I’m actually not quite sure what Augusten Burroughs was shooting for in Sellevision a book about the hosts of a QVC-like shopping channel. Is it supposed to be biting social satire, a wry commentary about rampant consumerism, a fictional exposé of a televised shopping network, or straightforward humor? The reason I ask is that I simply can’t tell. It didn’t work on any of those levels … or any other level that I can conceive of for that matter.

Looking at the reviews it seems people either loved or hated this one. Now, I’m not saying I hated this book, but if the last copy in existence were on fire, and I had a glass of water … I’d drink it.

I actually enjoyed this one more than the two other Burroughs' books I read which includes "Running with Scissors." It had a light Palahnuik vibe (cynical and darkly comical) but with a little more heart with characters like Peggy Jean who end up with a redemptive story. That said, there were a lot of characters for a book of this length and their storylines ended up being useless to the overall plot. Either way, I enjoyed this easy-to-read book.

Maybe desrves 2 and a half stars, because the story moved well and the humor was laudable. But I resist giving it 3-stars along with some of my favorite, 'liked it' books because it was not my genre. It was a simple story with a message and shallow characters whose personalities I hated .... and I have met people like this in my lifetime. I hate 'shopping' network type of TV and my convictions on having too much stuff are already well-honed so maybe this was wasted on me. But the book was good for a chuckle and reinforcement, I guess. And there was somewhat of a redemption for the characters even if I did not agree with their half-hearted embrace of those redemptions.

Truly hilarious, and this is from someone who usually scoffs when books are describes as "hilarious". I was eager from beginning to end to see what would happen to each character. It's an easy, fun read that I'd recommend to anyone.

Yes, this book is very light-hearted and definitely not mind-blowing but damn was it funny!! I really like Augusten Burroughs!

Hilarious look at the people and channels that sell all day long (like QVC).

The first line of the book "You exposed your penis on public television" ... that was an abrupt beginning ;) It was accidental, poor Max. I struggled a bit with this book, following the story/stories, and the characters. Peggy Jean, Trish, Bebe, Leigh, Adele. They are all associated with the TV sales programs Sellevision, but then the book just bops around from one to the other, giving us their back story/personal life, plus peeks at them on the show (the "presentation voices" done by the narrator was very well done, as were the presentations themselves).

It was third person, same narrator throughout. I think having the same-ish voice for so many of the storylines made it a little more difficult to keep things straight - Max was a little easier, as his storyline was different (dismissed from the show, looking for new work). The women often blended together somewhat (Peggy being the most distinct ... and annoying!)

It was interesting, the REAL people/names mentioned ("do you know Stone Phillips?" and Debbie Boone actually plays a part!) HSN and QVC talked about.

So - didn't love this. Just okay. Quite a bit of proFanity and adult conversation, porn and sex playing some central parts.

One of Burroughs' early attempts at fiction. I appreciate what he's trying to do here: creating a world of base, shallow, materialistic, home-shopping-network tv hosts struggling with miniature existential crises, but after a while, I just stopped caring.

Plenty of dark humor here, especially if you imagine each character with a specific "Selevision" TV voice.

Hilarious and cleverly written. The characters are so well crafted and being the humor another level.

Well written hilarious expose on the absurdity of life that no one talks about. Burroughs is a great storyteller and if you haven't read Running with Scissors do yourself a favor and pick it up.

It's been awhile since I finished a book in 4 days, and whilst that's normally a good sign, in this case it took about the same before I'd forgotten about it completely. There's some showbiz satire here, but nothing that made me laugh really -mostly caricatures and storylines that ended predictably. I don't really know how it ended up in my To Read pile, but it still made for a pleasant diversion. 3 stars.

This book is an unexpected shit sandwich at a picnic.

Like... it's not really all that funny, it's mildly disturbing, and there's no real point to its existence, but you know that the person who made you a sandwich used their own feces, and we all just have to deal with that now.