The Lie

by Chad Kultgen

Book Overview

With the publication of The Average American Male -- and the release of the shocking viral videos that made it a water-cooler sensation -- Chad Kultgen became one of the most talked-about authors of recent years. Now, with The Lie, Kultgen returns with an even more salacious -- yet also more searching -- novel that reaches deeper into the craven inner workings of some of most depraved minds in America: college students.

His subjects are...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061657301
• ISBN13: 9780061657306
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

An Eye-Opener

For those who are offended by the misogynistic, crude satire of this book, get over yourselves. For those of you who could only take from this book enough underlying advice to muster up an imaginary high-five for the main character Brett, I think you should take the advice he himself delves out in the book and make your next meal a bullet. The point of the book is simple and will have a huge impact on anyone who has been through a situation remotely similar to the main character, Kyle's: At one point in our lives, at least for many of us if we should be so fortunate, we find the one person in our life we realize we will love above all others regardless of material wealth or social status. Unfortunately, however, this same person's hidden agenda may be the cause of heart-wrenching turmoil leading us to find someone better suited for us, our "soulmate," if you will. This book is a cautionary, albeit, exaggerated tale, of what usually happens when we choose the former. For any confused adolescent, I suggest taking a lesson from this book and avoid making the worst decision of your life.

A scathing contemporary commentary on "college romance"

Kultgen's "The Lie" is an obvious homage to Ellis' "The Rules of Attraction." With that being said, he has an obvious gift of creating interesting and mostly believable characters and showing the mentality of today's American college student in an exaggerated fashion that is both comic and tragic at the same time. While his prose is not as literary as Ellis', he writes in a more down-to-earth fashion that is easy to read and more accessible to today's younger generation. Although I found the characters of Brett and Heather very believable based upon what I've seen in life, Kyle's dopey lust/romanticism was a little far-fetched in my mind, especially after he starts dating a woman who is obviously a much better match for him. If you have a weak stomach when it comes to graphic descriptions of extreme sexual situations and drug abuse, then this book is not for you. Otherwise, this book does an excellent job of highlighting the moral malaise of today's youth and how difficult it can be to find love in college when things like lust, money and peer pressure get in the way.

Exactly what I expected it to be.

I read Chad's first novel "The Average American Male" and I thought it was fantastic for an author's very first novel. It wasn't groundbreaking work or anything and the writing could have used some work but the plot was interesting, it kept me engaged and, most of all, I really enjoyed the humor. I couldn't wait see what his next novel would bring. 2 years later we have "The Lie". It's different from "The Average American Male" in a few areas. For one, it's a lot longer and has a much deeper plot. The book is divided to 4 different parts, each representing one year of college from freshmen to senior. The narrative is split between 3 different main characters who each get a chapter of their own in order. The order begins with Kyle, goes on to Heather, ends with Brett and then repeats itself. I have to say that this style works REALLY well throughout the book. It's intriguing to see how all 3 characters react differently to the same events given the differences in their personalities and their unique points of view of the events taking place. Their personalities...These people have almost no redeeming qualities whatsoever. It's next to impossible to actually like any of them except for maybe Brett. And not because he has a likable personality, but due to his brutal honesty as well as the fact that his behavior and attitude towards things, events and especially women, is so outrageous that you just have to laugh. I tried to like these people and whenever I thought that one of them was finally doing something decent and started to like them for it, they go and do something completely dumb and it's like a knife in the heart. Of course when the very first words of the book are "You're going to hate me..." I suppose I should have expected it. But don't get me wrong, the characters not being likable takes nothing away for this book. It actually makes it even better. The book can be described as many things. It's sad at parts, heartbreaking at others, and sometimes (and I can't believe I'm actually saying this) it can even be romantic. What it also is, is funny. Now on that front I feel I should clarify a few things. This book is clearly targeted at a certain kind of demographic. Late teens to somewhere around late 20s. Now that isn't to say that other demographics won't enjoy the book. I'm 29 years old and I'm quickly on my way out of the target demographic but I found myself enjoying this book immensely. I think that what's really important is the kind of sense of humor you have. People have different kinds of sense of humor. As a 29 year old, I found the humor in this book to be very entertaining. But a 19 year old might find it extremely offensive and disgusting and a 39 year old might be completely indifferent to it. You can mix all the different age groups with the different senses of humor and get completely different reactions to the humor in the book. This is where the demographic argument breaks down and you can kind of see that in reality,

Hilarious and Quick Read

This book is hilarious and extremely entertaining. I could not put it down and read it very quickly. From someone who doesn't read much at all that's a pretty big compliment.

Brett rules

I've been reading a lot of fratire books lately and this one is definitely one of my favorites. I liked Kutgen's other book "the Average American Male" and I think this one is even better. It has the same sort of crude man humor, but it also has a much more interesting plot. Also, the story is told from the perspective of three main characters which gives you a cool look into how they see the same things differently. The Brett character is hilarious. The inhumane (this is an understatement) things he does to women is so outrageously funny that the author should consider writing another book just about Brett. I know it's only fiction, but it is darn funny to read about. Reading things from the character Heather's perspective reminds me of why I dumped my last girlfriend. She and Heather are both snobby, materialistic, sorority girls without a clue. Great job Kultgen and bring on the next one.