A second awesome read from King. It always makes me happy to find that the one book I loved wasn’t a fluke.
As with the first book I read by her (Please Ignore Vera Dietz) Reality Boy is full of flawed characters whose humanity practically bursts off the page. Think John Green, but without most of humor. Both books follow the delicate bonds of families when the people in them are all struggling with their own problems.
Reality Boy follows Gerald, former child reality star. While he was only in a few episodes of Network Nanny, he made an impression. The book flashes back and forth between what happened on those episodes and what is going on in Gerald’s life now. Needless to say, things aren’t exactly peachy for him.
At first, Gerald isn’t a very sympathetic character, he has a lot of rage and social problems, but as the book goes along he begins to work through those things and the reader learns more about what went on in his past to make him the way he is. By the end of the book you are cheering him on.
Great evolution of a character, complicated realistic relationships. Highly recommend!