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Life in a Fishbowl

Len Vlahos (Goodreads Author)

3.60 · Rating details · 1,855 ratings · 371 reviews

Fifteen-year-old Jackie Stone is a prisoner in her own house. Everything she says and does 24/7 is being taped and broadcast to every television in America. Why? Because her dad is dying of a brain tumor and he has auctioned his life on eBay to the highest bidder: a ruthless TV reality show executive at ATN.

Gone is her mom's attention and cooking and parent-teacher confere ...more

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Hardcover, 328 pages

Published January 3rd 2017 by Bloomsbury

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YA Novels of 2017

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Mar 29, 2017 Lazar Lazarov rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: love-the-cover, 2017

After reading all the negative reviews this book has here in Goodreads i wasn't sure if i want to buy it or not.The story seemed interesting to me and i decided to give it a try despite all the hate.The beautiful bulgarian cover helped a lot in making that decision (even though at first i was a little angry that they changed the original cover with the house inside a fishbow).I expected someting boring and lame but it was the complete opposite.The story grabbed my attention from the first page a ...more

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Apr 18, 2018 K. rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, setting-usa, difficult-topics, library, 2018, audience-young-adult, disability-or-medical-condition

Trigger warnings: parent dying of cancer, bullying, mentions of grown ass men having sex with teenage girls, mentions of grown ass men watching 13 and 15 year old girls shower, (view spoiler).

1.5 stars.

Okay, let's start with the most important thing about this book. There's a dog in the story. If you want to know what happens to the dog, click here: (view spoiler) Trigger warnings: parent dying of cancer, bullying, mentions of grown ass men having sex with teenage girls, mentions of grown ass men watching 13 and 15 year old girls shower, (view spoiler).

1.5 stars.

Okay, let's start with the most important thing about this book. There's a dog in the story. If you want to know what happens to the dog, click here: (view spoiler)

Right. Now that that's over, let's talk about this fucking trashfire of a book, shall we? I picked this up because it's one of our most popular titles and I feel like I should read all of our popular titles to have some kind of idea of what The Youth like to read. And with this one, I just..........yeah, I just don't get it.

So here's the deal. This book is about a father who finds out he's dying of a brain tumour, and he realises he doesn't have decent savings or life insurance. So he decides he's going to auction his life off on eBay. And as a result, his whole family are forced into a reality TV show about his last few months/weeks/days of life.

Which is, I suppose, kind of an interesting concept. But this book is told from the perspective of the father, of the teenage daughter, of the reality show producer, of a nun, of a teenage girl half way across the country who has serious thoughts about the eBay thing, of a billionaire, of the teenage daughter's Russian penpal, and OF THE TUMOUR.

Yup. The tumour has been anthropomorphised and we have to read about its "life" as it destroys this guy's brain.

And it's meant to be farcically funny.

It *was* a farce. It was not funny.

Bonus half star for including a teenage girl who fights back against reality TV bullshit that she's been forced into by filming her own version on her phone, and for the community that springs up to support her. But mostly? This was a trashfire from start to finish.

(It kind of reminded me at times of Going Bovine by Libba Bray, which I also hated. So. Maybe I just hate farcical books about characters with terminal illnesses?) ...more

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Dec 17, 2016 Kelly Hager rated it it was amazing

Jared Stone has a brain tumor, a glioblastima multiforme. It will kill him (in four months or less) and leave his wife and two daughters destitute. The Breaking Bad option is out and so he does the next best thing: he agrees to participate in a reality show. The world will get to watch him die (and his family deal with this) and in exchange, they get $5 million. This may seem pretty callous, but (as he points out) he's going to die anyway.

This is a brilliant and fascinating idea but it works so ...more

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Dec 13, 2016 Odette Brethouwer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016

I received an ARC from the Dutch translation of this book, (thanks Karakter Uitgevers!) hence the Dutch review. For English, see below.

Wat is dit een prachtboek. Een van de bijzonderste boeken die ik dit jaar heb gelezen.

Jared heeft een hersentumor. Ik vind dat deze tumor heel bijzonder omschreven is. Het is heel uniek, zo heb ik nog nooit gelezen over kanker. Deze manier van vertellen erover zorgt ervoor dat ik me beter voor kan stellen wat voor effect dat een hersentumor op je zijn kan hebben ...more

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Oct 21, 2016 joey (thoughts and afterthoughts) rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-review, physical-arc

Life in a Fishbowl is what I would imagine satire in YA to be: relevant, straight-shooting, and reasonably cathartic. With so many of us being obsessively Team Internet without knowing it, Life chooses to spotlight trashy reality television (e.g. Big Brother) without shitting on the actual format that has surely brought viewers hours of joy -- because people watching is always interesting.

It's a story told through a handful of perspectives (weaving in-and-out with just an "* *" asterisk break), ...more

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Jan 06, 2017 Jessica rated it it was ok

Shelves: books-i-own

When I saw this book at ALA, I didn't really think much of it. But when I read the synopsis, I thought this book sounded so cool. As a reality TV junky, I could not wait to see how this girl went through a reality show documenting her dad dying from cancer.

Jackie Stone's life is turned upside down the moment she learns her father has cancer. To try to save the family, her father auctions his life off to the highest bidder and their family finds themselves the center of a new reality show follow ...more

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Feb 26, 2017 Morris rated it liked it

Shelves: 2017-reviews, do-not-recommend

I’ll give it to you upfront: I did not like “Life in a Fishbowl.” I did appreciate the writing and the use of some unique points-of-view.

There were a lot of voices in the book, with many being in the same chapter. It became confusing at points, but the voices were distinct and well-written. I found the parts written about the thoughts of the tumor itself to be unique and engaging. In fact, those were the only sections that genuinely made me feel like I was reading a book about cancer that handle ...more

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Jan 10, 2017 Aoife rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, kindle, ya-contemporary

3.5 stars

I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Jared Stone is dying and has found out he only has about four months to live. Worried about his family’s financial future when he’s gone, Stone signs up for a reality TV show where cameras can follow him and his family’s lives until he dies.

This was a really interesting premise and for the most part I think it lived up to what I thought it was going to be. The story combines the heart ...more

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Jan 11, 2017 Shannon (It Starts At Midnight) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, read-for-review

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
4.5*

This book has so much of everything that I love packed inside. Multifaceted and engaging characters? Check. Morally complicated situations? Check. Family dynamics, humor amidst tragedy, and an eerily plausible situation... yep, they're here too. There are quite a few POVs, but it works. I didn't get super connected to any one character, but I don't think that was the point. Of course ...more

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Dec 17, 2016 Zarina rated it it was ok · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 28, 2017 Clare Snow rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Clare by: Dymocks Bookshop

Shelves: family, death, comedy, cancer, fathers, reality-tv, multiple-pov, satire, usa, euthanasia

So that was weird.

"There was only one way the American Television Network was leaving the Stone house, and that was over his dead body."

I was confused by a lot in Life in a Fishbowl but I couldn't stop laughing, so that's a yes from me. Read it and weep (tears of laughter).

"Ethan also knew that denying Jared medical care would be tantamount to murder, and while that would make for good television, it wouldn't resonate with the sponsors."

So many of my Goodreads friends gave it 1 star or DNF. I un ...more

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Mar 15, 2017 Carole rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: tear-jerker, bullying, realistic-fiction, american-dream, humour, family, death-grief, friendship

When Jackie's father discovers that he's dying of a brain tumor, he decides he needs to find a way to provide for his family. In his muddled state, he decides it would be a good idea to auction his life to the highest bidder, which turns out to be a tv station who want to run a reality show about his final days. The intrusion of cameras and crew is immense, but Jackie finds a way to show the true story of what is happening to the world, with a bit of help from some online friends. This is a trul ...more

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Jun 11, 2017 Michelle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sequoyah-2018

Omigosh, I love this book.

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Jan 05, 2017 LouLou rated it did not like it

Please read reaview in its entirety at http://www.compassbookratings.com/rev...
Promoted as a tragicomedy, Life in a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos is heavy on the tragic, and unfortunately for this reviewer, missed the funny bone on the comedy.

What is even more disappointing, and why I feel so let down with this particular novel, is that the promotional jacket is so appealing – a teenage girl, Jackie, is not only dealing with the fact that her dad has a terminal brain tumor, but that her family's advers Please read reaview in its entirety at http://www.compassbookratings.com/rev...
Promoted as a tragicomedy, Life in a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos is heavy on the tragic, and unfortunately for this reviewer, missed the funny bone on the comedy.

What is even more disappointing, and why I feel so let down with this particular novel, is that the promotional jacket is so appealing – a teenage girl, Jackie, is not only dealing with the fact that her dad has a terminal brain tumor, but that her family's adversity is being broadcast to millions of people in an outlandish way, all in the name of entertainment and money.

And it started out good. Narrated in third person format, which I first thought as odd, since it is promoted as being Jackie's story, but it still worked, and then not too far along, it started to become Jared's (Jackie's Dad) story, which was still OK. Then Jackie's Dad's tumor starts sharing its view point – different, cool, and a creative step for the author to pull, but still OK. Three character's viewpoint, is not so bad, but then 3 became 4,5, 6, 7, and I think I lost count, but there were about 8 different characters angling for camera time, or in this case, page time: a nun, a gamer, a TV executive, a billionaire playboy, a Facebook friend from Russia, a sister, a tumor, an ailing dad, and last but not least, Jackie. Unfortunately, the adults get to tout most of the story, which is sadder still because two of them happen to be sadistic males with sociopathic penchants. It's not until three-quarters of the way through the novel that the teens start to make a more apparent appearance and reclaim some of the storyline, but by that time I had a headache, and it wasn't enough to rally. I, like the father in the story just wanted it to be done with.

The characters, though well-developed, were just too much. There were too many adults, and their backstories got in the way, rather than adding to the intrigue of the story. If the novel stayed true to how it was being advertised, I think it would have been a great story and a much better YA format for the development of the subjects, such as a family's stance on euthanasia, the lows of the entertainment industry, and how American culture viewership is more of a voyeur-ship.

A provocative tale for the young adult audience, and I heavily emphasize the word adult. In contrast, if you're looking for something bitter sweet that celebrates the bond of family during tragedy, I highly recommend Falling Over Sideways, by Jordan Sonnenblick.

Review of an Advance Reader Copy

...more

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Dec 18, 2016 Grace (The Reading Raindoe) rated it it was ok

I was intrigued enough by the synopsis to request a copy of this book. As someone essentially born at the same time as the reality television movement, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were already very close to seeing this seemingly outlandish premise play out in the real world. Due to that, I was curious to read this book and see how it worked out in this fictional world.

Impressively enough, this book somehow already seemed a bit dated despite not releasing until January 2017. There’s talk of Mea I was intrigued enough by the synopsis to request a copy of this book. As someone essentially born at the same time as the reality television movement, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were already very close to seeing this seemingly outlandish premise play out in the real world. Due to that, I was curious to read this book and see how it worked out in this fictional world.

Impressively enough, this book somehow already seemed a bit dated despite not releasing until January 2017. There’s talk of Mean Girls posters, chat rooms, and Jericho being canceled the year before. So it seems this book is set in 2009 without ever really mentioning it, which honestly just seems a bit confusing. This book also isn’t set on one particular character. It has about eight different main focuses and an omniscient narrator. The main characters include a nun, a man with cancer, the man’s tumor, and various other fun characters.

So in addition to a confusing and quickly rotating crowd of characters, the premise of the book that sold me does not even come into play until almost a third of the way through the book. I felt incredibly misled. The blurb makes it sounds like the book is led by Jackie. It’s not. Again, an incredible amount of points of view. She is definitely not the lead.

This book was convoluted and a little pretentious. A dog was brutally murdered. The kids in the story seemed so out of touch with pop culture and they were made out to be so dense and self-centered. It was just not great. I felt it touched on some good points, though. I think the issue of euthanasia is an important one and the effect of reality tv is something that should be discussed more. It’s also unusual to read a book about someone with cancer and then to have that tumor be one of the main points of view, so it’s certainly unique in that aspect. Overall, if you want to read something different and you like a lot of different viewpoints, maybe pick this up, but it certainly wasn’t for me.

I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Originally posted on The Reading Raindoe ...more

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Apr 10, 2017 Mandy Radley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

"Human Life For Sale" forty five year old man with four months to live is selling his life to the highest bidder. You may do with him as you please - slavery, murder, torture, or just pleasant conversation. A human life, yours to control, yours to own. Buyers must live in the state or country with a law allowing assisted suicides, and the buyer bears the cost of transportation and tax. There is a reserve for this auction."

Jared Stone has just been diagnosed with a brain tumour and realises there ...more

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Oct 13, 2021 readwithsyll rated it really liked it · review of another edition

3.75 stars.

It has an interesting plotline. A man tried to sell his life on eBay after he found out he has brain tumor? Sign me in.

From the beginning, it’s already so engaging and fast-paced. It’s really easy to read so perfect for beginner. It shows how sad is TV shows production portray the life of this family. They are trapped in this industry and being forced to be the content for TV shows. Not mentioning the evil editing by them to increase the audience.

How could they escape from this situat ...more

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Feb 01, 2017 Aimal (The Devils We Find) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arcs, young-adult, contemporary, read-2017

When Jared Stone is diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme cancer and given a few months to live, he finds himself in a predicament. He’s not scared that he’s going to die, but he’s scared that he’ll leave behind a wife and two daughters with very little financial security. When he comes up with the ingenious plan to auction his life on eBay, giving people who bid at least $100,000 the opportunity to do whatever the hell they want with him, people start paying attention to him. From a nun who th When Jared Stone is diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme cancer and given a few months to live, he finds himself in a predicament. He’s not scared that he’s going to die, but he’s scared that he’ll leave behind a wife and two daughters with very little financial security. When he comes up with the ingenious plan to auction his life on eBay, giving people who bid at least $100,000 the opportunity to do whatever the hell they want with him, people start paying attention to him. From a nun who thinks Jared Stone is doing the devil’s work by bidding away the precious sanctity of life, to a wealthy psychopath who conjures up a plan to do horrible things to him, to a reality TV producer who would do anything to make Jared Stone’s family the stars of a new show. When the producer manages to get in touch with Jared, the Stones’ meager few months with Jared are infiltrated by camera crew, script-writers and the entire world.

Let me just start off by saying that the synopsis for this book is perhaps one of the most misleading synopses I have ever read. It gives the impression that Jackie Stone is the main character of the book when arguably, the story revolves around Jared. Even then, you could put forth the argument that there is no one main character- the Stone family is the star of the story, not just the father or the oldest daughter. Moreover, the synopsis seems to think that the reality TV aspect of the book is the main plot-line; again, I would disagree. The TV show doesn’t even start filming until after the 30 or 40% mark. It’s not a book about the show itself, but a book about one man’s last months with his family spent in the most unconventional of surroundings. It’s extremely important to go into this book knowing that the synopsis is misleading, because otherwise, you’ll face disappointment.

But if you go into it knowing what you’re getting, it’s really something. Life in a Fishbowl reads a lot like satire: it pokes fun at religion and religious hypocrisy, at the wealthy and the privileged, at the secret lives of the people who make reality TV. It’s an analysis of the world’s strange obsession with others’ lives, both appealing to our voyeuristic tendencies as we are thrust into a family’s deeply personal, intimate matter, and also showing us exactly how troubling this intrusion can be to the people who are its subjects. The themes in this novel are spot-on, told with humor and wit, unraveling issues deftly without ever seeming heavy-handed. It’s thought-provoking, but also extremely fun, and that’s all you can ever ask from an intelligently written book.

Life in a Fishbowl is strange in so many ways, both good and bad. Firstly, it’s divided into over eight viewpoints – which would usually bother me, but each character (including the tumor!) is given such a distinct personality, with interests and quirks, that I had fun with the viewpoints. Each turn of each viewpoint is no more than a couple of pages, so the book remained fast, fresh and entertaining throughout. That was the good strange. The bad strange was how a few characters arcs didn’t feel wholly necessary to the plot. The psychopath’s viewpoint was interesting, okay, but I’m unsure what it did for the story. And while the characters did feel fleshed out, my main issue was how they didn’t really develop. They largely remained static throughout the story, and despite there being a ton of room for development, it didn’t come.

After the 60% mark, I felt the book began to drag. I was still interested enough to keep reading, but the main thing that caught my attention was put in the backseat. The complicated family dynamic, Jared’s flashbacks to meeting his wife and having kids – all of that was put to the back to emphasize the TV show. Which is fine, but I’d have preferred more of a balance. And while Len Vlahos’s writing never loses its snarky, humorous, satirical, intelligent flair, the first half was undoubtedly superior to the second half. But even though my rating isn’t “all that,” Vlahos will be on my radar for a very long time, because I’m sure that anything else he writes will be just as sharp and delightful.

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Jan 14, 2022 Charlotte Butcher rated it it was amazing

This was totally so different from what I expected and normally read. It was surprisingly so good. It like idk how to explain it but the plot was so good😭 The whole story itself was sad and like really messed up at some parts but it was really good!!!

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Jan 12, 2017 Reg rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, reviewed

2016 was the year I discovered reality television. The years before, I would catch some episodes of My Kitchen Rules, MasterChef, and The Bachelor/ette but never really stayed, having barely any attachment to the characters. Last year, though, I started watching these things from the very start and very quickly got sucked in. I rooted for my favourite contestants and ‘boo’-ed those I didn’t like. I sat glued to the TV, scrolling through the relevant Twitter hashtag. I was, put simply, obsessed — 2016 was the year I discovered reality television. The years before, I would catch some episodes of My Kitchen Rules, MasterChef, and The Bachelor/ette but never really stayed, having barely any attachment to the characters. Last year, though, I started watching these things from the very start and very quickly got sucked in. I rooted for my favourite contestants and ‘boo’-ed those I didn’t like. I sat glued to the TV, scrolling through the relevant Twitter hashtag. I was, put simply, obsessed — which was why Life in a Fishbowl should have been right up my alley.

Keyword, unfortunately, being should have. The blurb for Life in a Fishbowl might allude to the story of a teenage girl, Jackie, whose father’s last days are broadcasted all over the nation, but it’s actually quite different. Instead, the focus is less on Jackie and more about everyone, or should I say everything, involved in this TV show: the executive producer, the fans, the anti-fans… and even the tumour in Jackie’s father’s head.

Glio — the name by which the high-grade glioblastoma tumor now thought of itself — didn’t know what was happening, but it was lighting up Jared’s brain like a football stadium at night. Glio really, really, really liked it. He stopped to watch.

This book is told in multiple third-person perspectives: Jackie’s, her family members’, her father’s supporters, her father’s non-supporters, etc. The tumour (Glio, as quoted above) is anthropomorphised here and often makes (morbid, somewhat animalistic) commentary. I actually kind of enjoyed that we get to hear from so many, er, living things, but I think it comes at an expense: the focus is so fractured that I didn’t find myself liking or sympathising with any of the characters.

The thing that didn’t work the most for me, however, was the voice. Vlahos’s writing style comes across as cold, clinical and matter-of-fact, and oftentimes I felt very… detached from the plot and the characters. It was like reading a very dry report — as sad as the situation was supposed to be, I was just unemotional.

This isn’t real life. Nothing on TV is real life. It is fiction. The only part of this that’s true is that my dad is dying, and that he is — that we are — being robbed of our privacy and dignity.

I think I was expecting something more grounded (as grounded as the premise could be, at least), more… ah, realistic? Perhaps more about death and cancer rather than, er, society. Yet the book veers more towards satire territory, kind of a social commentary on how ‘reality’ can be constructed and how that impacts the people behind that screen. I didn’t mind that, but it’s safe to say that it’s not exactly the book I thought I would be reading.

I can actually see people going either way with Life in a Fishbowl — the premise is unique, the storytelling is creative — but personally it left me feeling cold and ultimately unsatisfied, and I’m just not sure if I gained anything from reading it. I wasn’t entertained enough to call it fluff, and I wasn’t ‘enriched’ enough to call it educational. Not that a book has to have a ‘point’, though, so that’s on me.

* I received an ARC of LIFE IN A FISHBOWL from Bloomsbury Children in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Feb 19, 2017 Dawnie rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books

I am not normally one to say overly negative things about books (at least i think i am not!) and i don't want to come across as mean or as if i am personally attacking the author -because i am not. BUT i am not happy with this book and how the topic of a serious illness was handled in this book. So i am sharing that option. If you can't handle that? Read a different review!

This book was horrible!

If you ever lost anyone at all to any kind of illness?
STAY FAR - FAR, FAR, FAR- AWAY from this book ...more

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Nov 02, 2016 Melinda rated it liked it

This book, man. I don't know. It took me FOREVER to get into it, and then i got really into it, and then...the ending just seemed abrupt, and left me kinda cold. I really identified with Jackie and loved the story of how she found community online, how "if you look hard enough, there are other people out there like you." So the little throwaway narrative about what happens to Hazel at the end feels disingenuous and, honestly, a little sad. Overall: creative, ambitious, uneven, confusing. ...more

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Jul 02, 2017 Marie rated it liked it

Well, that was not quite what I expected. If I really enjoyed the idea behind this story and some of the messages it carried through its characters, there were too many different POV and not enough depth in each for me to grow bonds and care enough about everything, which makes me a bit sad. This book was so promising but it failed a bit to meet the expectations I had while reading this lovely synopsis :/
Full review coming soon :)

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May 18, 2018 Izzy H rated it liked it · review of another edition

A character in the book is Jackie she is brave. She is brave in one part of the book someone had taped a piece of paper on her locker that was about her dad that was selling him self on ebay as she was brave at school.

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Aug 07, 2017 Kirsty rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars. Very mixed feelings about this book.

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Apr 17, 2022 Prashamsa rated it really liked it

SO different from what I expected it to be. such an enjoyable read. 3.5/5

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May 27, 2018 Paul rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I had never heard of this book or author before a friend recommends it to me. In the world we live in today pretty much everything has been turned in to a reality T.V show. Laid bare for the masses to digest and dispose of at there pleasure so why not turn death into the ultimate t.v experience. It was a notion that sounded like a troubling concept to me. How could you take something so deeply human and personal and allow others to devour it like such hungry beasts for the experience and someth I had never heard of this book or author before a friend recommends it to me. In the world we live in today pretty much everything has been turned in to a reality T.V show. Laid bare for the masses to digest and dispose of at there pleasure so why not turn death into the ultimate t.v experience. It was a notion that sounded like a troubling concept to me. How could you take something so deeply human and personal and allow others to devour it like such hungry beasts for the experience and something to talk about at work the next day.

This is a book of may changing perspectives, but I will start with that of Jared as it's his diagnosis of a brain tumor that serves as the catalyst to the story. When we first meet him his tumor is already taking hold of him. As I followed along with Jared I got to see an all too familiar path he was on. Having gone through a lot of this with my own dad as he was slowly take away from me. I have to give credit to the author for this as a lot of what his character goes though hit the nail on the head. I would imagine even without my context for this he makes for a compelling person. You want to care for Jared, because he, in turn, cares for his family so very much. It is however found in this feeling that he wants to provide for them even after he is gone. Unfortunately for Jared, his judgment is not what it use to be. Diseases such as this torn family s apart even under the best of circumstance, with the added stress of t.v cameras I can only imagine it makes things worse. The way in which his family reacted to not only his tumor but the decision he subsequently makes felt to me like that of a real family struggling to come to terms with the death of a loved one, especially when at the time they are still looking you in the eye.

I'm not going to lie there were times I found this book a struggle to read, this, however, is only down to my personal experience of losing my own dad. The author writes in such a way that you cannot help but come to care for this family. If this was a simple story of a family coming to terms with the death of a loved one it would have been a completely different kettle of fish, and in all honesty, I may not have made it through. But it is with this maybe not so farcical situation that we manage to get something a little more and a bit different. You have to except that everything that takes place after Jared finds out is a direct reaction to his tumor. Who by the way carry's it's own voice and is also trying to make sense of its existence? The author has managed to bring a larger amount of humor to a topic that is very dark. And for it worked it stopped me spend the whole experience feeling downbeat and waiting for Jared to die. From wayward nuns to mad T.V executives there is a lot taking place between these pages, At the time you are prone to forgetting that it only has one very inevitable outcome, And when it finally arrives it doesn't pack any less of a punch.

I think this book will hold a special place for me, It is poignant, funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. And while we never get too deep into the lives of these people before cancer knocks on the door, You Will no doubt come to love them as I did. If you strip this book down it is still about a family and how you come to terms with the death of someone you love dearly, And in turn how they come to terms with what the will leave behind for you. ...more

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Aug 30, 2018 katie rated it liked it

Would you trade your freedom, privacy and sanity for a reality tv show? What if you had a brain tumor and in your muddled state, sold your life to a greedy businessman in exchange for 5 million dollars? This is the exact situation Jared Stone faces in Len Vlahos "Life in a Fishbowl." Told in the multiple perspectives, such as Jared's daughter Jackie, a greedy nun, a WoW gamer girl, an arrogant nun, a physcopath wanting to recreate the Hunger Games, and even the brain tumor itself, the Stone fami ...more

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Apr 24, 2017 Jan rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult

i chose this book because I'd enjoyed Scar Boys by the same author. This one is also a good one. Jared Stone has a brain tumour. In order to ensure the financial security of his wife and daughters he agrees to have his last months turned into a reality television show.

The daughters, especially Jackie, are well drawn characters. Despite the bleak subject matter, the story has plenty of humour, mainly in the strange behaviours of the various characters who take an obsessive interest in Jared's de ...more

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Mar 19, 2018 Kara rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, realistic-fiction, read-for-gmba-2017-18

My rating is really somewhere between 2 and 4. The reality show sabotage was fun. The Breaking Bad premise I'm not so sure about. I have actually had a relative die of brain cancer in a matter of weeks, and I wonder what information the author based the tumor pov (yes, that's a thing). I've also had a friend have to decide to end life support for her spouse, and I'm wondering about how the author chose to write the dramatic ending. Also, the fact that I'm about to shelf this under "realistic fic ...more

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About Len Vlahos

Len Vlahos

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I dropped out of NYU film school in the mid 80s to play guitar and write songs for Woofing Cookies. We were a punk-pop four piece -- think R.E.M. meets the Ramones -- that toured up and down the East Coast, and had two singles and one full-length LP on Midnight Records.

The band broke up in 1987 and I followed my other passion, books. I've worked in the book industry ever since.

And, of course, I ...more

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Quotes from Life in a Fishbowl

“But not all markers are noticed, not all triggers pulled. It would be many, many years before either girl would find out whether her own dormant Glio would awake. But those are stories for another time.” — 1 likes

“They edged along the wall, moving closer to the sound until they were outside their father’s study. As soon as they got there, Jackie recognized the noise for what it was. Her parents were making love. Jackie” — 0 likes

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