To Die For
by Joyce Maynard
209 Members (3.45)
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That's the beauty of television. It's like an eye that's on you all the time. . . . Kind of like God, if you want to get heavy.' Local weather reporter Suzanne Maretto craves nothing more than to transcend life at her suburban cable television news station and follow in the footsteps of her idol: Barbara Walters. When she concludes that her unglamorous husband is getting in the way of her dream of stardom, the solution seems obvious: Get rid of him. She seduces a fifteen-year-old admirer, show more Jimmy, and persuades him to do her dirty work. Mission accomplished, Suzanne takes to the airwaves in her new role as grieving widow, in search of a TV deal. If that means selling Jimmy down the river, she's ready. Maynard's brilliant, funny, and groundbreaking novel-adapted by Gus Van Sant into the cult classic movie of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman-was first published in 1992 before the era of manufactured stardom and the phenomenon of televised murder trials as entertainment. The book still stands as a razor-sharp satire of celebrity-fixated culture and the American obsession with TV-a novel that imagined the phenomenon of reality television before its creation, with alternately bone-chilling and hilarious accuracy. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Joyce Maynard including rare photos from the author's personal collection. show lessTags
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Author Information
32+ Works 5,132 Members
Joyce Maynard was born on November 5, 1953. She first came to national attention in 1973 with the publication of her New York Times cover story An Eighteen-Year-Old Looks Back on Life, which she wrote while a freshman at Yale University. Since then, she has been a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, a syndicated newspaper columnist, and show more a regular contributor to NPR. Her writing have also been published in numerous magazines including O, The Oprah Magazine; Newsweek; The New York Times Magazine; Forbes; Salon; San Francisco Magazine; and USA Weekly. She has written both fiction and nonfiction works including The Usual Rules, The Cloud Chamber, Internal Combustion, After Her, and her memoirs Looking Back and At Home in the World. Maynard's memoirs include details about her relationship with J. D. Salinger when she was 18 years old and attending Yale University. To Die For was adapted into a movie starring Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon and Joaquin Phoenix and Labor Day was adapted into a movie starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Da morire
- Original title
- To Die For
- Original publication date
- 1992
- Related movies
- To Die For (1995 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- Well she grew up hard and she grew up fast
In the age of television
And she made a vow to have it all
It became her new religion
Oh, down in her soul, it was an act of treason
Oh, down they go for all the wrong... (show all) reasons
—from the song "All the Wrong Reasons" - Dedication
- For the voice at the other end of the telephone, my agent and friend—and an irreplaceably astute reader—Robert Cornfield, with love
- First words
- Just to give you an idea of Susie.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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- Members
- 209
- Popularity
- 156,081
- Rating
- (3.45)
- Languages
- 6 — Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 17
- ASINs
- 6
