3/5 stars
When Jesse O'Rourke gets picked for a "documentary" being filmed at her school in the Hamptons she's tempted to turn down the offer. But there's a tuition check attached to being on the show, and Jesse needs the cash so she can be the first in her family to attend college. All she has to do is trade her best friend for the glam clique she's studiously avoided, her privacy for a 24/7 mike, and her sense of right and wrong for "what sells on camera." . . . At least there's one bright spot in the train wreck that is her suddenly public senior year: Jesse's crush has also made the cast.
As the producers manipulate the lives of their "characters" to heighten the drama, and Us Weekly covers become a regular occurrence for Jesse, she must struggle to remember one thing: the difference between real and the real real. (From the publisher)
So, taking a break the bleak visions of the future that I've reading lately, I decided to to read something "fun". On the surface, The Real Real is a fun, guilty pleasure book that is very similar to watching a reality tv show. Jesse and her fellow cast members get to wear designer clothes, spend the weekends shopping, take glamorous trips, and become instant celebrities. However, once you can get past the ridiculous amount of product name dropping and overblown, evil adults in this story, there's an interesting little undercurrent about how little "reality" is actually present in reality tv. What starts out as a show about the real lives of ordinary high schoolers soon becomes a soap opera as the show's producers begin manufacturing drama and turn the lives of the cast into nightmares for the sake of ratings. It (almost) makes you feel sorry for the real life stars of such shows.
I really wish that the characters were better developed. Jesse, who is supposedly the "smart and responsible" one (she gets into Georgetown University) makes several bad decisions during the story, which doesn't really make sense in the context she's presented in. Several of the minor characters (the fancy, professional cinematographer, Zachariah, brings a lot of comedy to the otherwise tedious shooting scenes) really shine while those in the core group don't come off as very interesting. And, the romance between Jesse and Drew feels a little shallow- their only similarity is that they've both been cast on the show. Pretty much all of the relationships in this story seem like plot conveniences rather than believable pairings. This really is a plot driven story, which I was okay with, but a little more characterization would have made this a much stronger book.
On the bright side, I found this to be a light, breezy read that kept me entertained from beginning to end. I would recommend it for readers looking for a sneak peek behind the scenes of reality tv. There's actually the potential for some pretty great discussion about this book in regards to entertainment, reality tv, and corporate marketing directed at teens. I could envision this being a fun, summer reading book group selection.
~Erin~
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