www.realitytvsucks.com

So here goes. My first posting about a book. I must start by saying that the idea for this challenge came when I was watching reality tv late one night.


It all started when I was watching a particularly terrible episode of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” the show that can simultaneously disgust and mesmerize me. It never fails, I always watch it, even when I don’t want to. Why? I wondered. Why do other peoples’ lives fascinate me so much, even when there is nothing more going on then in my own life? So I thought, I am going to spend my time in a more productive way- and in a way that makes me happy. Reading.


Logically, the first book I would pick would be “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote. (That was sarcasm, if you couldn’t tell). I don’t know why I picked it, but I had been meaning to read it for about five years, and thought, well, maybe it would make me sound smart in this blog.


The book turned out to be more like a reality show than I could ever have imagined. Drama, tragedy, love, mystery, and even more shocking than tv- it was actually REALITY. The story is the true account of a father, mother, and two children brutally murdered by two men out on parole. Men who believed that the house would hold thousands of dollars, but in actuality, only got about $40-50 out of the night. Capote writes a tale that weaves you throughout the incident, and through the killers’ mindsets, even making you feel somewhat sorry for the man who did the actual killing. In reality tv, this would be called creative editing. In this novel, it is called the true story.


I read this book alone in my house and got chills. This story was more real to me than most reality shows that I have watched. It could happen to anyone, at anytime.


Would I recommend it? Probably not. It takes a certain person to enjoy it. Did I love it? Yes. Capote’s style of writing was easy to read, and the way he wove the delicacy of life with the psychology of a killer’s mind was incredibly scary and sad. But throughout it all, I learned that life is incredible and not to be taken for granted- or lived through reality tv. Get out and live it on your own. Do something thrilling. Something new. Write a blog. Read a book. Jump out of a plane. Plant a garden. Just do something you enjoy. And now on to the next book…