I am a fan of Tisdale's work and writing, and was expecting more depth within this book than what it was. I wasn't particularly a fan of the reality show Survivor, but I was expecting this book to have more of a wider than an endless gaze at reality TV than it did. If you are a fan of the show Survivor, then this book is for you; I haven't watched it, so I was pretty disinterested.

As a deep-dive into Survivor, this book was excellent. However, when it came to what I was expecting - a book on reality TV shows in general and their underlying themes - it completely missed the mark.

I was provided an advanced copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Lie About the Truck is an unflinching examination of reality TV and the nature of objective truth by Sallie Tisdale. Released 26th Oct 2021 by Simon & Schuster on their Gallery imprint, it's 251 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

The media, the objectivity of truth vs. perception, conspiracy theories, and the nature of reality are very much hot-button topics in our collective cultural consciousness. Up should mean up, blue should be blue, right and wrong, truth, and justice should be objectively simple concepts on which we all agree. Clearly something is amiss when people can see the same information and come to strongly held diametrically opposed, mutually exclusive conclusions.

So, this book is about Survivor and reality TV, but it's also about the nature of experience and objectivity and perception and what, exactly, is quality, and what is crap and why we feel about them the ways we do. The writing is full of vignettes about the shows (generally including specific season and episode information, so readers can go look up what the author's talking about) and stories about the individual contestants, creators, and behind the scenes info. Accompanying the stories are ruminations and drawn parallels to society and life in general.

Four stars. Overall the author manages to make some salient points and her writing is, as always, worthwhile and interesting.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

This book is a super deep dive into the very popular reality show Survivor. The author is clearly a huge fan and knows a lot about the show, so other fans will enjoy the information in this book. For the casual Survivor watcher, this may need a bit more context. It was a fast, fun read, though I'm sure I missed some things that bigger fans would have picked up. Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for an advanced reader copy of this book for an honest review.

As a massive Survivor fan, I knew this was a must read. And to be honest, I would only suggest this book to fellow Survivor fans as opposed to general reality tv fans. There is a lot of knowledge and tidbits packed in here that were incredibly interesting. I especially appreciated the chapter on “The Terrifying Natives” that gave insight into things that most tv watchers aren’t usually considering. I would have liked a deeper dive into a few of the topics discussed instead of cherry-picked anecdotes here and there. I also thought some parts got a tiny bit repetitive towards the end. Overall, if you’re a fan, I would definitely suggest this read as it is clearly well researched and covers a wide range of Survivor related topics!

If you're a Survivor fan, this is definitely a fun read. I've watched most of the seasons and would consider myself a fan, just not a "super fan.."

I did find some of the facts and information shared in this book to be really interesting, but I also found it kind of redundant if you are a fan. It was nice to relive scenes of the show, but I guess I just found myself looking for more depth.

I would recommend this for fans of Survivor and reality tv in general.

To be fair, I haven't finished this book. I just cannot make myself read any more unless there's financial compensation involved.

From the title, I assumed this book was about reality TV in general. It is not. It is very much an extreme dive into the world of Survivor. I've seen a lot of the seasons and finally gave up years ago when I realized that it's really stacked against anybody I'd ever really want to win, and it showcased too much unpleasantness. This book is for superfans who still love it and who also lean towards being really academic. The whole thing felt like a research paper to me, or a graduate school thesis.

This will be a great fit for fellow academics who really love Survivor but not too much, since apparently she gets a bit wrong at times too. I don't know enough minutia to speak to that, but I do know that I just don't need to devote this many hours of my life to taking a microscope to Survivor. Endless gaze is right on the nose.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

This book is one you'll either love or hate depending on your interests (read: how many hours of your life you've spent watching Survivor). With that in mind, I loved it.

The Lie About the Truck is nonfiction about reality TV, with a primary focus on Survivor. If you like this genre of television, you will probably enjoy this book. It's thorough and nerdy and a little bit rambling. It feels like talking with a friend who is a super fan of the show.

While I couldn't fully explain the overall thesis of this book, I can say that each chapter was extremely fun to read. It addressed topics ranging from the serious (such as race and gender inequality) to the frivolous (such as the influence of fan predictions on the editing of the show). There are a lot of play-by-play recaps of big moments from the history of the show, so a familiarity with major characters and a basic understanding of the Survivor timeline will help you enjoy this book more.

I would highly recommend this book to reality TV nerds like me! It's easy to read and doesn't take itself too seriously, it's just a lot of fun. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC to review!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Lie About the Truck takes a critical look at reality television, specifically Survivor. What makes it tick, what makes it entertaining, how to and how not to win, and much more.

I adored this book. I'm one of those Survivor viewers who absolutely hates that I love Survivor. I sit there watching myself watch Survivor, and I wonder why I'm so wrapped up in the false lives of stupid people, and yet I cannot bring myself to stop watching. I found myself laughing and nodding along with many of Tisdale's takes, even sometimes thinking about something that she would then say on the next page. I was thoroughly entertained.

Tisdale also put a lot of research into this book, much more than I put in as a casual Survivor viewer, and much of that insight -- into fandom, into behind-the-scenes facts, etc. -- really captured my attention and made me feel like I was getting some amazing insight into things I'd never thought about before.

I really don't have much to say about this book other than that I loved it. If you're a fan of Survivor like me, it's absolutely worth picking up (although if you don't like spoilers, wait until you've seen through season 40).

I am not a dedicated Survivor fan, but I have got caught up in a few seasons. I'm never one to remember all of the contestants and everything that happened during a particular season, but I do generally enjoy the show. This book really opened my eyes to the "reality" of reality tv and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I was especially disheartened to read about the ways production treats the locals and environments...it was enough to make me really question why I'm watching (and inadvertently supporting) this show. I think we need to realize how our subconscious support can be pretty detrimental to the locals. After finishing the book, I don't honestly know how I feel about continuing to watch the show...it definitely made me see things in a new way and also made me rethink my weekly viewings.

I love survivor. I have loved and watched survivor since it premiered when I was a child. During the pandemic I have gone back and watched full seasons picking ones with favorite castaways, favorite moments, and ones I missed while I was at college. I have also found myself down several Survivor YouTube rabbit holes. Because of this, I jumped on the opportunity to read a book about the phenomenon that is the show I love. At first I was a little disappointed to find that Sallie has no connection to the show other than being a viewer, but found out from the book that we likely are never to get a book from a player due to the gag orders in player’s contracts.

The book provides a well researched (it includes sources) thesis on Survivor and how it became the blueprint and gold standard for reality TV as a whole. It provides interesting insight on how Survivor and its players have evolved over the years. It also discusses how things like sex, race, and even how much they’ve watched the show factor in to a player’s chance of winning the prize. To me the most interesting thing was the discussion of how Survivor, like all Reality TV, is essentially fake but we as viewers continue to choose to suspend our disbelief and follow it season after season and year after year. The author states, “I know it is fiction, but fiction of a particular kind; it feels real. It’s dramality,” and, “Survivor has become a show about what a show about pretend survival might be like.”

This book is one I can see only really appealing to Survivor super fans. I can see even the casual survivor viewer getting lost in the references to individual players. To me this book was fascinating.

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the ARC.


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