Congratulations You’re a Winner by Christina Starobin

Congratulations You’re a Winner  by Christina Starobin

Congratulations You’re a Winner by Christina Starobin

Christina Starobin pours out the heart of her well thought out story in this new fiction tale. The main character aka Wanda is down on her luck but her life begins to change when her friend and neighbor Lucy gives her a job lead. Wanda reluctantly takes the interview and then ends up with a job with a tv station as a journalist’s assistant.

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Congratulations You’re a Winner

by Christina Starobin

Copyright 2023, Cyberwit

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Christina Starobin (February 18, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 142 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9395224924
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9395224925
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.7 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.36 x 8.5 inches
  • Best Sellers Rank: #5,534,215 in Books

Reviewed by LB Sedlacek

 

Christina Starobin pours out the heart of her well thought out story in this new fiction tale.  The main character aka Wanda is down on her luck but her life begins to change when her friend and neighbor Lucy gives her a job lead.  Wanda reluctantly takes the interview and then ends up with a job with a tv station as a journalist’s assistant.

 

            Her job working for Hector Whiskersmith would consist of checking the facts of a story and finding inconsistencies, and other similar stuff you might find an investigative reporter’s assistant doing for him.  Her Boss doesn’t trust the internet, and since she’s mostly working for his main assistant anyway, getting the necessary info to Hector before he went on the air every night at 7pm would prove to be a complicated task.  It’s details like these that makes this story one of a kind.

 

            Wanda’s first assignment for Whiskersmith is to gather the dirt on his rival, Jimmy Snakeland.  What a clever introduction of chapters for the reader to settle into and start to delve into this unusual and fast paced story.

 

            From Chapter 7:

“Employed again,” she sighed. She had gotten very accustomed to
setting her own hours. Her feet found her slippers and she shuffled off
into the kitchenette, filing her tea cup, slamming it into the microwave
and selecting her favorite Hawaiian Sunset tea bag. She picked a yogurt
out of the ice box and turned on the television”

 

            Interspersed throughout the chapters are somewhat satirical takes on infomercials or commercials specifically those that are always asking for donations of some sort or other in exchange for a free gift.  There’s one charity in particular that is featured throughout the book.  The book itself seems to poke fun at journalism tactics, journalists themselves as well as awards ceremonies, too.

 

            Starobin draws out the main characters in fine detail.  One can easily imagine them working in the TV station as well as how things might play out in such a place. 

 

            The prose works as each chapter blends into the next one nicely.  The book is both fresh and entertaining.

 

            Starobin has told a good story, one that seems very real even if it isn’t.

 

 

~LB Sedlacek is the author of several books of poetry including “Swim,” “Night Swim,” “The Poet Next Door,” “Simultaneous Submissions,” and “Words and Bones.”  Her most recent short stories collections include “Motor Addiction & The Renovator” and “The Jackalope Committee & Other Short Stories.”