Customer Reviews

The Virgin : A Novel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The Virgin - I loved this book.
The humor, the sadness, the "reality" - all of it.
The "episode recaps" are laugh out loud hysterical and you will find resemblances to some of the "characters" who have appeared on The Bachelorette - so much fun.

I can't decide which I liked better-the hilarious "blogs" by reality TV viewers that make up some of the chapters, or the poignant solliliquies of despair from the complicated main character searching to re-define himself. This book manages to be both tragic and funny, and full of surprises-sort of like life itself.

I have just finished this novel and wish to highly recommend it to others, especially fans of the Bachelor and Bachelorette shows.

The author certainly has a way of making the characters vividly come to life. In fact, in my mind I had envisioned Jeb looking like an American Hugh Grant. While reading the behind-the-scenes antics of the producers, I was curious how much of this was fact or fiction. Lastly, I truly tried to figure how the book would wrap up, but my guesses were all wrong, which is difficult for a reality sleuther to admit.

There is so much more to say, but I do not want to give away too much so that others can enjoy your book. Thank you for sharing your book with this audience member.

If you're a fan of The Bachelor or other similar reality shows, this is a quick, fairly entertaining read. Viewers of The Bachelor will find much of the show action here pretty recognizable - which goes to show how formulaic these shows have become, right down to the obligatory lingo that focuses on "the process" and "the journey" of looking for that perfect person.

Eric Barmack chooses a good format for telling his story: We see some of what actually happens during the "tulip" (think "rose") ceremony, and then we see what it looks like to viewers at home, courtesy of a series of episode "reviews". Vive la difference. The snarky episode reviews may be the best part of this book. The reviewers express what many of us have thought while watching some of these reality trainwrecks.

Unfortunately, Barmack's protagonist (Joseph) is so distanced from the goings-on, both on-set and off, readers never have a chance to explore and revel in the ridiculousness, shallowness, and brazen deceptiveness of the whole reality show experience. Joseph isn't merely cynical and floundering, like Benjamin in The Graduate. He is downright depressed - heavy-doses-of-Prozac depressed - to the point of being unable to convey to us much more than his depression and inability to connect with the world, or anyone in it. Thus, his reality tv experience seems almost like an out-of-body experience, where he's there but not quite there, viewing the proceedings through a haze of distance and confusion.

Barmack would have done better, IMHO, to give us a protagonist whose personal problems didn't overshadow the more engaging premise of "how real is a reality tv show"?

I admit it -- my friends and I love shows like "The Bachelorette" even though we know they're awful in every way. In this smart satire, Erik Barmack taps into our collective fascination with shows such as these and why our society is so obsessed with fame. His main character isn't necessarily likeable, but we find ourselves drawn into his need for acceptance and attention anyway. After reading this gripping debut novel, you'll look at reality TV in a whole new light.

Jeb, the primary narrator of THE VIRGIN, is confident, sardonic and clever. He's also the invention of a confused schlep named Joseph Braun. Jeb is Joseph's attempt to escape his own dispassionate self-loathing and become famous in the bargain. "I guess you could say that I more or less hate myself, but you could make an argument that I hate other people more."

At the opening of the novel, Joseph (in his Jeb persona) is well on his way to making the cast of a new reality TV show called "The Virgin." He and nineteen other men will compete to sleep with a beautiful 26-year-old virgin named Madison. As Andrew Weinberg, the show's malevolent producer, says, "The Virgin wants you. And if you're charming, she'll give you what you've always wanted. And together you will give America what it's always wanted ... innocence, romance and sex."

Jeb is convinced that a dose of fame and fortune will change his life. But Joseph can't quite banish his true, insecure self. During the course of the show, he's often reduced in the presence of The Virgin to stuttering and ultimately silence. Yet he keeps making the cut. As readers we become aware that "the cut" is largely rigged, that something is a little off about Madison (her missives to a mysterious Mitch are interspersed with Joseph/Jeb's somewhat whiny narrative), that most of the contestants --- surprise! --- don't really give a damn about Madison. Jeb does; he wants to help her. He hangs in there long enough for a narrow brush with the secret plot twist that lurks in all Weinberg productions. And long enough for Beach Girl, a bikini clad model employed to lounge around in a hotel terrarium, to finally say, "I know who you are."

Does this complete him? One has doubts. Frankly it's difficult to care about this passive-aggressive character who doesn't know what he cares about, and if he did, wouldn't tell you. "It's hard to explain. And you wouldn't understand, anyway." That said, there are some very clever and funny bits in the novel. When Jeb isn't navel-gazing, his observations are quirky and rich. Here's his take on a bar in the Lower East Side of Manhattan: "The girl with peacock glasses. The guy wearing a Midwood soccer jersey. The hipster in red paratrooper pants. The disheveled guy, the one working on the Brighton Beach radio documentary and blah blah blah."

But my favorite parts were the episode summaries by the mysteriously identified "R. Scherb and the Uncanny Lisa E." Their thoroughly vicious, gemlike chapters were a welcome antidote to Jeb's morose self-analysis. "Madison is running around pretending to care about everyone. Meanwhile, Nova and Jeb rush to give her gifts. It's as though they're screaming, "please like me!" Does anyone else suspect that these two were caned in preschool?" If I could pose one question to Mr. Barmack it would be: Where is R. Scherb and Lisa E.'s episode summary of the season finale? The one where we learn ... never mind.

Who is better equipped to review THE VIRGIN --- a fan or a critic of reality TV? In the interests of full disclosure, I confess that reading about it is as close as I've ever gotten. The book is billed as a satire of the reality show industry, but it appeals to some of the same tarnished sides of our psyches: prurience, misogyny, and guilty fascination with the depths to which humans will sink for money and fame. In any case, putting aside any expectations about meaningful insights into the human condition, THE VIRGIN is compulsively readable and clever enough.

Wait, did I say meaningful insights and reality TV in the same paragraph?

--- Reviewed by Eileen Zimmerman Nicol

We've all sat transfixed by a reality show (or three) in the last few years. Erik Barmack's novel THE VIRGIN takes our obsession one step further: A reality TV competition to see which man will win the right to sleep with a 26-year-old virgin.

Barmack's tone is perfect: Dry wit, subtle irony and attention to detail - all tied into a natural storyline. It's a fast, fun read, and, like the shows themselves, keeps you hooked up until the last plot twist. A must read for a generation captivated by reality TV!