FIZZLE FO SHIZZLE

What Didn’t Happen: Rielle Hunter’s Tell-All Fails To Sizzle Onto Book Lists

By Elizabeth C.

RIELLE HUNTER’S TELL-ALL WHAT REALLY HAPPENED HAS see-sawed up and down Amazon’s list of bestselling books where it now sits at no. 123.

Hunter’s score-settling screed at one point reached no. 60 on Amazon’s list of Best Sellers, then reportedly dropped to no. 223 by June 26, according to Showbiz411.

Turned down by New York publishers, the 256-book published by BenBella Books of Dallas, Tx., recounts Hunter’s destructive “love” affair she carried on with former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. While Politico listed as “10 best summer politics” reads, many reviewers and regular readers have maligned it as not worthy of purchase. “Chock full of self-absorbed, self-righteous, angry, greedy, selfish, amoral, meglomaniacs with a hefty dose of self-serving pop-psychology,” one Amazon reviewer wrote. “…Sorry I spent the money.

The most insightful review I’ve read comes from the Guardian‘s Emma G. Keller, a casual acquaintance of Hunter’s many years ago who contends that Hunter “sometimes” tells her story well.

“She can be clear and sad, and doesn’t seek to escape blame … always,” Keller writes of Hunter. “…By the end of the book, you are left with the knowledge that at least one thing is true. This was never a love story.”

The book averages 1.8 stars out of 5 among 58 Amazon reviewers, many of whom passionately discourage readers from buying it.

“Shameless. Disgraceful. Narcissistic. Delusional. Self-serving. Hateful. Evil. Juvenile,” wrote another. “…Wait until it’s $.50 on the remainders table. Maybe those in the psychiatric profession may want a copy as a textbook for pathology.”

“The beauty of What Really Happened,” comments Todd Bartholomew of Atlanta, “is that Hunter betrays herself as she really is. Even her worst enemies couldn’t have written a book that damages her as deftly as she slaughters herself.”

Just days after Hunter began publicizing the book, she announced that she and Edwards have ended their relationship.