Burroughs' Sellevision is a tale about a gay TV presenter who inadvertently exposes himself on TV. The story follows the after effects of the event. Some of the descriptions of the book might lead on to think the story to be a little smutty; but far from it, in fact I found it to be highly entertaining - an hilarious and thoroughly rewarding story with some larger than life characters. Rewarding as a read, and rewarding in the just and so appropriate outcome. Highly recommended.

This was such a great book!

Augusten Burroughs definitely does not disappoint. To be completely honest, I did prefer his memoirs but I prefer memoirs in general over fictional stories. However, this was a fantastic novel that did not have any dull moments.

The plot twists that occur are unpredictable and they keep you wanting to read until you get to the bottom of the situation.

I absolutely love this author and I really recommend everybody reads his work. The way he writes and makes a story come to life really is remarkable.

I have enjoyed the non-fiction books by Mr. Burroughs; I love his sense of humor. This is his first novel & I thought it was amusing, but not the laugh-out-loud funny that the blurbs predicted. It follows the employees who work for a shopping network called Sellevision--the accidental indecent exposure by one of the hosts during a children's showcase starts it off. He is fired & has a hard time finding a new job as no one will hire him. Another has an e-mail stalker who turns nasty & threatening, driving her to booze & Valium. Each host has their own adventure and/or problem. I liked it, but I think I would stick to his non-fiction books in future.

I've read everything Augusten Burroughs has written and I've always been curious about this one. The reviews are interesting because yes, this is a trashy airplane read and not meant to be taken seriously. So don't. It's fun, light, and entertaining. His memoirs are through-the-roof funny for me, so I gave this book three stars because it's not my favorite work of his, but his personality is there and so is the funny.

First I LOVE everything else Burroughs has written, LOVE! But this (his first book and one of his only completely fictional novels) just wasn't a book I could get into. And I tried. I started, restarted, started, restarted, etc, etc over and over again before I finally had to admit I wasn't going to finish it and give up, sadly. So I suppose to say I've read this technically isn't accurate, but I really tried:-(

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It's like a funny trainwreck. If I had to compare it to a movie it would be Ruthless People mixed with Big Business. This book is basically a comedy about a home shopping network and everything that can go wrong. I bought this book when I was 15 but I really had to mature and grow up to appreciate the context. Burroughs is brilliant (as always) and the book has a fast pace to it with many characters that are very easy to follow. I would recommend this book to anyone who isn't easily offended and can appreciate dark humor. It is a very light read and the ending ties perfectly into the book.

This was a cute little book, about "the troubled world of Sellevision, America's premier retail broadcasting network." Based on the imaginary real world lives of the online shopping network hosts, and told from each one's individual perspective, it IS entertaining, as each "celebrity" falls into their own special little scandal. It's a cute, light, short little read but definitely nothing substantial.

This book was very... shocking.


It started off slow with an overwhelming introduction to the characters. I really appreciate a book that can shift between so many different lives, but in the beginning it is a bit confusing. There's the cast, their wives/husbands/boyfriends, the employer's, the children, and I found myself blending several of these people together. However, as I continued, I got invested into each individual life. It was reminiscent to gossip over tea, discussing everyone you know personally. Details that I regarded as initially useless proved to be incredibly tips to plot resolutions! I started to realize this fact during Peggy Jean's stalker dilemma. The moment her son explained his reasoning for his cleaning of the pocket knife, I knew something was fishy.

To summarize, this book was incredibly funny, witty, and intricate. Each storyline kept ample space from the other, but still allowed for amazing interactions between characters. (shout out to max and leigh i love y'all <3). I felt that Max had great representation as a gay man and his writing was so natural. Bebe and Eliot's relationship, although terrifying at one point, was the sweetest. I did not, however, appreciate Nikki and Peggy Jean's husband's... interaction. I really expected to see some repercussions for the dudes pedophilia. And the meticulous scenes between John and a literal child made my stomach churn. One can only dream that he ends up in jail. Not for Peggy's sake because she had proven herself to be pretty racist many times throughout and borderline mentally abusive towards her kids

I bought this book in the Date With A Book section, so I had no idea what I was getting into. Although very strange and, at times, off-putting, there is no denying it’s humor. The book is kinda funny, and it seemed like the author certainly had fun figuring out how make Sellevision operate. It was interesting to learn more about the characters even if they are a bit cliche. However, I thought it didn’t always do the best job discussing mental health and often made jokes about the subject instead. I’m also not sure of what the audience was meant to get from this book, as it seemed to lack an overall message, leading to a sort of aimless collection of stories. Overall, it was an interesting exploration, but not one I would recommend to most people.

3.5 stars
Strange but interesting.
More a book of random happenings over about a year of the lives if QVC type hosts.
Easy to see how different types if people could be molded by that job-obsessive shopper/hoarder, image fanatic/plastic person, over confident, egotistical, really no one “normal” which is what I would expect from the author.
So this was a nice departure from the slog of books I’ve reading lately with authors trying to write suspense/murder but all end up writing the same story…

I’m sure I’ll read more by this author in the future.

Listen. I'd read all of Augusten's books except for this one, what I believe was his first published work and only novel. I finally got around to reading it and crushed it in a couple of days. Outstanding. A mix of slice-of-life and over-the-top drama that few writers can pull off. My new niche life goal is to convince him to write another novel.

Loved every second of this disturbed shopping channel and it's array of stars unforgiving lives weaving in and out of each other