Waste of Space by Gina Damico

Irreverent. Hilarious. Surprisingly tender. That's how I would describe Waste of Space.

Ten teenagers are cast in a new reality show set in space. Sounds ridiculous––and it it! The whole book is written as a series of "documents" discovered after the show aired, as a way of explaining exactly how everything started to devolve and eventually fall apart.  It uses behind-the-scenes phone calls from the producers, scientists, and crew members; Camera feeds (both on and off-air); Private confessions; and cell phone recordings by the teens trapped in space.

While the ten teenagers are all stereotypically cast for maximum tension, it is the insane man behind the show's idea who got my attention. I love how author Gina Damico gave Chazz (the reality-show producer) an over-the-top personality. I laughed. I gagged. I was shocked. Surely no one is this crazy in real life, right?

Everyone on the ship is trying to win the final prize, but nothing goes as planned (Chazz will try to control this many, many times). What was supposed to be scripted and timed becomes real and dangerous and out of anyone's control.

While it was a heck of a romp, in the end, this was a story about trying to find our place in this world (or the next).