NerdyBirdie

Hey guys, I hope you’re having a great day! This is my review to Reality Boy written by A.S. King.

Gerald Faust knows exactly when he started feeling angry: the day his mother invited a reality television crew into his five-year-old life. Twelve years later, he’s still haunted by his rage-filled youth—which the entire world got to watch from every imaginable angle—and his anger issues have resulted in violent outbursts, zero friends, and clueless adults dumping him in the special education room at school.

Nothing is ever going to change. No one cares that he’s tried to learn to control himself, and the girl he likes has no idea who he really is. Everyone’s just waiting for him to snap…and he’s starting to feel dangerously close to doing just that.

In this fearless portrayal of a boy on the edge, highly acclaimed Printz Honor author A.S. King explores the desperate reality of a former child “star” who finally breaks free of his anger by creating possibilities he never knew he deserved.

This book opens your eyes to a lot of things. One thing it shows you is that reality TV is not really reality at all. It is—once again—just for entertainment. I understand that we all think we already know this, but there is another side of reality TV. This is the book that shows it. I guess you don’t really realize the impression reality leaves on you. This book was really smart for me, and I think A.S. King portrayed it greatly. I never realized what actually happens to kids on shows like Toddlers and Tiaras and Supernanny. Because it is true that you think the kids you see on TV are actually like that.

Some things that surprised me were that the directors had no problem showing that Gerald was a “problem child” and what surprised me even more was the fact that his own mother was willing to show Gerald, and his second sister, Lisi as troubled and bad just to make the oldest child, Tasha, happy.

I was thinking that Gerald’s parents would’ve been more supportive than not caring. This irritated me a lot. How can Gerald’s mother be so insensitive? I am one hundred percent sure that Gerald’s mom must’ve lost her mind at some point in the book. I was also surprised that it was mentioned how some people were openly making fun of Gerald.

I have to admit, the little romance between Hannah and Gerald could’ve been a little more. I didn’t completely get that part of the book. I felt like Hannah wasn’t really a fully developed character and that there could’ve been more of that for her. I also didn’t really fully understand or grasp the romance that had happened in between the two.

It was hard to connect with Gerald in the second half of the book, but by the end, when he started pitying his family it was easier to connect with him. The ending of the book was more about forgiveness than “getting yourself” because I think Gerald finally got a full picture that not everything was under his control—but what was is something that he can make the best out of.

I am definitely checking out more of A.S. King, I think that this book was very clever in the matters of showing the reality of reality TV (see what I did there?). Her characters deal with issues that end up changing their whole lives, but it still makes them stronger in the end. So I think you should check out her books for sure!

This book is recommended to people that like reading about different issues teens have to face. If you like contemporary, then give this one a try! :D

Thanks for reading my review for Reality Boy and I hope that you all have a great day!