HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Fakebook: A True Story. Based on Actual Lies…
Loading...

Fakebook: A True Story. Based on Actual Lies (edition 2013)

by Dave Cicirelli (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations
356692,677 (3.25)None
This hilarious, irreverent, and profoundly honest memoir explores our cultural obsession with social media and dares to ask: Who is the real "you" and what is the story you tell others? At age 26, Dave Cicirelli found himself at a crossroads. While his friends on Facebook appeared to have lives of nonstop accomplishments, his early adulthood felt disappointingly routine. So one October morning, Dave announced on Facebook that he was dropping everything and heading west. Many thought him brave--or crazy. No one guessed he was lying. "Fake Dave" set off on a wild adventure, toilet-papering an Amish horse and buggy, freight-hopping with a farmer's daughter, and being kidnapped by a religious cult. But the online prank quickly became a social experiment. People began connecting over his journey, and some were inspired to change their own lives. But as Fake Dave's popularity grew, the real Dave became increasingly isolated, struggling with the implications of his secret. Clever, funny, and surprisingly candid, FAKEBOOK is a true memoir of our digital age. It explores what the old ideas of reputation and relationships mean in our new world of constant connection and ultimately asks: How do you draw the line between your virtual self and who you really are? And can you discover yourself on a journey that never took place?… (more)
Member:TommyHousworth
Title:Fakebook: A True Story. Based on Actual Lies
Authors:Dave Cicirelli (Author)
Info:Sourcebooks (2013), 320 pages
Collections:Your library, Currently reading, To read
Rating:
Tags:to-read

Work Information

Fakebook: A True Story. Based on Actual Lies by Dave Cicirelli

None
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

Showing 1-5 of 6 (next | show all)
I bought this book because I often wonder how much of what people put on their statuses is true. I also wonder at how gullible we are. Would we believe what the status says even as we question whether or not it could possibly be true? This book dives into that with an experiment. I enjoyed the posts and responses in the book. They were what is best about this book. Even some of Dave's musing were interesting. More often though I was bored by his musings. Maybe because I had my own going on and just wanted to know the facts. So while I give it only three stars if you are a Facebook user, I would probably tell you to read it but be prepared for some parts to bore you. ( )
  Wulfwyn907 | Jan 30, 2022 |
This was a good idea and I got into it for a while but lost interest quite a bit about 1/3-1/2 way through. It felt a bit dragged out to me in the end. ( )
  waltandmartha | Dec 3, 2019 |
This was a good idea and I got into it for a while but lost interest quite a bit about 1/3-1/2 way through. It felt a bit dragged out to me in the end. ( )
  waltandmartha | Dec 3, 2019 |
I was drawn to this book based on my belief that Facebook is really an adoring fan page for the Self. Or a never-ending Christmas letter, full of humble-bragging and cherry-picked 'perfect' moments and achievements. It's main draw is to induce jealousy in the people we 'care' about. It's an electronic one-up machine, and all you can gather about anyone on it, is how they want to be perceived. (Which is often very telling in itself) It's like keeping up with ALL of the Jones', not just the ones in your neighborhood.

The author's premise is that he decides to create a fictitious life on Facebook, and see how long he can keep the ruse up, all in the name of social experimentation. But what he does with it, is beyond bewildering to me. It's as if he walked away from his life to become a homeless person. (Something few people would ever want to do) His road life is as far from enticing as it can get, though no one seems to point this out.. Sure, he puts a sitcom-ish twist on it (toilet-papering an Amish horse and buggy, possibly joining a cult) but they sort of fall flat in 'real' fake time.

The author adamantly wants you to know he is from New Jersey, but he is thoroughly convinced he is miles 'above' the 'Jersey trash' that ruin (and support) 'his' beaches every year. He spends an inordinate amount of time putting down community college kids, Jersey people on tv, every Jersey 'fallacy' he feels he stands apart from. He tells tales of how his family act like barbarians at the local pizza joint, devouring their food by shoving it down their throats, and obnoxiously fighting each other over the pieces - then, on the way out, they laugh at the normal customers who act civil and don't make a spectacle of themselves by flaunting terrible manners. This is sort of funny, but probably a misstep in his constant black-hole of a need for us to know he's 'classy!'

His Facebook 'friends' are all cynical wit-masters, who never pass up the chance to make racist jokes (Indians, Mexicans, the list goes on) and you can tell they find themselves Louis C. K. funny (minus the material and comprehension), and haven't an inkling in the world how shallow and mean-spirited their Frat-boy style humor is. In fact, they all seem to have the same voice- if that is even possible (and it would be if say, one guy wrote the whole thing) If you needed two drops of empathy, and scoured all of these people you'd come up two drops shy. They have all passed 'stereotype 101' with flying colors- and this may explain why the author is so obsessed with the stereotypical Jersey image. He's like the fish who is the last to discover water precisely because he's in it.

The 'social experiment' is curious in general to me, because where he could have made it seem (since it was all lies) somewhat enticing, he posted bad photo-shopped pix of him begging for money, eating at homeless shelters, washing up in fast food restaurant bathrooms, sleeping outside,getting beat up, unwashed and smelly- and somehow- he had people admiring him and his 'journey'? In fact, one woman quit her job to follow his fake 'example'. She could have just given all her money away, hitchhiked down i-95, then set up a tent on the overpass. That's what he (fake) did.

A hugel problem with the book is that the author claims to be a graphic artist, experienced in Photoshop, and yet he has, hands-down, presented the worst Photo-shopped pictures I have ever seen in my life. There isn't a convincing picture in the lot, and how these Facebook friends can be so 'witty' and jaded, yet still not notice this, is unbelievable. Literally. That he is supposedly forced into taking an Amish girl on his trip with him (long, fake story) and then presents (glaringly fake!) pictures of her in slutty clothes, adoring him like a well-paid Geisha in every shot- people pa-leeeeze! Unlike everyone the author knows- I'm not buying it. I would have blocked him from the get-go.

Best of all are the lessons the author learns along the way: that full-on lying is really hard (waaah!) and prevents him from grabbing neon jello shots at the bar with the home-for-the-holidays local college kids (you know- the upper echelon of the Jersey Shore) He has to fight through the boredom of staying home, and though it's a close one, somehow he makes it. When he goes on a date with a girl he actually likes, 'it doesn't feel' real, because he can't post it on Facebook. If only the date 'really counted' he'd have been able to rub it in his friends faces and get the girls he knows 'jealous'. He actually says this. IN fact, this guy's dream is all about 'rubbing 'it' in people's faces. Not helping anyone, or bettering the world....just 'stickin' it to' the human race. He alludes to his obsession with 'aesthetics'- and boy is he spot on. This guy spends his entire life obsessed with the one thing he can't control: what other people think of him! Even his job is to trick people into talking about certain products, It's all about what it looks like- but here's what he hasn't learned: that regardless of what you put out there, the 'real' you becomes apparent very quickly. It's an aura thing, and it can't be hidden. (All I can think about is the 'man behind the curtain' moment in the Wizard Of Oz-because nothing important to this guy has any substance- it's all smoke and mirrors)

The 'Jury Duty' section of the book made me physically ill- this guy actually tried to tie his little experiment to possibly putting a sixteen year old boy in prison -because the little gangsta 'would only get worse on the streets', (whereas in prison for ten years he'd come out so happy and grateful!) 'We all wanted to believe his story' the author says, waxing poetic and comparing it to his irrelevant little 'Fakebook' experiment...wow dude!....please promise me you'll 'fake-hike' through Compton next time- I'm sure you and your ignorant friends' social commentary would be hilarious. Better even than the clever Mexicans- in- the- Home- Depot -parking -lot one liners you've already spewed! (In his defense, the author felt bad about the kid's fate for a half an hour that night and took a nap, sooooo...all's even steven) You never saw a guy so proud of teaching a poor kid a 'lesson!' You secretly beg Karma to bash down his door and pay a little 'visit'.

Facebook is its own second life- running parallel to one's 'actual' life. It's like a commercial for a person- or product-or more precisely an infomercial-one you watch even though you are certain you're being duped. Real life is always raw and real. No Photoshop, no air-brushing, no duck lips or unflattering angles. In real life you don't get to edit it down, which is why life is sometimes a disappointment compared to television, movies, magazines and Facebook pages. Real life is like the droopy Subway sandwich you actually get, not the fake one made of foam and plastic in the commercial with the stoner Olympian and showboating NFL star.

But here's the thing: like that droopy sandwich- if you're really hungry it's still ok. The fake one is 'inedible', and you'd perish if that's all you had. Just like real life-it's fine- even if it's not perfect. Currently, we are all so busy staring at our own reflection that life is passing us by. Facebook facilitates that. But 'Fakebook' is based on the false premise that anything anyone actually posts is real (or as it seems) in the first place. Everyone's curating their vision of what they want you to think-curating the hell out of it! And If you actually believe any of it- P.T. Barnum has a phrase for you. Because there's one 'logging on' every minute.

So there you go. Now I've gotta run and post this to Facebook. ( )
  Litgirl7 | Mar 29, 2014 |
A great read for those of us who are old enough to remember the pre-Face Book era. If you have ever questioned FB posts from old or current "friends," this memoir is for you. The story is effectively told in both first person musings and FB postings.

I will be adding this book to our nonfiction collection as well as recommending it to patrons and "friends." I have already peaked interest by posting the title as "currently reading" on my FB page.

Thanks for sharing! I will never look at Facebook the same way again! ( )
  laona | Feb 20, 2014 |
Showing 1-5 of 6 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

This hilarious, irreverent, and profoundly honest memoir explores our cultural obsession with social media and dares to ask: Who is the real "you" and what is the story you tell others? At age 26, Dave Cicirelli found himself at a crossroads. While his friends on Facebook appeared to have lives of nonstop accomplishments, his early adulthood felt disappointingly routine. So one October morning, Dave announced on Facebook that he was dropping everything and heading west. Many thought him brave--or crazy. No one guessed he was lying. "Fake Dave" set off on a wild adventure, toilet-papering an Amish horse and buggy, freight-hopping with a farmer's daughter, and being kidnapped by a religious cult. But the online prank quickly became a social experiment. People began connecting over his journey, and some were inspired to change their own lives. But as Fake Dave's popularity grew, the real Dave became increasingly isolated, struggling with the implications of his secret. Clever, funny, and surprisingly candid, FAKEBOOK is a true memoir of our digital age. It explores what the old ideas of reputation and relationships mean in our new world of constant connection and ultimately asks: How do you draw the line between your virtual self and who you really are? And can you discover yourself on a journey that never took place?

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.25)
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5 1
3 4
3.5 1
4 2
4.5
5

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,233,479 books! | Top bar: Always visible