Reality Boy

Gerald Faust grew up in the limelight of a reality TV show called Network Nanny.  He is five years old, his older sister is a psychopath, his mother is in mentally abusive, and his father is nearly absent. Gerald grows up hiding within himself, angry, and regulated to the Special Education classrooms at school. Hannah, a girl at work, also with a load of emotional baggage, and Gerald find love. This love gives Gerald hope that he can get past his anger that he can let go of the past and move on.

Reality shows are extremely prevalent on television today. A.S. King does an amazing job showing the hideous and disturbing life behind the cameras, and forces us to ask ourselves if this entertainment is really worth it. The emotional and often lifelong damage done to child stars is brought to the surface and we as readers are forced to face it head on.

Chapter 9: Connecting the Books

Both, Reality Boy and Angry Management are two amazing parallel novels dealing with anger, mental and physical abuse and the constant choice to overcome and work at living a normal life. Mental and physical abuse is more often than not kept hidden away from everyone. These two novels can serve as a door for those suffering to walk through, to know that others have suffered, even if in a fictional world, and that they can walk through the fire and come out on the other side.

King, A. (2013). Reality Boy: A novel. New York, NY: Little, Brown, and Company.