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cdale8's review against another edition
2.0
I really liked the idea of this book, but had a really hard time finishing it. I grew tired of the hammering negativity on current pop-sell-out culture (the nadir of which it seems, according to the author, is the survivor-like reality TV genre), the frenetic switching between secondary characters that were half-drawn (or was that on purpose, to try to straddle the mystery and cynical pop-culture-bashing genres?), and a generally convoluted writing style. Under all these things, there's a great almost-message about introspection and love, but the problem is that this message is buried so deep underneath the sparsely-drawn characters and the snide comments about network executives that it is not drawn out or presented in any sort of meaningful way. The happenings during the arrival at "Paradise" was the point where clarity was needed, but ended up being more confusingly written than the rest of the "Deserted" scenes. The backstory on the Producer and some of the other crew was too-little, too-late to help really clarify the motivations of the characters' actions throughout the book.
kpjt_books's review against another edition
1.0
I really wanted this book to live up to it's potential. It could have been a great piece about how this genre of tv has molded and possibly even warped our societies perception of self and reality.
It derailed quite quickly and I found myself reading each page hoping it was going to suddenly veer back on track and end fantastically. It didn't even come close.
The sole part that I felt tiptoed close to this pieces potential was the very very end. Better luck next time!
It derailed quite quickly and I found myself reading each page hoping it was going to suddenly veer back on track and end fantastically. It didn't even come close.
The sole part that I felt tiptoed close to this pieces potential was the very very end. Better luck next time!
audaciaray's review against another edition
2.0
Well-written and pulled me along in the story really quickly and intensely, but after finishing it, I'm not really sure what the book adds to commentary about reality television and American culture as we know it today. I hoped this novel would reframe some of my thinking about reality television and fame, or give me a different angle to chew on, but it really didn't.
joannavaught's review against another edition
3.0
i wish this star rating had a question mark after it: "i liked it?"
abookishtype's review against another edition
Andrew Foster Altshul’s Deus ex Machina is a hallucination of a novel that blends reality TV and Heart of Darkness into an unsettling social commentary. The novel shifts back and forth between timelines and settings without warning, and the only anchor is the unnamed producer. The novel shifts between a Survivor-like show currently filming somewhere in Indonesia and the unnamed producer trying to keep the show going while pleasing his new and much young boss. The producer wants to make a show about truth–but doesn’t know how to do that or even what truth would be in this setting. But everyone around him in the control booth is out to make the most scandalous and shocking season they can. The players just want to win and are more than willing to show how low they can sink...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
electricdick's review against another edition
1.0
Only read twelve pages, but I am already done with it. The producer masturbates on like the third page, the Latinx character is from the Bronx because apparently that's the only place in the US that has Latinx, the black character is a "gang outreach counselor" named "Shaneequio Jones," and the lesbian is butch because obviously that's the only kind that exist.
Oh, and the damn narration is in a distractingly obvious form of present tense. Bleh!
If you like the concept, just go watch Unreal instead.
Oh, and the damn narration is in a distractingly obvious form of present tense. Bleh!
If you like the concept, just go watch Unreal instead.
havermeyer's review
4.0
This is a clever book, and a great read. In short, its about an intense version of survivor controlled as if it was the truman show. It invites questions about who controls your life. Is there a difference between the producer and god? Sometimes it wears this questions a little too much on it's sleeve, but it's clever nonetheless.
It makes the decision that most creative writing professors will decry to date itself by including a number of real people and celebrities in cameo appearances (including one memorable one in the middle though, while funny, Altschul comes a bit short of capturing the celebrity's voice). It is the right choice for this book, which wants to place itself firmly in our world in order to make the firmest social statement possible.
It's a short and fun read, and it brings up more interesting and challenging questions than you would think. I read it for Stephen Elliot's Rumpus Book Club (highly recommended if you're not a member), so I'm looking forward to the club's conversation with the author. I'm also planning on reading his other novel, Lady Lazarus, so I'd say this book is recommended.
All the best,
-Eric
It makes the decision that most creative writing professors will decry to date itself by including a number of real people and celebrities in cameo appearances (including one memorable one in the middle though, while funny, Altschul comes a bit short of capturing the celebrity's voice). It is the right choice for this book, which wants to place itself firmly in our world in order to make the firmest social statement possible.
It's a short and fun read, and it brings up more interesting and challenging questions than you would think. I read it for Stephen Elliot's Rumpus Book Club (highly recommended if you're not a member), so I'm looking forward to the club's conversation with the author. I'm also planning on reading his other novel, Lady Lazarus, so I'd say this book is recommended.
All the best,
-Eric
alittlespook's review
1.0
The book could have been pretty neat. A reality show run by a man known only as "the producer," as he tries to open humanity to the world. His goal is to see what's truly in the human heart, but all he seems to get are the same cliches.
But the writing is messy. At first, I thought the author was ending chapters awkwardly because he was going to get back to things. Maybe he was trying to up the mystery a bit, and I was patient. I got more than halfway through the book and it's only continuing to go downhill. The characters are cardboard cutouts, everyone the producer interacts with or watches through his screens are false and empty. And that seems to be the point, initially. But then nothing happens. For a long time. Still nothing happens. 150 pages is plenty of time for something to happen. So I'm left with half-finished thoughts (that are almost good! Altschul was so close!) and a 150 pages worth of cliches.
Do not want.
But the writing is messy. At first, I thought the author was ending chapters awkwardly because he was going to get back to things. Maybe he was trying to up the mystery a bit, and I was patient. I got more than halfway through the book and it's only continuing to go downhill. The characters are cardboard cutouts, everyone the producer interacts with or watches through his screens are false and empty. And that seems to be the point, initially. But then nothing happens. For a long time. Still nothing happens. 150 pages is plenty of time for something to happen. So I'm left with half-finished thoughts (that are almost good! Altschul was so close!) and a 150 pages worth of cliches.
Do not want.
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