Book Nineteen of the Book-a-Week Quest
A Working Stiff's Manifesto
by Iain Levison (2002)
Aaah...the joys of getting an English degree...
Thoughts of using that degree to the fullest potential and then working in a job that doesn't utilize it in the slightest.
It sounds incredibly familiar to me...
That's the gist of Levison's memoir that details his life after college as he works his way through menial and/or arduous, laborious low-level jobs.
The book was an incredibly easy read. Too easy, really. Levison's writing style is breezy, light, and humorous, but everything he writes about seems incredibly obvious. There's no depth here, really (sounds like my blog...). Add to that (and I can't believe I'm going to say this), I felt the book was much too short. Clocking in at 164 pages, I wanted more in terms of story.
I may pick up another book by Levison and give him another shot as I enjoyed the writing style...I'd just hope the next book has a little more oomph to it.
The only other book from him was odd. It was still about the lack of employment, but instead of just getting random jobs, he bacame a hitman... O_o
ReplyDeleteThe only other book I read, rather. I just looked it up. It's called "Before the Layoffs." I remember liking it. And owning it... It seems to be lost though.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to discuss this book, but it's just a vague outline that I have in my head. I remember liking the Alaska segment and when he worked at the fish market. And I don't have any negative memories. about it.
The Alaska segment was very good...I wish he had simply fleshed that out into a whole book. I mean, the book's only 165 pages, and he spends close to 80 pages on Alaska. The stuff there was exciting and the relationships he formed there were the most fleshed out.
ReplyDeleteHowever, he never really explores these jobs deep enough in order to really satisfy.
I was never bored while reading the book. And I don't necessarily have anything negative to say about what he wrote. Like I said, it was almost too easy of a read...not enough there to satisfy...
If I remember correctly, the Alaska segment makes up essentially the middle of the book, with a few jobs in front of it and a few behind it. I remember being disappointing with the tail section simply because the Alaska part was damn interesting, and he didn't really give that good of a description of what he was doing afterwards.
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