false 2082253 0977669343 9780977669349 11 3 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2082253.Ryan_Seacrest_is_Famous 944922 Dave Housley 11 3 3 1 false Fri Dec 14 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Nov 27 12:48:22 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 04 17:55:32 -0800 2007
Housley has a knack for strong narrative, but he seems to be stuck in a well-worn groove. He takes on a lot of awfully obvious targets -- reality TV, superannuated celebrities, tabloid regulars, the culture of celebrity, and so forth -- and when your topics have been chewed over by a couple dozen talented young writers like Chuck Klosterman, Douglas Coupland, George Saunders, et al., you'd better have a startling way to approach them. But although I spent most of every story waiting for an original take, Housley never seemed to offer anything especially fresh. The lack of originality is most evident in Namaste, Bitches (believe me, the title is the best thing about it), a tired account of a Bachelor-esque reality show and the woman who tries to game the system. Housley toils mightily to highlight the irony of it all, but really, do we need to read another one of these stories that does nothing much other than roll its eyes at the notion of inappropriate product placement?

Housley is by far at his best when he just writes a story and dispenses with the herculean efforts at social commentary. For example, the concept of On Sunday Will be Clown isn't particularly original -- it's yet another pathetic clown story -- but handled with a pretty clever gimmick and a light touch. (I will confess that I have a soft spot for pathetic clown stories.) The best story in the collection is probably Are You Street or Popcorn?, an account of a teenage boy's realization that being an adolescent dickhead isn't the same thing as being a social critic.

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to reading more of Housley's work and hoping that he finds his own voice.]]>