The Virgin : A Novel [Paperback]

Erik S. Barmack (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 23, 2004

When Joseph Braun decides to lie his way onto the Network's hottest new reality show, he's sure he'll find what he's always sought: attention fame and, perhaps, love. But once he lands a spot on "The Virgin," a show in which a twenty-six-year old beauty named Madison offers to relinquish her virginity, he realizes that he's in way over his head. And Madison might hold secrets of her own. . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Barmack's glib, ironical debut, Joseph Braun, a lost, unemployed slacker, transforms himself into Jeb Brown, a more confident and less ethnic version of himself, in order to weasel his way onto a reality TV show. "The Camera loves honesty. The Camera seeks integrity," says one production assistant—and Jeb plans to deliver it. The show is called The Virgin, and on it our purported hero must compete against various stock characters—Shep, the cowboy; Favre, the football player; Cody, the "man-child"—for the right to woo and deflower a 26-year-old virgin. The story hews closely to the slow winnowing down of the show's contestants as Madison, aka the Virgin, chooses among her various suitors as they take her on staged dates in semiexotic locales. Aiming past a too-easy satire of reality television, Barmack reaches to make the book a parable of a generation looking for an identity. No one here is what he seems to be. By the end, "Fat Jack... is no longer fat," teetotaling Greg the Christian is washing "greasy chicken bits down with beer," and, in the ultimate twist, the Virgin is something else entirely. Though the story moves quickly and the prose can be wryly comic, the book, like its main characters, is a bit confused as to what it wants to be.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

New Yorker Jeb Brown relinquishes control of life as he knows it when he becomes a contestant on The Virgin, a reality TV show in which 20 libidinous lads vie for the chance to deflower a ravishing young woman. Among those competing for the coveted "G" spot: a dot-commer, a Bible thumper, a cowboy poet, and a jock. In scenes that bear a striking resemblance to the ABC-TV hit The Bachelor, the eager bachelors embark on a series of dream dates with blonde-haired, blue-eyed Madison--not her real name, of course. While Jeb is instantly smitten (What red-blooded male could resist the camera-ready beauty?), he suspects there is more to the young woman than meets the eye. But in the carefully orchestrated world of reality TV, it's difficult to distinguish between fiction and fact. The novel's most memorable chapters feature snarky episode "summaries" rendered by a pair of single women hopelessly addicted to the show. Readers who enjoy the snap and crackle of pop culture will revel in Barmack's acerbic debut. Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st Ed Jan 2005 edition (December 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031233513X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312335137
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,911,534 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars depressed, but caustically funny, February 28, 2005

By 

Marla Ashby (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Virgin : A Novel (Paperback)

While I often wanted to shake Jeb/Joseph out of his complacency, I found that the world of reality TV was very accurately rendered. I found myself cringing and cheering and rolling my eyes at Barmack's characters in excatly the same way I do watching any of the "real" reality shows. And I loved the break-away discussion sections of the viewers watching the show as it unfolded, probably because it echoed so closely my own experiences with reality programming. I felt that Madison was treated rather shabbily, but I often feel that way about the main character in those shows, so it felt very realistic to me. Watching reality shows since, I find I view them with a very different perspective. I think Barmack is bitterly funny, with a great eye for human detail, and I will be interested to see what he does next.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Virgin- searching for identity in unreality., February 22, 2005

By 

Alexandra Henshel (Rhode Island) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Virgin : A Novel (Paperback)

The Virgin was a great read. Jeb's trek throught the desert of a dating show is made all the more difficult by the fact that he seems to be experiencing a nervous breakdown, a total disintegration of self as he is goaded to 'reveal' more and more of his manufactured identity- false, true, he can't even begin to understand himself. I love reality TV, too, so I couldn't help but wonder how many really empty people I might be watching at 8 EST, 9 Central.

The sadly soulless and nostalgic tone of the book was a little reminiscent of the best of the brat pack of writers, like Jay McInerny riffing off the characters and cariacatures on reality TV, while Barmack's Jeb could easily have slipped into the dark territory Bret Easton Ellis took his American Psycho, Patrick Bateman, but the book has it's own thing going on, and Barmack is definitely a writer I will look for again.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Virgin - black comedy, February 22, 2005

By 

Queenofthewest "queenofthewest" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Virgin : A Novel (Paperback)

The Virgin will do for the Hollywood reality TV relationship genre what Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One did for Hollywood funerals. A dark, biting, insightful story of fame-whoredom and celebrity. I recognized many of the character types and lines from The Bachelor and Bachelorette shows. There is an amazing twist at the end. An excellent read.