A Quick Note On This Review: This article includes affiliate links to Bookshop.org as a way of supporting both local bookshops and my own ability to write.
The Movement Team for the Town Square big box store location of Potterstown find themselves in an unusual position: after months of having their hours cut and dealing with an incompetent manager more focused on the bottom line than true productivity or team management in Meredith, there’s suddenly the possibility of promotion when the Town Square Manager, Big Will, announces he will be transferred to another location. The Movement team, well aware that they aren’t well regarded among corporate leaders of Town Square given their “unskilled” contribution of unloading supply shipments and stocking shelves, see an opportunity to improve their work life a little if they could potentially get Meredith to a higher position away from them. But factions form, and it soon becomes clear that even if they do want to improve their lives by getting rid of a toxic manager, it’s not entirely clear that everyone is as altruistic as they want to make themselves out to be.
Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman was a fascinating book because its premise wasn’t something I typically gravitate towards. Waldman’s focus on the lowest rungs of the corporate ladder for her satire as a way of criticizing corporate power served as an interesting inversion of typical arguments made by novelists against executives, but it was done a bit more skillfully than is typically seen with stories like these. Help Wanted didn’t get heavy handed with its critique, and focused more on the human aspects of each character’s struggle to drive the story. Personally, I found this to be more in line with stories like Margo’s Got Money Troubles, which fits both in terms of genre and focus on human experience, rather than other stories which may prioritize money to drive the story to the exclusion of all else (as was somewhat the case with The Investigator).
A striking feature of the particular scenario Waldman established with Help Wanted was that there was no clear side the author took. While it’s a common feature of satire to have no true growth from any of the characters, reading Help Wanted felt like a way of highlighting every absurd aspect of the conflicts between labor and employers, without defending either. In some ways, the novel could be seen as a call to rethink the discourse around work so that whoever picks it up can recognize some small way they can make an impact in the world.
Given Help Wanted’s satirical bent, it’s likely that casual readers who enjoy humorous writing would enjoy it the most. However, humor is not the same experience for everyone, so it’s likely that Waldman’s wit and deft use of language to communicate the absurdity of the modern condition of labor might not fit with everyone’s idea of what’s funny. If someone was interested in books like this, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, or even Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodessor-Akner, then they might be able to find some enjoyment in Waldman’s book.
For writers, Help Wanted offers a lesson in writing a satirical labor novel. While there are plenty of nonfiction works that deal with issues around labor, employment, and finding meaning in work, there haven’t been many that satirize the conversation in the way Waldman does. Help Wanted would be an interesting template to build from, especially if books like Margo’s Got Money Troubles and Long Island Compromise are included alongside it when fleshing out a new story.
If you’re interested in reading the book and want to support local bookstores as well as my work, consider using this affiliate link: Help Wanted.
What’s Next?
I am an avid reader and have quite a few thoughts on how some books could benefit both people that want to be entertained and those looking to sharpen their literary skills.
If you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve been reading – and how it could benefit you – I will be publishing those thoughts on Fridays on a weekly basis. Check back next week for a discussion of the next installment of Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde series: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands!
The Writerly Review 