If there is one word that is synonymous with “reality” TV it is hyperbole, crammed as the genre is with ridiculous “you’ve got to be kidding me!” moments. Even though it takes more and more to truly appall us nowadays, it still happens. In a matter of a few pages of Failure to Thrive, Jeff Oliver’s debut novel, Jonathan Farb (a Canadian reality TV producer, naturally) discovers he has a possibly deadly brain tumor, catches his wife cheating with her middle aged obstetrician, and takes his five-month-old son, Elliot, to a strip club to clear his thoughts of all that has just happened. At this point you might be thinking, “this could never happen.” However, I can relate somewhat to the protagonist. In a two week span I was fired from my first job out of college, rear-ended someone in a car accident ($1000 deductible that I had to borrow from my parents), and was dumped by my girlfriend for whom I had moved cross-country. Needless to say, a lot of bad things can happen in a short amount of time. But, when faced with any amount of adversity it’s all about how you recover and move forward.
Farb recovers by setting out on a quest. Trying to rapidly raise Elliot to manhood (think infant bar mitzvah) before his time winds to a close, Farb is the hero of a frenetically paced, hyperbolic bildungsroman comprised of scenes that hardly seem possible. However, the culmination of all the unbelievable moments is that Farb creates an environment in which Elliot learns many life lessons and truly begins to thrive the way his father envisioned.
Fiction
Failure to Thrive
- Review
By
– March 5, 2012
Ethan A. Zimman is a Proposal Writer for an IT Government Contractor by day and freelance writer by night in Arlington, VA.
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