Since the Layoffs

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Synopsis
The author of "A Working Stiff's Manifesto" turns his hand to fiction in this story of a man whose unemployment is running out--and he's up for anything.
Copyright:
2003

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:
9781569473351
Related ISBNs:
9781569473627
Publisher:
Soho Press
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Iain Levison
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Literature and Fiction, Mystery and Thrillers, Humor
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

Reviews

3 out of 5

By on

Iain Levison's favorite topic seems to be the disappearing middle class in America. He gave us his own shoddy history of brutal dead-end jobs in A Working Stiff's Manifesto, and would go on to give us the three slacker antiheroes in How To Rob An Armored Car. Since The Layoffs has a similar theme, but isn't as compelling. Jake's lost his decent union job on the loading dock of a now-closed Wisconsin manufacturing plant, and his outlook is grim. There are no jobs to be had, his girlfriend has left him, and everybody else is out of work too. So he agrees to do a job for local small-time crime boss Ken Gardocki: kill Gardocki's wife and her backdoor man. He has the typical newbie misadventures and mild panic attacks, but everything works out okay in the end. Which is the main problem with the story: the ending is just way too neat and tidy to be believable. Spoiler alert: Gardocki accepts Jake's resignation, and Jake goes on his merry way, while one of his old work buddies takes over as Gardocki's hit man. Uh ... right.