Don't read The Lie by Chad Kultgen unless you enjoyed Tucker Max stories or Chad's other book, The Average American Male. It follows three people through college (frats, sororities, drinking, sex (lots of it), drugs, academics, dorms, money and materialism, etc). I really hope that some of the stuff in that book was purely fiction, and that there was no way that the girls with whom I went to college did not act like those in this story. Now, I'm not naive enough to think that there weren't a lot of girls to do anything sexually for a guy with money or looks, but it just seemed like they came out of the cracks. And if a girl reading this would think that she would find some sort of redeeming quality about guys that are willing to exploit these sexually free girls, then the female reader is going to be highly disappointed.
As a female reader, I just shook my head at the ignorance, and I sometimes wished the girls would get more than they deserved. For example, an epiphany regarding the shallowness of their acts. I also didn't necessarily enjoy the ending. One grows to like or dislike the characters--has apathy, empathy, or sympathy towards certain characters. Pity, disgust, diffidence, detachment, etc. But by gaining these sorts of connections with these characters, one brings their own hopes and outcomes for characters’ actions. In simplicity, I would have ended the story differently. It might just be the English teacher in me with the focus on characterization and theme follow through. I could see through the lines—I got it, but I guess I just wanted it to be a little bit more solidifying. However, this book is, in no way, geared to a female audience—especially English teachers not simply sitting down with an “enjoying” read.
A few parts existed that I found extremely funny, disturbing, and/or disgusting. A few parts I rolled my eyes at, and there were parts I found myself wondering about the crudeness of the situations presented. The sad part is, the stuff in this book really does happen in life. I guess it’s only a sad realization to some…sort of like beauty is in the eye of the beholder…because I am sure there are some people overtly excited that such deviations exist.
