Adelle Waldman

This is the first time I have read Adelle Waldman and I greatly enjoyed the book. The subject matter is one that needs to done more often. That is about the working poor in our country. The story takes place now and is in Potterstown New York which is a an upstate town that has seen better days. It used to have IBM but they left and now jobs etc are scarce. Town Square is a big retail Walmart type store that contains all the negative things we think of about modern big store retail. The employees of the "Movement" group which is a cute corporate name for logistics and a group of people just trying to keep their lives together. They are low wage non-union people that due to managements policy of keeping hours down to prevent overtime and having to pay benefits need food stamps, second jobs, and hopefully living in their parents spare rooms to make life go. There are adults with kids, ex-spouses, absent parents etc. All the negative things that can go wrong at this end of economic hierarchy are dealt with in the book. Waldman introduces the team and gives the reader a real look into this lives of people that have to deal with each day being a struggle. She does this with humor and insight. You really get to learn about life in this environment and how even a glimmer of hope is grabbed on to in order to get them through the day. This is a worthwhile read, both funny, sad, and educational. I will be sure to get her first novel and am glad to be introduced to this author.… (mehr)

I found this story of New York writers offensive and boring. I did not appreciate Nathaniel's negative characteristics as being described as typically Jewish. I read the whole book expecting a surprise ending, which did not appear. I was guided by one reviewer who said she was not familiar with pop culture (nor am I), but the surprise ending made the experience worthwhile. I felt the final page was more of the tedious same. I was sorry to learn of the negative aspects of book publishing. The author obviously enjoyed her experience much more than this reader did.… (mehr)