's not intended to be. Especially endearing and funny is Peggy Jean Smythe, whose desperate attempts to be a "good Christian woman" are ruined when her life falls apart around her. But the fact that so many of the characters' personal lives are well-defined, when there's a character who doesn't seem to have a purpose, it kind of sticks out... like even though I just finished the book very recently, I can't remember why Leigh was even someone we had to know about at all. Or was that another character? Hmm... so yeah, some of the characters fail to make true impressions and they melt together when you're trying to discuss the book. Other characters like Bebe or Max are well-written and have their own stories about their screwed-up lives. Tolstoy it's not. It's not even J.K. Rowling. But, it is a great weekend read when you're looking for a little empty fun that isn't going to consume you or require you to have intense concentration. You won't miss too much if between pages 23 and 30 you ended up daydreaming instead of absorbing the words you were reading. But, this is really an interesting foray into fiction for Burroughs, best known for his mostly non-fictional work, "Running With Scissors".
Rating:
Summary: Great if you're in the mood for something light!
Review: In the mood for something light, I read SELLEVISION by
Augusten Burroughs . . . what a hoot! It is a novel about life at a fictional home-shopping network . . . such
topics as greed, obsession and third-tier celebrity are explored--all
by way of a cast of characters that had me laughing out loud. This is one book that ended far too soon . . . but the good thing
is that it left me wanting to read other books (RUNNING WITH
SCISSORS and the sequel DRY) by the same author. There were many hysterical passages; among them:
Bebe rested her fork on the plate, clasped her hands in front of her
on the table and recited: "Aging Jewish Princess, forty-two. seeks
her prince, or at least a guy who walks upright. I'm attractive, successful,
with a down-to-earth nature and an unfortunate passion for Rocky
Road ice cream. Healthy, active, and fit, I enjoy the outdoors as well
the occasional night on the town. I'm very spontaneous, and love to
travel. You should be likewise. You should also be devastatingly handsome,
filthy rich, outrageously funny, prone to extreme lapses of common
sense, and humble. What else did I say? Oh yeah-the sense-of-humor
impaired need not apply." Even Sellevision had sent out a memo asking all their hosts if any of
them had any "Hispanic, Asian, African American, or American Indian
ancestry." It turned out Irish-Catholic Adele Oswald Crawley's great-
great-grandmother on her father's side had some Navaho blood. So
within a month, Adele was dressed in a little suede dress with fringe
and given her own turquoise jewelry showcase called Indian Expressions,
complete with potted cactus trees and a tepee. An old black-and-white
photograph of Adele as a little girl wearing an Indian headdress at a
birthday party was enlarged and hung behind her. Prop stylists added
Navaho throw rugs around the living room set, but the deerskin was
pulled at the last moment because of the lawyers. After the show,
Howard had made it clear, "This is just a Band-Aid on the situation.
We've got to get an ethnic in here immediately." "That item has sold out, so congratulations to everyone who purchased it.
I think you'll be very happy. Up next: Joyce's Choice Crows Away! under-
eye gel. But first, coming up on Sunday, Don from the Good Morning Show
will be talking with author and trend forecaster Faith Popcorn about her
brand new programmable popcorn popper that lets you pop tomorrow's
popcorn today! If you're a busy snacker, you won't want to miss this
presentation."
Rating:
Summary: I didn't want it to end
Review: It's hard to say much about this book without ruining any of the surprises or plot twists, which it is full of. Basically Augusten is a talented writer with a clever sense of humor who seems to actually respect his readers. With all the twists and turns in this book, I can garantee it will keep you turning pages until the end, where you will wish there were a few hundred more pages. I look forward to reading his other books now.
Rating:
Summary: A dark and clever farce!
Review: No book has made me laugh so much since Terry Southern's Candy. Sellevision, like Candy, is a clever and disarming satire that borders toward a parody. This novel has the sort of lowbrow humor that will make you roar with laughter and loathe the characters and situations at the same time. Sellevision is a more upscale version of QVC. The hosts are third-tier celebrities who would backstab their way to the top. During the course of the year, the channel and its hosts undergo various changes. Max, the sweet and handsome gay host of "Toys for Tots," a children's segment, loses his job when he accidentally exposes himself during the aforementioned program. He hadn't anticipated the struggle to regain his career and reputation that he ends up enduring. On the other hand, Peggy Jean Smythe, one of the channel's most popular hosts, has the perfect life. That is until she receives sinister E-mails from an obsessed fan. The other hosts have skeletons in their dressing rooms as well. Will Leigh be able to end the courtship with her married boss? Will Bebe's shopaholism stand in the way of true love? Will Trish Mission finally become Sellevision's diva? Will Peggy Jean's husband be able to resist his desire for the beautiful - not to mention jailbait - babysitter? There are some hilarious twists throughout the novel. As mentioned earlier, some of the goofball situations that occur in Sellevision are more of a parody about the ubiquitous home shopping networks that have become so popular over the years. This is one of the cleverest satirical novels out there. If you're in the bargain for a laugh-a-minute farce, I suggest that you give this dark comedy a whirl.
Rating:
Summary: a hoot!
Review: This book is hysterical -- it shows the soap opera that is the lives of the minor celebrities who make up a popular home shopping network. One is receiving [prank] letters telling her how hairy she is to the point she has developed a major complex and is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Another accidentally exposes himself on TV and gets fired, thus looking for another gig. Yet another is sleeping with the boss and, while it gets her more desirable time slots for her show, she doesn't get any marriage proposals. A light, funny and quick read, Sellevision makes sure you never regard home shopping in quite the same way again.
Rating:
Summary: Funniest book I've read all year!
Review: The third book by Augusten Burroughs is as enjoyable if not more so than his previous two. I plowed through this book in two afternoons, it was so funny I had a hard time putting it down (except when I would drop it by accident I was laughing so hard).
Rating:
Summary: Begin Saturday, End Sunday.
Review: I'm going to admit that I was a little annoyed when I had gone to Barnes & Noble and had them order me this book when it wasn't in stock and then brought it home and realized that I intended to order and buy "Dry", not "Sellevision". "Dry", actually, wasn't in stock either. But, God, what a filthy piece of fiction this is. It is so outrageously funny. How can you NOT love a book that takes Joyce DeWitt (of Three's Company fame) and Debby Boone (yes, THE Debby Boone who annoyed everyone with "You Light Up My Life") and includes them as characters with actual speaking lines? Burroughs takes real-life B-grade celebrities and either includes them somewhere, or makes mention of what their success would have been in a warped, alternate universe (Deborah Norville is now a two-time Emmy winner, Greg Kinnear has now won multiple Oscars, there is now a sequel to Titanic, and yes, Celine Dion has done another bombastic ballad for it). It is actually a very funny and unique touch. The book itself revolves around the fictional Sellevision -- which is like the Home Shopping Network, or QVC, and the people who work or have worked there. The characters Burroughs creates may not be complex, but they don't really need to be. The book takes on all most of it's storylines seperately and the characters don't intermingle with any specific purpose. But, this isn't a psychological thriller... and it's not intended to be. Especially endearing and funny is Peggy Jean Smythe, whose desperate attempts to be a "good Christian woman" are ruined when her life falls apart around her. But the fact that so many of the characters' personal lives are well-defined, when there's a character who doesn't seem to have a purpose, it kind of sticks out... like even though I just finished the book very recently, I can't remember why Leigh was even someone we had to know about at all. Or was that another character? Hmm... so yeah, some of the characters fail to make true impressions and they melt together when you're trying to discuss the book. Other characters like Bebe or Max are well-written and have their own stories about their screwed-up lives. Tolstoy it's not. It's not even J.K. Rowling. But, it is a great weekend read when you're looking for a little empty fun that isn't going to consume you or require you to have intense concentration. You won't miss too much if between pages 23 and 30 you ended up daydreaming instead of absorbing the words you were reading. But, this is really an interesting foray into fiction for Burroughs, best known for his mostly non-fictional work, "Running With Scissors".
Rating:
Summary: Made Me a Fan
Review: I became a fan of Augusten Burroughs very quickly. I first bought "Dry" after all the comparisons to Rikki Lee Travolta's "My Fractured Life" and was very pleased with the purchase. "Sellevision" was my second Burroughs book and I enjoyed it even more. Burroughs definitely has the same quick wit and off center sense of jesting that Travolta has. The writing is very similar and is winning me over as a fan. "Sellevision" has a somewhat different slant than "Running With Scissors" which I consider my favorite of his books, but just by being different it is enjoyable. I love Burroughs' writing.
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