Review by mT_space_evolves -- The Broadcast by Liam Fialkov

[mT_space_evolves]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Broadcast" by Liam Fialkov.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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I rate the book, The Broadcast by Liam Fialkov, 2 out of 4 stars. The subplots were intriguing and were developed enough that I was fooled into thinking they would play a bigger part in the overall story but they didn't. I hoped that when I was done reading that the book left me eagerly seeking out a sequel. Instead it felt like a fan-fiction prequel .

The hardest part of this review might be writing the summary. It is about people being pulled together after people had been ripped apart, but in more of a disembodied Zen tone than a melodramatic, poignant tone. At first, every new character got me excited. The author did great at teasing the imagination. I didn't have any idea about what might happen, while at the same time coming up with endless intriguing ways it could go.

I found the main couple Jonathan and Sarah endearing early enough on that I waited with bated breath for them to talk to each other. Most of the book was internal dialogue or collage level historical, metaphysical lecture. Probably less than 10% of the book had quote marks and were words a character had spoken out loud.

I thought that each new subplot would reveal MORE. More about the technology behind the video footage, more about the mystical place in the forest, more about the possibility of a character randomly connecting online to what feels like an unknown, long-lost sibling. More about when certain characters bridges almost crossed on the Golden Gate bridge. More about producer Walter Lindsey. who seemed fascinatingly nice but had darkness in his family history, and while Walter is probably my favorite character in the book, I couldn't say the book is about his past anger and current reunion with family, because it's not. Less words were written about the two main characters who are blood-related but separated young, than were written about video footage of the Napoleonic War.

The episode on the Napoleonic War, is great example of the lack of value that the events discussed on the Broadcast brought to the book. I don't understand the author's choice for any of the historical things highlighted. I didn't get any symbolic, haunting insight into the characters and story lines of the book. The author didn't explore the TV show's effect on society , because none of the footage really, truly mattered to any other thing in the book.

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The Broadcast
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