Review of Radioland
Unread post by Abraham Camarillo » 10 Aug 2021, 22:36[Following is a volunteer review of “Radioland” by m.e. Elzey.]
3 out of 4 stars
Can media influence in the behavior of people who consume their content, and if so, one can make them held accountable of their negative actions? Radioland is an example of this situation; their effect on the public opinion and how they perceive reality. The book traits a simple premise, a lie said a thousand times can become the truth, and it does become the truth for the listeners of the Cal Brown Show (a conservative radio show).
Radioland describes the odyssey Harry Chalberg and Mariam Katz had to pass through to get a lawsuit for New Signal News and the Cal Brown Show, to be held responsible for their program, and the terrible consequences they unleashed in the meantime it aired. It is not an easy book to read, it has some crude situations that the reader may no digest easily. But sometimes these kinds of themes are necessary to knock some sense on the public. So, I don’t recommend it to sensitive people.
The novel is a bomb ticking to explode, you can feel the suspense going on through the pages until everything falls apart. The positive aspects are that the protagonists are elder people or people from different racial situations. My favorite character was Cal Brown, it has a deep background and a great development through the history. He isn’t a complete dark or white character; his shades are what made him remarkable for me.
The negative is that the book begins a little slowly, if the first 30 or 40 pages doesn’t catch you, you will miss the good content of the rest of the novel. Also because of the necessity of having some crude content, to knock some sense of some sector of the public, not everybody would read it with ease. People familiar with school shootings, massacres or sexual abuse would not enjoy it.
Overall, the book has some strong language, drug use, sexual content and so. Also, the political content is quite strong, if you have radical political views or you don’t like that type of narrative, this book is not for you. Overall, the narrative is quite good, it doesn’t follow a linear sequence; some parts are flashbacks, it changes the characters perspective, and it doesn’t develop in just one place, so the action keeps flowing and gets you hooked.
I give it a strong 3 out of 4 stars. It has its flaws, especially with editing. I don’t give it a 4 out of 4 because I felt there were some commas missing and some misspellings, such as “Marian” instead of “Mariam”. As I said, the book begins a little slow for my taste and then it gets better. The political theme of the book makes it a little hard to recommend to everyone and I highly suggest reader discretion with this one. Overall, it’s a great effort of m.e. Elzey, and I hope more people give it a try.