Amanda Wakes Up Hardcover – July 25, 2017

I hoped that the author's background in cable news would provide some insights into cable news gathering. It does do that, slightly. Every character is a caricature, a cliche. The characters are one-dimensional and the story predictable. And, or course, the shallow, cad news anchor who shares the show with the propagandist ends up in bed with her for another predictable turn of the story. The story is about a thingy disguised Fox News network with a celebrity presidential candidate most known for a reality show. Hmm. He's running against a seasoned female candidate with progressive ideas. Hmm. I guess the timely story line will appeal to some (it did to me, initially), but it's a sophomoric effort.

If you're a news junkie like I am, you will love this book. Camerota offers a zany inside view of how the news gets made, with details that will make you look differently at morning shows and on-set interviews. Given the interviews that Camerota has already offered on the autobiographical nature of this book (I think she's called it a "tell some"), we have to look at it as somewhat realistic. Probably the best part of the book is the agony that the protagonist, Amanda Gallo, goes through as she wades through the ethical dilemma of calling out interviewees when they lie and giving them a chance to express their viewpoints so that the public gets to hear the many sides of every story. I'm giving this 3 stars because it's a great story, which actually becomes a page turner by about 3/4 through the book, but the writing is simplistic. I mean, metaphors and images are explained in the lines in which they occur! There's a lot of trite stuff--like Amanda's bra always ends up on the lamp shade. You don't need to do that if your writing is good. Still, it's an engaging story and I'm glad I read it. Looking forward to volume 2 of Amanda Gallo's story! And, I feel like I've learned a lot about CNN's Alisyn Camerota (of whom I've been a fan since her Fox news days).

I got this book partly because John Berman keeps badgering us to buy it, but also because I thought it might be revealing about the Fox News organization - since the author used to work at Fox News. But wait, don't stop reading now - she's OK. She is not a female Sean Hannity.The strong points of the book are (1) that it does give the naive reader (i.e., me) a glimpse of what's behind the scenes at a certain kind of television news program. My wife was particularly interested in the part about the make-up chair; (2) the central character (who seems a lot like the author) is lively, intelligent, and likeable; and (3) it offers opinionated opinions on conservatives and liberals. At one point there is a party attended by annoyingly self-righteous Brooklynite hipster liberals that is not flattering to them. Fair enough. Some of us on the left can be obnoxious that way at times (not me, of course). She also makes the point, made by others as well, naturally, that we would get along better, left and right, if we listened more carefully to each other.So, here's what I didn't care for in the book: (1) it is not about Fox News. It is about a somewhat lame news organization that isn't nearly as narrow-minded and dishonest as Fox; (2) the romantic relationship's bizarre culmination toward the end of the book. I will say no more about this here in the hope that I don't provide spoilers.All in all, it is a light but good read.

CNN reporter Alyson Camerota published Amy Wakes Up in 2012 - meaning she imagined the scenario well before the election of Donald Trump. But her imagination was spot on as to the type of people who would be running, what the hot button issues would be, and how polarized our country would become.The story is great fun. It's not filled with sex (sex/romance is pretty much kept 'offscreen') but there are quite a few f-bombs.Mostly, I loved her main character, Amanda, who comes to see that there are at least two sides to every issue, and feeling strongly about a particular side does not mean you can't also understand, and accept, that some people see it a different way.Her hope is mine, too, that people can begin talking to each other again openly and without fear of rejection, or worse, just because they have different opinions. We really need to calm down and listen to each other again.

It was a very entertaining novel a young journalist starting as a local television anchor newscaster and eventually becoming an anchor for a national cable news network. While Alisyn claim Amanda was not her I felt as I read the book I was following Alisyn's career. It was interesting to learn what goes on behind the cameras, the preparation each morning getting ready for the day's show and some of the difficult decisions that have to be made concerning how certain stories have to be covered. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone that likes to read a novel full of twists. The ending will keep you in suspense.

A thinly disguised story about our own" Fluke " and the impact of the news media on the 2016 election. A compelling topic in the current age of tribal news. Amanda presumably works for a 'Fox" news prototype and faces ethical conflicts in how she is to cover and create conflict without consideration for the consequences for the nation. Unfortunately the novel does not have the depth to adequately address the critical dilemma of our"'news" being managed to suit the viewing audience. The Hollywood feel good ending left me feeling cheated because Alisyn Camerota opted for a soap opera conclusion to a book that raised very important questions and did offer an inside baseball view of how our news is created. Despite all it's faults this was an enjoyable book by an author who knows her topic from the inside. In the final analysis the author did not believe her audience had the sophistication to grapple with a more nuanced view of problems created by audience driven news. In other words she pitched her novel to make people happy and missed the target which is the same issue we all face with the actual media.

This Book is great

Really good and surprising. Different. Great language. Great characters.

The first third/half of the book is outstanding satire, hugely witty, very funny. It smacks of the reality of the news business, demonstrating the hard-nosed callousness/objectivity and detirmination required to entertain, inform, and hold viewers. It also shows the influence peddling that is cynically and inevitably part of the news business. Emphasis on business. Having read a recent biography of His Vileness, the late infamous Roger Ailes, I can say that the Ailes character in the book is no exaggeration. Thus far into the book, five stars. Then the book gets increasingly serious and preachy. The title says it bluntly. The narrator, a naif named Amanda, gradually, reluctantly admits to herself the danger to U.S. democracy posed by the news manipulation to which her network is party. It demonstrates the information manipulation by which a Fake President gets elected. Unfortunately, in the process the book slips from satire to sermon, proceeding to an inevitable conclusion of Amanda waking up to putting personal integrity ahead of pointless expediency.

I looked forward to this novel: to getting an inside look at the world of cable news from a cable anchor--Alisyn Camerota--who is sharp, witty and personable. The novel is at its best inside the newsroom, exposing the politics and the lunacies. It falters badly with the relationship thread. It fails utterly with the ending, which is trite and totally unsatisfying.

Thanks Alisyn. The world needs your perspective. Please keep writing and shining your light in dark places.