TAYSHAS 14

Life in a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos

This year's TAYSHAS list is something else. There just haven't been that many that I HAVE to read. Well, after the ones that I read before I knew they made the list anyway. It is always my goal to hit 15, and these last couple have been hard to choose. This one was surprisingly good, though different.

Jared Stone is in his mid-forties and has a brain tumor. This tumor is inoperable and will be the cause of his death in four months or less. He hasn't told his wife or his daughters yet, and he is trying to figure out how to take care of them, as the life insurance won't go very far. His first thought is to place his life on eBay for people to bid on. That garners some attention from the local media, and this is how Jared's family finds out the situation. Then the eBay auction gets canceled because it violates their rules.

One of the people who bid on Jared's life is a television producer, and he offers Jared five million dollars to film his last days. Jared jumps on it because, in his mind, his family needs the money. So, all of America and the world sees Jared's quality of life deteriorate on their television screens.

But, having your life filmed every second of every day can and will take a toll on a family. No one wants every little thing filmed, and they don't want their lives spliced together to fit the agenda of the television company. Reality tv is not real, and this book makes that all too apparent.

So much more than what I have documented here happens in this book. I suggest you read it to get the whole story. Somehow, I don't think you will regret it, particularly since one of the voices telling the story is the brain tumor.