Very quick and easy read. Really enjoyed it.

This is more of a 3.5 but I did enjoy it! Very odd sometimes but really funny and enjoyable. It felt very episodic which is exactly what this book needed. Also, it’s very much a product of its time and I will add that there is one storyline in here I LOATHED. Without that, it would’ve been a 4 star easily. My favorite storylines were Peggy Jean’s and Bebe’s. Really interesting book that was a quick read!

So I laughed out loud reading the first page and had very high hopes for this book. But the next time I laughed was the last sentence of the book. Definitely not a YA book, pretty trashy. Would not recommend.

Augusten Burroughs never fails to impress me.

This is the first piece of fiction I've read by Mr. Burroughs but I can see where he blends some of his own existence in with this world he's created in fiction. it's the story of the human condition. The good Christian church-going woman who finds in outlet in Valium and alcohol; her husband who is sleeping with the underage neighbor; the 40 something year old woman that looks to the internet to find true love; the trust fund baby who has never had to work for anything in her life; the employee that is sleeping with her boss that promises to leave his wife for her; and the man that is not planning on actually leaving his wife.

It's the American story told through the comedic eyes and wit of Burroughs making all of these unfortunate situations somehow hysterical. Or maybe they just made me laugh and I have a weird sense of humor? Be that as it may, Burroughs had me so enveloped in each of his characters that I had to find out what happened and literally did not put it down til I was finished.

Augusten Burroughs is one funny guy.

I’m pretty sure I’ve read all of his books, now.

But, I’ll go look.

I like to watch HSN. I find it soothing. The constant happy banter and steady flow of flattery relaxes me. Even the jewelry showcases; though what I really prefer is the gadgets and only the garish women’s wear. It’s like white noise for the soul. So when my friend Justin recommended Sellevision to me it was a no-brainer to pick up. Unfortunately the book was also a no-brainer.

I thought you couldn’t go wrong with the premise but you can and Borroughs did. I know it’s a comedy but did everything have to be completely implausible and unfunny? wince-worthy throughout. You’ll see the plot points coming a mile away.

I read it through the end just to finish it and get it off my nightstand. Its one of those books that makes you wonder; maybe you too can be a writer.

Putting aside the lame set-ups and cardboard jokes the main character Peggy Jean Smythe really irked me. I think that Borroughs was going for caricature, he was going for over-the-top, but this character didn’t move or act in any believable way. Almost every action either made me grimace or scratch my head in confusion.

Whilst some of the characters in this had somewhat interesting plots and development, I cannot get over the married man with two kids who left his wife for a 17-year-old girl who was into kinky sex and once tried (successfully, I think) to have sex with her own father when she was 12. Sickening.

Welcome to Sellevision! In an era when all your shopping can be done from your couch comes the premiere retail shopping network, complete with its collection of on-air personalities. Each host has their own personal story and collection of foibles, some of which Burroughs develops into vignettes, amusing the reader as he spins tribulations out of the most vapid situations. From the host whose live crotch cameo cost him his job to the woman who thought she could secure a position at Sellevision by sleeping with the boss, there is nothing that Burroughs considers out of bounds, allowing these hosts to stumble along and find their own ways. With any celebrity comes a collection of fans who become obsessed, some to the point of writing and pointing out minute flaws that might best be addressed before the next on-air appearance, which can only push some to the brink of insanity, as is depicted by another host, though she can barely see the forest for the trees. Burroughs seeks to personify those who make their living in front of the camera, even if the depths of their celebrity comes from speaking about the latest earrings or bangles. In this poignant poke at the faux-drama and importance of on-air shopping, Burroughs delivers something to cut the tension out of any busy day.

Having recently discovered Augusten Burroughs, I was drawn first to his memoir trilogy, which opened my eyes to the pains and struggles the author faced. However, in the third volume, there is much mention of this book, his first experiment into the world of published writing. The attentive reader who has also tackled the memoirs will see parallels from Burroughs' life in this story, with some of the same humour he offered in that personal writing. There is no doubt that Burroughs thumbs his nose and mocks on-air shopping, but it is equally apparent that he wants to tell a story of a collection of people who must face their own issues and process things in their own manner. With wonderful characters and zany humour, Burroughs offers the reader a break from the heavier reading out there or the NYT acclaimed novels while adding his own flavour to the lighter side of life.

Kudos, Mr. Burroughs for this look into the life of those whose greatest worry is pancake foundation and missed director cues.

Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

I would say that this closer to 3.5 stars but I really enjoyed the story and the author's writing style. It would be better with a little more meat on it. Burroughs should really consider writing more fiction.

Sellevision is a very inappropriate book about a few people who worked for said TV channel. One of them has an affair with her boss; another has a psychopathic son and an obsession with femininity; and a third accidentally reveals his penis on national television, and then becomes a porn star. The forth is the boss who is having an affair.

The main external conflict in this book is that all the previously said things happened. However more important than them simply happening is the fact that they went public. Then there is everybody trying to make up for it.

I rate this book four stars because it is very funny. However I docked a point because its not so well written.

I am not a fan of Augusten Burroughs. I think I can specifically remember the moment when I decided this. I was standing behind the counter at the Borders I was working for at the time reading Dry, Burroughs' retelling of his time as an Ad Exec and alcoholic, when I read a paragraph that struck me as especially odious and, quite literally, hurled the book onto the floor and stomped away. I don't know who it was that decided that people who have had moderately-fucked up lives were deserving of having their tell-alls published, I'm going to blame reality TV with this one(because they haven't been my scapegoat for a few weeks), but it's a distinctly repugnant trend in writing right now.

Most people's lives (and I'm including Dave Eggers, Sean Wilsey, and all those others who know who they are in this rant) are just not that interesting by the time they're in their late twenties to warrant an autobiography. Truthfully, unless your mother was a truck stop whore who dressed you as a girl to turn tricks and got you hooked on smack when you were ten (and, sadly, JT LeRoy was a ruse), your life is not going to be that interesting. Instead you're going to sound like some sort of sniveling twit and I'm not going to be interested in your further works.

Sellevision is Augusten Burroughs' first book, a novel of the standard fictional variety. Set in a fictional home shopping network, Sellevision follows a few months in the lives of the network's lead hosts. Max has just inadvertantly exposed himself during a children's toys segment and is left looking for a new career. Peggy Jean is a tightly wound mother with a stalker fixated on her hairy ear lobes, a husband with eyes only for the nubile teen next door and a burgeoning valium/alcohol abuse problem. Bebe is a compulsive shopper (and the network's highest-rated star) who is dating a man who seems far too good to be true and Leigh is dating a man is who is definitely not good- Howard Toast, the head of programming for Sellevision.

In a fashion that reminds one of no one so much as Douglas Coupland, Burroughs builds the hilarity by slow degrees until the last thirty pages when everything comes together in a gut buster of a belly laugh. In fact, I don't think I've ever laughed harder at the last sentence of a book before; it was like the cherry on top of the proverbial sundae. Still amusing a decade after publication, Sellevision seems like a moment frozen in time. A moment where Augusten Burroughs stood atop a precipice and had to decide whether to keep up the arduous work of actually creating fictional characters or whether he should pillage his semi-interesting adolescence for uncomfortable anecdotes about psychologists finding signs in his morning bowel movements. Oh, what might have been!

This book revolves around various people who worked or used to work for Sellevision, Burroughs version of the Home Shopping Network.

Max, who is fired for an accidental penis-exposure on air, is searching for a new job.

Peggy Jean is a perfectly coiffed, God-fearing, church-going, proper wife and mother of three. As an unknown malicious someone starts sending her threatening e-mails and packages, her perfect little world starts to unravel. Suddenly vodka and valium are needed to get her through the day.

Bebe Friedman is looking for love. 40-or-so, she's finally decided to put a personal ad on the Internet to find a man. Even though her friends think she's crazy, she ends up finding a wonderful, funny, loving man.

These are the main storylines, but Burroughs throws in a half-dozen others. Peggy Jean's husband, John, is obsessed with underage porn and the neighbor's daughter. Leigh is sleeping with the married CEO of Sellevision and waiting for him to leave his family for her. Trish is super-rich and her hard-working fiancé feels very inadequate and like he'll never measure up to her rich father.

This book is funny. I laughed out loud once (this is a good barometer, since books can't usually get me to do that). Also, even though Burroughs tackles some serious topics, he never loses his sense of humor or his tongue-in-cheek slyness that seeps through the pages.

Max, the gay man who is fired and looking for work, was funny and smart. I really felt for him as he kept getting turned down for jobs because of an 'incident' that was accidental and not his fault. He and Leigh are best friends, and even though both of them are going through rough times, they get together to eat Chinese food and make plans to change their lives. Both of them (Max and Leigh) had great storylines with funny points and happy endings.

Bebe Friedman was also a warm, funny, vulnerable character and her budding romance with Eliot, her Internet find, is sweet and touching. You really feel happy for her and end up cooing over this pairing.

Peggy Jean is Burroughs more serious, hard-hitting plotline. Burroughs does an amazing job of painting this kind of woman. Sheltered, conservative, suburban, worried about all the wrong things - I know women like Peggy Jean in real life. But Burroughs isn't too harsh with her. We see the world through her eyes, and even though we disagree with her opinions and decisions, we can understand why she made them. This is the character that Burroughs allows to change and grow. By being placed in a very difficult situation, she suffers - but then starts to blossom into a better, more aware person. I have also seen this happen personally to women like this who suffer unexpected hardships. So this really hit home for me.

The solitary part of Burrough's book that I did not enjoy was that of John, Peggy Jean's husband. It was really disturbing for me to read about him when he was fantasizing about his neighbor's 15-year-old daughter. And trolling the Internet constantly for underage girl porn. But what really made me sick was when he starts sleeping with the 15-year-old next door. And there's no ending, or wrap-up that ties everything together. He just rides off into the sunset, so to speak, with this girl. No consequences. No resolution. Just happily-ever-after with the neighbor's daughter. Ugh.

I'm the kind of person who likes characters in movies and books to get their just deserts. If the hero has to die - fine, but I want the bad guy to die too. In this book, there is no 'bad-guy' exactly, but John is as close as Burroughs comes. He definitely didn't deserve the ending he got. Also, the underage girl factor really makes me squeamish. So I am going to have to take points off for this.

Burroughs is a funny, cut-to-the-chase author whose cynical take on the world is not depressing - because he doesn't lose sight of the comedy that exists right alongside the tragedy.