Reboot
A Novel
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- 4,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • A WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR
A raucous and wickedly smart satire of Hollywood, toxic fandom, and our chronically online culture, following a washed-up actor on his quest to revive the cult TV show that catapulted him to teenage fame
"A performance full of wit and rigor"—New York Times Book Review
David Crader is a has-been. A former child actor from the hit teen drama Rev Beach, he now rotates between his new roles as deadbeat dad, recovering alcoholic, and occasional videogame voice actor. But when David is summoned to Los Angeles by Grace, his ex-wife and former co-star, he suddenly sees an opportunity for a reboot—not just of the show that made him famous, but also of his listless existence.
Hollywood, the Internet, and a fractured nation have other plans, however, and David soon drinks himself to a realization: This seemingly innocuous revival of an old Buffy rip-off could be the spark that sets ablaze a nation gripped by far-right conspiracy, climate catastrophe, and mass violence.
Reboot is a madcap speculative comedy for our era of glass-eyed doom-scrolling and Millennial nostalgia—and yet it’s still full of heart. It’s a tale of former teen heartthrobs, striving parents, internet edgelords, and fish-faced cryptids, for anyone who has looked back on their life and wanted—even if but for a moment—to hit “reset.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Celebrity culture, climate collapse, and pandemic-era conspiracy theories provide fodder for this entertaining if overstuffed satire from Taylor (Riding with the Ghost, a memoir). Narrator David Crader, a former child actor and recovering alcoholic nearing 40, is slumming it as the voice of a popular video game character. While in Los Angeles for a fan convention, he meets up with his ex-wife and former co-star, Grace Travis, who proposes a reboot of their early-2000s "beach-town soap," an East Coast OC mixed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer except with ghosts instead of vampires. Keen to the idea, David sets off to convince their former costars, including heartthrob Shayne Glade, now a star of the New York City theater world; and Corey Burch, dubbed by culture writer Molly Webster as "TheDesignatedFatKid™," who's pivoted to anti-vax politics and is running for mayor in the South Florida town where the show was set. Along the way, David faces wildfires in California and flooding rains in New York as he attempts to claw his way back into the limelight. Some sections, like one long tangent chronicling the backstory of David's second ex-wife, seem superfluous, but Taylor makes up for it with Webster's caffeinated pop-culture patter and David's indomitable determination. Readers will find plenty to applaud.
