Stephen Fishbach

So, transparency first. I really love following Survivor and RHAP (Rob Has a Podcast). Out of all of the many podcast they do - my first and always favorite is Rob and Stephen Fishbach's Know It Alls. I am so happy this year getting to read books by Stephen and Rob. Stephen definitely had the more difficult project and I am glad I read it.

It was good, but I had a hard time with some of it. A lot of how I responded to it is on me and I want to take responsibility for that.

I really really show more hate when authors use the death of an animal in a way that feels like it is vaguely comic or light. This novel starts out almost immediately with just that kind of scenario. I think its meant to be almost absurd - but for me I just hate the thought of something like that and it cast a huge dark shadow that is really hard for me to get past.

I found some of the reactions and actions of Beck Bermann really didn't feel authentic to me - it really felt like a guy writing a woman.

It definitely also was a little slow at points - and I didn't love the whole Pig part (see my hang ups about animals in fiction above).

(As an aside and for the record I would really love Survivor to stop using Chickens ever again. The Sia era was such a relief to me. )

I hope Stephen writes another novel - that doesn't have animals in it. show less

I’m not a Survivor super fan, but I do love a book that explores reality tv dynamics. I was intrigued to read a book written by someone who had lived that experience themself.

The first half was great and I was hooked quickly. Then the pacing fell apart, and I feel like the second half dragged on and on.

I will add that while reading this book, there were some surprises and some thought provoking moments throughout. The narrators for the audio book were all great, the audio book was well show more produced.

My biggest issue with this story is that there are few things that annoy me more than a book with an ambiguous ending. After Beck leaves the show we get a bunch of speculation about what happens with everyone after the show ends. Beck doesn’t really get a real ending, which annoyed me. show less