As Seen On Tv

"As Seen On TV" by Sarah Mlynowski

Sunny Langstein is the protagonist in the novel "As Seen On TV." Sunny is a very smart and witty 24-year-old who knows the right things to say when it's necessary. She is white and has long brown hair and light brown eyes. "A piece of pineapple is trapped behind my bottom teeth, in the wire that my orthodontist glued on after I got my braces off." (pg. 19) She used to have braces, but now she has a wire glued to her teeth. She sometimes speaks or says that she is going to do something without thinking. "I'm amazed at the crap I come up with." (pg. 27) She says things that even surprise her. She had a great job down in Florida, but she risked it all to move in with her boyfriend of ten months who lived in New York. She figured that if she loved him she should go ahead and take risks for love. "...since the day I started college, my father hasn't had to lend me a dime." (pg. 19) She was independent with the way she took care of herself financially. Throughout the story, Sunny undergoes some major personality changes. She becomes more promiscuous and begins to lose focus on things that used to be important to her. In the end, she apologizes to her boyfriend, Steve, and they decide that getting married at the moment was not for them.

The major conflict in the novel is the conflict that occurs between Sunny and Steve. The idea that Steve asks Sunny to move in with him in New York seemed to be a big step towards a stronger relationship that could end up in a proposal. As time progresses, Sunny becomes wrapped up in the controversy in "Party Girls" and she begins to lose sight of her true priorities. Although Sunny repeatedly does things to hurt Steve, he stays true to Sunny and does not treat her any different that he had before. He even proposed to Sunny. "'I am so sorry,' I say again and start rambling. 'I love you and somehow I los sight of that. I got caught up in the show. And the thing with Matt...nothing happened. I know it looked like something did, but it didn't...if you still want to marry me, nothing would mean more to me.'" Steve is just really hurt, and even after she apologized to him, he told her that he didn't want to marry her just yet. He felt that they had a lot of work to do.

An internal conflict in the novel is the one that Sunny has with herself. She has to learn about the person she really is in life, and realize that she sometimes does things that aren't something she would normally do, but by her being on the reality show "Party Girls," she ends up doing many things that hurt the relationships she has in her life, especially the one that she has with her boyfriend, Steve. "Poor Erin. I should call her and make sure she's okay. Although she probably wants nothing to do with me." (pg. 306) "Not that I don't deserve it. I forget plans. I've reshuffled him to the bottom of my priority list. I'm always bitchy. I won't admit to anyone that he exists. And I've been fantasizing about another guy." (pg. 306) Sunny is talking to herself and reflective on the way that she has been acting lately. "Why is it that I'm so mean and he's still so sweet? That's it. No more Matt e-mails. No more bitchiness. Steve is adorable and I'm going to treat him like he deserves to be treated." (pg. 307) Sunny realizes that although she hasn't been treating Steve like she should have, he has still been a great boyfriend. She feels guilty.

An external conflict in the story is the disagreement about whether Sunny should really move in with her boyfriend in New York and leave everything that she had going for her down in Florida. Sunny's sister, Dana, didn't think that Sunny leaving the life she has in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida would not be a smart idea. Sunny persistently convinces Dana that she is in love and it seems like the right thing to do. "'It's the right decision,' I say." (pg. 21) Dana asked Sunny if she was "one hundred and ten percent sure it's the right decision," and she promised to stop protesting. (pg. 21) Dana begins to like Steve even though Sunny ends up doing the things she did on "Party Girls" to hurt the wonderful relationship that they had.

The theme of the novel is to stay true to you and do not change for anyone. Sunny lost sight of the things that she had valued in life, and she turned into somebody that she did not even recognize. "Not that I don't deserve it. I forget plans. I've reshuffled him to the bottom of my priority list. I'm always bitchy. I won't admit to anyone that he exists. And I've been fantasizing about another guy." (pg. 306) Sunny has been neglecting her boyfriend and she finally starts realizing that she is becoming someone she never imagined herself being. "Why is it that I'm so mean and he's still so sweet? That's it. No more Matt e-mails. No more bitchiness. Steve is adorable and I'm going to treat him like he deserves to be treated." (pg. 307) Around the middle of the novel, Sunny begins question the things that she has been doing lately, and she is worried about the effect it has had on her life. "'I am so sorry,' I say again and start rambling. 'I love you and somehow I lost sight of that. I got caught up in the show. And the thing with Matt...nothing happened. I know it looked like something did, but it didn't...if you still want to marry me, nothing would mean more to me.'" At the end, Sunny apologizes for her actions and hopes that everything can go back to the way things were.

I think that the novel is called "As Seen On TV" because it does talk about how Sunny participated in the reality TV show "Party Girls." Everything that happened with the reality show was something that could actually happen in real life on a real reality show.

If I could make one change in the book, I would have let Sunny and Steve have a pet like a dog or something. I think that if they would have had an animal that they had to take care of that they could have learned how good they could work together. Plus at the end when Steve told Sunny that he didn't want to marry her so soon, and he said that they should start with a dog. Maybe the way their relationship turned out would have been better even with all the other things that happened with the "Party Girls" and Matt.

I really enjoyed the novel because it really shed some much needed light on the truths behind reality shows, and what they could do to your life and any relationships that you have while participating in the show. I also really liked