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A Novel
by Carolyn Parkhurst
Book Reviewed by:A gentle satire on reality TV, as a mother and daughter face numerous challenges both on and off the show. As the game escalates, tensions mount, temptations beckon, and the bonds between teammates begin to fray. The question is not only who will capture the final prize, but at what cost?
What do a suburban mom and her troubled daughter, two recently divorced brothers, a pair of former child stars, born-again Christian newlyweds, and a couple of young millionaires have in common? They have all been selected to compete on Lost and Found, a daring new reality TV show. In teams of two, they will race across the globe - from Egypt to Japan, from Sweden to England - to battle for a million-dollar prize. They must decipher encrypted clues, recover mysterious artifacts, and outwit their opponents to stay in play.
What starts as a lark turns deadly serious as the number of players is whittled down, temptations beckon, and the bonds between partners strain and unravel. Before long the question is not only who will capture the final prize, but at what cost.
Excerpt
Lost and Found
By the sixth leg of the game, we have accumulated the following objects: a ski pole, a bishop from a crystal chess set, a sheet of rice paper, a trilobite fossil, an aviator's helmet, and a live parrot. Our backpacks are overflowing. I drop the chess piece into a sock to keep it from bumping against anything and chipping. I fold the rice paper into a guidebook. The helmet I put on my head. I hand the ski pole to Cassie. "Ready?" I ask, picking up the parrot's cage.
"Like I have a choice," she says. Our cameraman, Brendan, grins. I know he thinks Cassie makes for great footage. "Okay, then," I say. "We're off."
We leave our hotel room and walk down the hall, Brendan walking backward so he can film us; our sound guy trails behind. In the elevator, the parrot squawks.
"We should give this guy a name," I say to Cassie, holding up the cage.
"How about Drumstick?" Brendan smiles behind his camera. He's loving this.
"How about Milton?" I try. "He looks ...
Parkhurst could have played these characters for laughs but she doesn't. The low-level satire is directed at the concept of reality TV as a genre, not at the individuals whom she treats with respect. Having said that, she does have a wonderful way of skewing people's characters through a simple, throw away comment...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Love it or hate it, Reality TV looks like it's here to stay, but it is not the
new phenomenon that many imagine. In fact, Reality TV in the USA (as it
most resembles the current day format) dates back all the way to 1973 when PBS
debuted An
American Family which followed the Loud family for seven months (300
hours of film was shot of which only 12 made it to TV) - 10 million viewers
tuned in to watch the marital breakup of Bill and Pat Loud and the coming-out of
their son Lance.
In fact, the history of the genre goes back even further to programs such as
CBS's Wanted (a precursor to America's Most Wanted) which went on
air in 1955; and before that was the grand-daddy of all reality programs -
Candid Camera. Candid ...
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