An excellent debut about chasing dreams and never losing hope
Not everything is at it seems. Many people are knowledgeable of this fact, yet that does not stop people from dreaming and wanting nothing but the best life has to offer. When people are on the outside looking in, everything can appear very glamorous and can be what everyone is striving to obtain. Many large corporate jobs fall into this category and the main audience looking in from the outside are recent college graduates searching for the first career of their lives. One such young graduate finds himself on the inside in Filip Syta’s debut novel The Show.
Vic has not only graduated from Harvard, he has also been offered a job at the largest and greatest tech company in the world: SHOW. Only a very small percentage of the thousands of applicants are chosen and Vic hears nothing but how lucky he is to have been one of the small percent chosen. At first, working at SHOW seems like the dream everyone said it was: free gourmet food and alcohol for every meal, full access to a large gym and swimming pool, yearly bonuses for doing hardly any work, and so much more. But after only a few months, Vic begins to notice this picture perfect job is not as perfect as it first appeared and he finds himself making sacrifices not worth making.
The Show is a very intriguing and very surprising read, an excellent way for a man who aspired to be a novelist to make his debut. Its caption of the story being about sex, drugs, and tech will most certainly capture the attention of a large audience of readers in today’s society; however, Syta’s story goes much deeper than what is written on the book’s cover. It is a story about temptation and peer pressure and how one can resist temptation and overcome peer pressure. It is a story about getting everything everyone believes they want, but not realizing what they will lose to gain it.
Not only does Syta relay an inspirational message, but he also has a beautiful writing style and is an excellent storyteller. His use of descriptive detail and personification throughout is wonderful to read. Examples such as “Gray clouds were starting to gang up together, getting ready for a fight. A big and dirty cotton candy field was taking shape” (Syta 122) and “His white sneakers were dirty and smelled like rubber and cheese. The shoelaces were untied and looked like tiny white snakes on the desk” (Syta 166) are but a couple of the many wonderful examples of Syta’s writing.
Syta has released a short and clever debut that will make readers rethink about what is important in life. The Show tells of a young boy getting everything he ever wanted after graduating from a prestigious university; however, he is faced with an important choice: his job or his family? On top of making this important decision, Vic must fight against and be stronger than the temptation that is forced upon him. A wonderful line every reader should listen to and follow closely is, “I admired them for chasing their dreams and not losing hope. Hope is the last thing that leaves your body, and you should hold on to it as long as possible” (Syta 151). Not everything is as it seems. Everyone should follow their hearts and chase their dreams to obtain the best life has to offer. And yet, it is important for everyone to remember to not give in to temptation and if one’s dream is not as it first appeared, to not lose hope for there is another dream in the world to chase that will offer the happiness one is looking for in life.
