The ever-popular TV talent-search series American Idol has found another way to milk its appeal and is now making soup. Not literally, of course, because Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul is just another book in the uplifting Chicken Soup series. Though this edition is about a reality TV series, it seems too tightly entwined with the fantasies of American Idol to be totally believable.

First season finalist Jim Verraros’s “The Impossible Dream” is both memorable and touching. He writes about his parents and the sad fact that they’ll never hear him sing. “I wouldn’t trade them for all the hearing parents in the world, but sometimes I dream that one day, by some miracle, I could pick up the phone and say ‘I love you’ without an interpreter in the middle,” he writes.

Speaking like a character out of a Disney production, Verraros is still optimistic, however, because “impossible things happen every day”.

What’s interesting about the book is that, like American Idol itself, the show doesn’t belong only to the budding celeb contestants, but the production crew and fans as well.

“I’m Stylin’ Now” by Miles Siggins, a stylist on the show, showed the indispensable part played by the backstage crew in making American Idol a success. He jokes about how the “Wrath of Simon” ensured that contestants took the stylist’s advice about what looked good on them and what didn’t.

The fans also contributed some excellent stories. Nicole Merchut, for example, revealed how Katharine McPhee openly speaking of her 5-year battle with bulimia in 2006 had inspired her to face up to her own struggle.

Idol fan Lexie Matthews wrote in The Turn of a Page of how Clay Aiken’s account of his own experience with an abusive father in his autobiography gave her the courage to leave her abusive husband and start a new life with her daughter.

Unfortunately, not every story in the book made me smile or go all warm and fuzzy inside. Some are so narcissistic and self-absorbed that they drew disapproving frowns instead. A finalist from season 2, Carmen Rasmusen penned “Thousands Shouting My Name”, which left a distinct bitter aftertaste with her conceited whining about how she bad she felt when she got cut from the show.

Words like, “I couldn’t stand it – whenever I heard the music, I felt like I was supposed to be on the show. So I would walk out and go sulk in my room”, were ample proof of her vanity and poor sportsmanship. You can’t even blame it on inexperience, since she published her biography Staying in Tune late last year.

In “Making a Difference”, sweet second runner-up of Season 3, Jasmine Trias’s account of how her voice woke a coma patient who mistook her for an angel was too full of self-praise to be believable.

The worst part is, she wasn’t the only Idol whose ego this book seemed to advance. Kimberly Locke, for example, also wrote about how everyone she knew nobody believed that she was suitable for the competition because she was just too good.

To be fair, Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul has its share of good and bad; some stories invoke tears while some are just plain unbelievable. What’s praiseworthy, though, is that the voices of everyone involved in this highly successful TV series have an equal standing – from the Idols to the dedicated backstage crew, to the fans.

Like every other Chicken Soup book, Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul is an overall good read. However, unlike the previous installments in the series, it doesn’t have its trademark down-to-earth feel that made the other books so memorable and inspiring.

I recommend Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul for rabid American Idol fans and bored souls, but no one else. I give Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul 2 out of 5 stars.

Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul is available at all major bookstores at $23.93 (GST included).

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	Source: Urban Wire Urban Wire (www.theurbanwire.com) is a entertainment e-zine managed by final-year Mass Communication students of the School of Film & Media Studies in Ngee Ann Polytechnic. At least one new story is published everyday, and Urban Wire readers has been contributing to the average of two million hits each month since late 2007. Urban Wire also attracts regular content syndication requests from other worthy partners, such as NS Portal, youth.sg, Prime Minister's Office's OverseasSingaporean.sg and GameAxis magazine. Urban Wire also publishes articles from hype, a lifestyle magazine by final-year Mass Communication students of School of Film & Media Studies in Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
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