My life really sucks sometimes. My dog gets into the garbage everyday (probably out of spite), I received a $54 speeding ticket last week and to top it all off, I got a flu shot Friday.

As bad as I think my life can get, it’s all a walk in the park compared to the subjects profiled in “Raw Deal: Horrible and Ironic Stories of Forgotten Americans.”

Ken Smith, author of “Raw Deal,” is downright fascinated with the terrible things that happen to everyday, honest, decent people.

“Everyone loves a Great Victim,” Smith writes. “We pity their misfortunes, decry their tragic ends, pledge that the injustices they endured will never be repeated. But, mostly, we like to read about them.”

Such fascinations from Smith are certainly not surprising, given his previous work. Smith has appeared nationally on programs such as “CBS This Morning” and “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” discussing sarcastic works including “Ken’s Guide to the Bible” and ” Roadside America,” travel books which he co-authored.

One Great Victim offered up as reading pleasure in “Raw Deal” is also hands-down the most interesting subject Smith has tackled. In “Star of the Monkey House,” Ota Benga was an African pygmy put on display in the Bronx Zoo alongside ordinary primates as the zoo’s star attraction.

With this depressing event as the peak of his career, Benga shot himself in the heart at the age of 32.

Smith should win an award as the most pessimistic person walking the planet today. On the book jacket he writes, “‘Raw Deal’ profiles 22 of the greatest Great Victims of all time, all Americans who suffered wretched fates. Most are unknown, nearly all were positive thinkers, none survived.”

One Victim full of such aspiration was Frank Olsen, slaving away for the government as a civilian biochemist in the Army Chemical Corps only to be killed by the CIA when they spiked his drink with a lethal dose of LSD.

Tripping out on acid, the delusioned man ran and jumped out of a hotel window, falling 10 stories to his death.

Though this book offers appeal because of its unique character, “Raw Deal” often reads like a history book, and the reader is left to wonder what the point was after reading some bios.

Overall, one disturbing fact remains. Why would a person in his right mind want to research such depressing stories for such a pointless reason?

If these tales actually held the interest one would hope, “Raw Deal” may have gone down in history as the only book bent solely on discouraging people while making them laugh at humanity’s unluckiness.

The only problem is, I never laughed.

2 stars out of five

Kelsey Foutch is a sophomore in journalism and mass communication from Waterloo.