To Die For
By Joyce Maynard.
First published 1992.
Published by Open Road
Media.
Paperback.
ISBN-10: 1497643821
ISBN-13: 978-1497643826
Description:
“That’s the beauty of
television. It’s like an eye that’s on you all the time…. Kind of like God, if
you want to get heavy.”
Local weather reporter
Suzanne Maretto craves nothing more than to transcend life at her suburban
cable television news station and follow in the footsteps of her idol: Barbara
Walters. When she concludes that her unglamorous husband is getting in the way
of her dream of stardom, the solution seems obvious: Get rid of him. She
seduces a fifteen-year-old admirer, Jimmy, and persuades him to do her dirty
work. Mission accomplished, Suzanne takes to the airwaves in her new role as
grieving widow, in search of a TV deal. If that means selling Jimmy down the
river, she’s ready.
Maynard’s brilliant,
funny, and groundbreaking novel – adapted by Gus Van Sant into the cult classic
movie of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman – was first published in 1992
before the era of manufactured stardom and the phenomenon of televised murder
trials as entertainment. The book still stands as a razor-sharp satire of
celebrity-fixated culture and the American obsession with TV – a novel that
imagined the phenomenon of reality television before its creation, with
alternately bone-chilling and hilarious accuracy.
“A seductive page
turner.” – The New York Times Book Review.
“A triumph.” – The
Boston Globe.
“A
powerful novel of murder and sexual obsession. . . . Chilling.” – The Star-Ledger.
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