The Rise and Fall of a Theater Geek (Justin Goldblatt, #2) by Seth Rudetsky

The Rise and Fall of a Theater Geek (Justin Goldblatt, #2) Reviews

• 
  Cassandra

  "I also conveniently included a forty five minute professional-quality DVD that featured highlights of my performing experience going all the way back to first grade when I did my ??? Hanukkah musical and the stole the show as the sassy but ultimately wise sixth menorah candle."
  
  Despite what most people think when they see two stars, I enjoyed this book. I looked forward to reading it, and spent most of it laughing. For those who don't know, Seth Rudetsky is the host of Seth's Big Fat Broadway on Sirius XM. I can't deny that commuting is my favorite part about working because I get to listen to his show in the car, and he is straight up hilarious. The quote at the top of this review is the sort of thing he says regularly.
  
  So when I was packing my bags for the mission trip I went on last week, and saw this sitting on my shelf, I decided that it would be perfect to take since it would bring me back from the dark tone of
  Half Bad and help me cope with the lack of music and radio I was going to suffer. And it did.
  
  If I were to ignore the predictability and fairy tale feeling of the plot, this book would have been closer to a four star. The characters were enjoyable if not a little inconsistent, and needless to say I loved the setting. The biggest problem this novel suffered was plot. Everything was predictable or convenient. Only plot element I truly enjoyed was Justin and how his relationships with Devon and Spencer turned out.
  
  I want to keep this spoiler free, so I'm going to leave it at that. Would I recommend reading this? If you're a fan of Seth's or a theater geek yearning for some Broadway reference haven, yes. Otherwise, I'd try something more along the lines of
  Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda or
  Know Not Why.
• 
  Katie

  I really wanted to like this book. It seemed like something I would really be into because of how much I love Broadway, but I just struggled with this. My main issue was that the main character was completely unlikeable with pretty much no redeeming qualities. He was selfish and pushy and only cared about himself. For most of the book, he cared more about making other people jealous about his life than actually caring about other people. He is petty and manipulative and I just couldn't stand him. By the end, all of his friends literally tell him not to change, which means he doesn't even learn anything from the messes he made. I also didn't really care much for any of the secondary characters. Justin's friends were fairly flat and Chase was not a believable character.
  
  On top of not liking the characters, the premise was also very farfetched to me. The whole idea behind this story is that at Justin's school, juniors get to do 2 week internships for credit with a program called JobSkill. This is meant to prepare them for what they might want to be doing once they have real jobs. Justin, who wants to be a theatre actor, wants to spend his internship doing something related to Broadway. I had no problem with this. What really threw me off was how Justin met an actor he admires in the audience at a Broadway show who happens to be in rehearsal for his Broadway debut. And when Justin told him about JobSkill and how he was working for a publicity company for off Broadway shows, Chase (the actor) offered for Justin to work for him instead, just a week or so before the internship is supposed to start. I can suspend belief for a lot of things when I read, but this was not one of them. The plot only got more unbelievable the further I read (including a scene where 16 year Justin taught 30 year old Chase just how he had to act to be on Broadway because Chase was too insecure to know himself).
  
  I liked that the book had to do with Broadway, but I just couldn't get behind the plot and the characters and so this book was not enjoyable for me. The only bright side was that it was short and a quick read.
• 
  Liviania

  
  I haven't read MY AWESOME/AWFUL POPULARITY PLAN, the first book about Justin by veteran Broadway pianist Seth Rudetsky. However, I was able to follow THE RISE AND FALL OF A THEATER GEEK just fine without it. Justin is a rather abrasive narrator. His mind is a little like a hamster running constantly around a wheel, and he thinks he knows best for everyone. I still liked him.
  
  Justin makes several mistakes at the beginning of THE RISE AND FALL OF A THEATER GEEK. He pushes his boyfriend Spencer and best friend Becky too hard, and ends up alienating them. He also lies to the woman who lined up an internship for him to get out of it because he got a better internship working directly for a heartthrob making his Broadway debut. I found the second particularly naive of Justin, since most people understand you giving up one opportunity for another that fits your goals better. Lying, however, is less understandable.
  
  THE RISE AND FALL OF A THEATER GEEK weaves together Justin's personal growth over his internship in New York with a mystery about why his employer is making such terrible acting decisions and what his agent is up to. The mystery is pretty obvious, so it's good that Justin's character growth is done with more nuance to balance it. Although Spencer and Becky aren't seen much in the novel due to the fight, I liked that they're shown to have gone on their own journeys. I like supporting characters with their own lives.
  
  You might try reading a sample of THE RISE AND FALL OF A THEATER GEEK first, because Justin's voice might not work for you. If it does, this is a fairly cute bildungsroman with some nice details about how a Broadway show comes to be. It's pretty predictable, but I can see theater kids loving this one.
• 
  The Bibliophagist

  This book was absolutely the worst I’ve read in 2016 so far. With that statement out in the open, my review might get a little rant-y.
  
  What makes this book terrible you ask? Well, for starters it has a cringe worthy writing style, an insufferable main character, and a scattered plot. Yes, this book failed every aspect of a novel to me: plot, characters, writing, premise, development, etc.
  
  The main issue with this novel is our main character, Justin Goldblatt. Here are some adjectives I wrote down while reading that reminded me of Justin.
  1. Self-centered/Conceited/Narcissistic
  2. Immature (He dated a guy just to make his ex jealous)
  3. Selfish
  4. Rude
  5. Bratty
  6. Dumb
  
  I want to read about well-developed, flawed, yet likable characters of the LGBTQIA community. Not characters that are one dimensional like Justin. He’s a walking stereotype (much like Tiny Cooper from Will Grayson, Will Grayson). He never goes beyond the surface, just very superficial.
  
  Not only that, but Justin created all of his own problems! Problems that could have easily been fixed if he just spoke up and told the truth. I’m so tired of novels that can be resolved in twenty pages, but don’t, because the main character is like, “Oh, I can’t tell him right now. It’s not the right time. Best wait till the last page.” It’s infuriating to read about.
  
  I also think the author failed at getting into the mindset of a teenage boy. Justin sounded stiff, like a middle aged man trying to talk like a teenager. It took me a few seconds to realize that when Justin said “the reverse camera image” on his phone, he actually meant the selfie camera.
  
  Which also leads me to the writing style. It was just really, really bland. Bad. Simple. There was no style. In fact, it seemed very elementary to me.
  
  The plot was all over the place. Was this book supposed to be a mystery? If it did, it sorely failed in that aspect. Another frustrating thing about this book is the unrealistic, easy solution that pops out of the blue right at the very end!
  
  I would almost classify this book as Middle Grade. Or maybe I’m just too old to enjoy this Disney Channel type of YA novels. Either way, I regret spending money on this book.
  
  
  
• 
  Ella Zegarra

  Original de:
  El Extraño Gato del Cuento
  
  ¿Has visto Will & Grace? Si la respuesta es no, deberías, te estás perdiendo de una gran serie. Si la respuesta fue sí, entonces entenderás cuando te digo que leer The Rise and Fall of a Theater Geek fue como leer a un mini Jack McFarlane, muy divertido pero a veces un poquito irritante.
  
  Se me hace sumamente genial el poder encontrar cada vez más libros LGBT, y a diferencia de
  When Everything Feels Like the Movies, con este libro vuelvo a lo más ligero y divertido.
  
  Luego de terminarlo no tengo mucho sobre que hablar, me gustó pero como dije al inicio, también pudo ser bastante irritante el leerlo, si Justin hubiera hablado desde el principio no tendrías los grandes enredos que se desarrollan en el libro. Aunque obviamente se supone que de eso trate el libro, así que no hay mucho de quejarse, la verdad.
  
  The Rise and Fall of a Theater Geek es ligero hasta decir basta, demasiado inocente en algunas ocasiones, quiero decir básicamente el trabajo que consigue Justin sale literalmente de la nada. Se me hizo por momentos más un libro Middle Grade que Young Adult. Tiene mucha vibra a lo Get Happy, a diferencia que este libro si tiene un mensaje más resaltante.
  
  Libro ligero para una tarde que quieres relajar la mente y reírte/renegar un rato con Justin y sus embrollos.
  
  
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• 
  Leah

  This was such a cute read.
  
  I would have loved it more if Justin wasn't so obsessed with Spencer; as the book opens, Justin is so excited about going to New York, but worries that if he stays with Spencer, he can't find a "proper New York boyfriend", which was fine, but when Spencer breaks up with Justin, all of a sudden, Justin just can't stop making everything about Spencer, and it honestly drove me insane. Considering Justin was going to break up with Spencer, it didn't make sense that he was so obsessed. When Devon entered the picture I was so excited, because he and Justin got on so well, but Justin only attempts to date Devon to make Spencer jealous, and it just seemed so selfish. You don't do that to a person.
  
  I loved the theatre stuff in the book - and the mystery behind Hubert's reasons for making sure Justin stayed away from the theatre and Chase where he was meant to be interning for JobSkill. That whole plot line was addictive, and I devoured the second half of the book as it all kicked off for Justin, and he got his Veronica Mars on.
  
  The book was such a fun, cute, quick read. I wasn't a massive fan of the way Justin acted towards any of the boys in the novel (a case of having his cake and eating it) but I loved everything else about it (and was so curious why he wasn't the size of a freaking house, considering how much he eats, and eats, and eats, and eats). It was a really sweet read, and nice to see a book set around the whole Broadway scene, which isn't something I've ever read about before.
• 
  Jana

  I received a free copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
  This is a book about a guy who loves theater and really wants to get to Broadway one day. Then, when at a show with his boyfriend, he meets his favourite actor,who is just about to make his Broadway debut after a big role in a TV soap opera, and gets an opportunity to intern with him.
  
  It was a light and quick read and definitely really fun. I found the characters to be pretty relatable and the story was pretty fun. It was all very uplifting and transported a good message, in my opinion.
• 
  Christopher

  DNF at 54%. Justin is an unbearable character. The only way I would like this book is that if in the end he is alone and miserable because he doesn't deserve to be forgiven by his friends. Unfortunately I couldn't make it that far before having to put this down. Justin needs to grow as a person. A complete 180 for him isn't even enough, and it wouldn't be believable considering how self-centered and illogical he is .
• 
  Bonnie

  I read the first book and enjoyed it. This had all the jokes Written out and explained. And I did not enjoy that. I thought the plot was thin and although the character development did happen, it was not intriguing enough to keep my attention. My final statement would be that I do not believe that this book is reflective of this author’s abilities.
• 
  mars

  All of the characters were very petty and fake. I didn't form any kind of attachment. Usually, I wait until I've read half the book to decide whether or not it gets better, but this book was so awful that I didn't make it there.
• 
  Amy

  had to give it that third star since it was the accountant who saved the day in the end.
• 
  Diane Adams

  As in the first book in this series, Justin is very clear about what he wants for himself, as well as his expectations for the roles his friends should play. In this installment, Justin heads to New York City to stay with his grandmother while he completes his school internship requirement. The grandmother is actually pretty hysterical, maybe my favorite character. Justin's plans for taking a break(ish) from his boyfriend, having fun going to shows, and getting a new boyfriend go haywire, as he quickly loses control over the situation and alienates his friends. But wait--there's a mystery to be solved, and a new friend ready to help solve it. While he definitely experiences a rise and fall, it's hard not to root for Justin to come out on top.
• 
  Amy Cameron

  I really wanted to like this book. And I should have liked this book. All the ingredients were there, plus I really like the author, whom I frequently listen to on the Sirius XM Broadway channel. Unfortunately, Justin's head just wasn't a place I enjoyed being. To borrow a word from my fifth-grader, it was cringy. I didn't particularly like the other characters either, nor did I find the events to be plausible. But that's me! Maybe someone closer to Justin's age would really connect with this book, but it hit me all wrong.
• 
  Jim

  A fun romp, and an engaging sequel to his prior YA book; Justin's kept busy interning for a famous actor and all sorts of complications ensue. Rudetsky keeps it light, though, peppering the tale with his show biz experience, seen through his teen protagonist. Justin learns more important life lessons than your average intern.
• 
  Andrew

  Not a coming out story, but more of growing up and finding yourself, finding out who is really on your side and who is not, finding out how the theatre community works (in all ways)...
  It just happens that the main character is openly gay, Jewish, and a vegetarian.
• 
  Kandi Lopez

  "Justin, a Broadway obsessed teen, gets a chance to intern for his dream Broadway star in NYC but will life get in the way of him achieving all he wants."
  
  I gave this book 4 stars, it had some interesting characters and the plot line was unique but at times I felt bored with the main character.
• 
  Mary

  I enjoyed this more than the first (though Justin still drives me crazy!) Justin actually progresses as a character in this book (as in he starts to see his flaws and accept that he needs people to ground and balance him). It was also fun to have this book set in NYC.
• 
  Jen Ifer's Inklings

  I am so glad to finally be finished with this book. The main character, Justin, is just an awful character. I was so annoyed with him for the first 3/4ths of the book. I liked the supporting characters so much more. Spencer is a doll.
• 
  Ann

  I started reading it but after the first chapter I knew this wouldn‘t be for me as I just didn‘t like the main character and the Broadway obsession. (Took a peek at chapter two and it just gets worse!)
• 
  Wendell Barnes

  A somewhat silly YA story with limited appeal to a theatre oriented gay audience. I’m a Seth fan and faithful listener on XM radio but this story was really just a waste of my time. 4 stars anyway because it’s Seth.
• 
  David

  Elementary fluff for kids
• 
  Shannon Diffner

  So fun! Read this with my 10-year-old theatre-loving daughter and we both laughed a lot. Smart, funny and filled with musical theatre references. Yes, please.
• 
  Emily McGilvray

  It took me awhile to get in to it but I’m glad I finished it! I thought it was going to be predictable but was pleasantly surprised at the twists!
• 
  Kiana

  I love Seth Rudetsky’s writing. I can always rely on him for a quick, hilarious read. The Rise and Fall of a Theater Geek shouldn’t be taken too seriously, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun—and very flawed.
  
  I read
  My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan about a year ago and found it mildly entertaining, but rather predictable and forgettable. That’s not to say I’m not a Seth Rudetsky fan—I would happily point readers toward
  Broadway Nights and I loved his anecdotal
  Seth’s Broadway Diary: Volume I. But The Rise and Fall of a Theater Geek is basically the same experience as its predecessor. Obviously, the plot and setting are different, but if you didn’t like the first one, you probably won’t like the second one, and if you enjoyed the first one, you’ll probably enjoy the second one.
  
  The reasons to read this one are the same as any other Seth Rudetsky book—the snarky humor, the hilarious one-liners, the spazziness of the protagonist’s brain. You get a backstage look at a Broadway show and learn some fun theater trivia and insider details about how a show comes together. As a theater geek myself, this was my favorite part of the book. (Aside from the random laugh-out-loud paragraphs—particularly the one on the second page about how JobSkill got started with a certain principal.)
  
  But there were some things with this book that really stopped me from wholeheartedly enjoying it, so here they are:
  
  As much as I love Seth Rudetsky’s protagonists, I feel like they don’t belong in YA literature. (I’d argue that, despite some of the subject matter, the writing itself feels a little middle-grade.) Something about the selfish, delusional behavior of the main characters is far more unbearable in teenagers than it is adult—maybe he lays it on a little more thickly here. Justin’s obliviousness and tactlessness are really hard to take, and this is easily the book’s biggest turn-off. His friends fare better because they’re out of the spotlight, but hearing all of them complain about their internships was a little off-putting to me—did they really believe they could just start at the top? (Maybe it serves to illustrate their naïveté, but still.)
  
  The plot is also similar to My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan in that I could predict most of it and it ends with everything tied up in a neat bow. Unfortunately, by changing the setting to New York City, I found the happy ending harder to believe. While the first book was just your average cliquey, coming-of-age high school novel, this book focuses on actual Broadway actors and agents and the professional world of showbiz. I found it a lot harder to believe that a couple of teenagers could have the influence they did, and that things worked out so well, for both the adults and the kids. I know the story is supposed to be a little ludicrous, but I found myself shaking my head a few times. What really bothered me, though, was the idea that Justin doesn’t get any punishment for what he does wrong other than a grounding (namely, from his school). I felt like this was telling kids that Justin’s behavior was acceptable, when it really wasn’t. And Justin definitely doesn’t grow that much during the book (I’d argue even less than the first one), so if you expect his obnoxious behavior to dissipate by the end, you’re in for a letdown.
  
  Oddly enough, what bothered me most was the whole “mystery” aspect of the story regarding the Phantom and Hubert, for two entirely different reasons. Regarding one subplot, I predicted most of it, but I expected to be proved wrong—but I wasn’t. A certain character was set up to be so obviously evil that it had to be a red herring, right? But it was actually true and Justin’s assumptions aren’t that far off, and I found that rather underwhelming. The other mystery bothered me because the truth was impossible to guess. You could make a few predictions, but normally when there are mysterious notes being delivered, you’d think you’ve actually met the source at a certain point in the book—but when it’s explained at the end, certain things (and characters) come out of nowhere, and as a reader, you feel kind of cheated.
  
  But I don’t read Seth Rudetsky’s books to have my mind blown. I don’t read them to be intellectually stimulated. I read them for pure fun and entertainment, and The Rise and Fall of a Theater Geek provides this. By no means is it as fun as Broadway Nights and the characters will probably irritate you even more than they did in My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan, but it’s still a light, amusing read. 3 stars.
  
• 
  Shay

  This book follows Justin, a broadway loving high school student who gets an internship with one of his favorite actors in New York. I don't honestly remember how old Justin is...fifteen or sixteen? He acted more like he was twelve. Before starting his internship, he decides he should take a break from his relationship with his boyfriend, Spencer. Not a break up just a break-ish up. Until Spencer beats him to it, then it's not so okay. During the curse of his first day, which he imagines should end with him on broadway helping his favorite actor, he spends the day running around doing errands, never even sees the stage, and gets into a big fight with his best friends, Spencer and Becky. Things escalate from there.
  
  There's a new boy who Justin never really likes that much, just wants use to make Spencer jealous. A mystery revolving around Chase(the famous actor) and his manager, and some funny moments? Overall this is a really fun book but it's very...immature, Even though it's marketed as YA contemporary it reads more like a middle grade contemporary.
  
  A Few Of My Favorite Things:
  
  - The mystery. The mystery aspect was really fun. Justin has to uncover just what is going on with the show where his idol, Chase, seems to be purposely failing at everything he tries to do.
  
  - The LGBT theme. I love any book with an LGBT theme and this author did such a good job with it, I loved how Justin was always so confident about who he is.
  
  - The setting. New York, Broadway, I love love love books with drama and acting themes and even with all of Justin's immature-ness(is that a word?) I still loved this setting.
  
  A Few Of My Not So Favorite Things:
  
  - Justin. I admired Justin for being completely one hundred percent happy with who he was, but he was selfish and immature and all around annoying.
  
  - The Whole Plot Was Immature. Did I say plot? I meant book. It's not that that is such a bad thing just that this book is really for a younger audience, unfortunately the one thing I can't get over in contemporary books is so much immaturity.
  
  Overall: This book was good, just too immature for my liking. I wanted to love it and I did have fun reading it, it just wasn't quite what I was expecting. I could never take Justin seriously, he was so selfish and immature and I literally can't come up with another word to describe him. That kind of hindered my overall enjoyment of the book. It wasn't bad by any means, just not for me.
  
  
  Would I Recommend This? Probably.
  Who To? Fans of middle-grade contemporary
  Will I read more from this author(or series)? Maybe.
  
  Review first posted @
  The Story Goes...
• 
  Sierra the Nerdgirl

  3 1/2 stars.
  
  
  This book jumped out at me because a) it's about New York City which is my endgoal, b) the main character is a theater geek, much like myself and, c) the main character is gay. I had high hopes because I felt like this book had the potential to be highly entertaining and I felt like the narration was really going to help push this book through.
  
  
  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  Overall I really liked this story. Although it was pretty predictable and didn't really have any depth to it, it was very enjoyable and addicting. I read it in one sitting because I wanted to know what would happen. The first half had me cringing a lot though. I felt like Justin, the main character, instead of being a character that happens to be gay allowed being gay to determine who he is, which isn't a probably, but I felt like his character was just so... stereotypical. He also focused so much on the wrong things a lot and at times he was a pretty bad person. In the end he learned his lesson though. 

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  The second half of the book was WAY better than the first. I think the second half really pulled everything together for me. Yeah like I said before it was predictable, but it was also so thrilling and fun. I don't know, I really liked it. 

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  If you are looking for a fun, LGBT contemporary, I would recommend you give this book a chance.