A Novel Without Pay, Perks, or Privileges
July 26, 2010
Middle-aged Jeffrey Reiner has a tough time adjusting to the unemployed life in Shine's competent if pat debut. When Jeffrey, a calendar editor at a Florida newspaper, gets pink-slipped, his blandly ordered life unravels. "One second I'm elated about going on to do other things in life," he says, "...and the next I want to puke." With little support from his wife and kids, Jeffrey befriends a 20-something female neighbor and makes halfhearted attempts at active unemployment, like drinking during the day with the other jobless and doing odd jobs. As his life spins out of control and the prospect of finding another job becomes more daunting, Jeffrey stumbles through a series of trials and exploits that give his life new meaning. Shine creates a relatable picture of a modern man dealing with the economic downturn (and, more pointedly, the sour state of newspapers), but Jeffrey's odyssey—"You're turning into an adventure story," the neighbor tells him—doesn't always ring true. A quick, tidy ending caps off a meandering story that can't quite find a proper destination.
July 15, 2010
It's only the end of the world for a semi-journalist who loses his lifetime gig.
Florida journalist Shine turns on his profession with this acidly funny but disjointed first novel about a newspaper refugee who takes unemployment harder than most. His Everyman hero is 46-year-old Jeffrey Reiner, the listings editor at a South Florida weekly with an atmosphere so poisonous that the employees flee to happy hour at the first whiff of a layoff. This introduction has a similar vibe to Joshua Ferris' Then We Came to the End, as Reiner mourns the loss of the humdrum job he's held for 18 years. His wife, Anna, is a terrifying perfectionist who soon loses patience with Jeffrey's self-delusions. "All the career counseling and self-help books and job fairs and networking crap—it's all monotonous and repetitive," he whines. "There's too much emphasis on working. They act like nobody can exist without having a great job. There are other things I'm doing. Important things." Meanwhile, his kids Andrew and Kristin are incensed over the loss of cable and laptop privileges. To deal with his increasing stress, Jeffrey contemplates writing a blog about his plight, spends time with his loser buddies and uses his unemployment counselor as a makeshift shrink. Before long, he's taking questionable assignments from Omar, a fly-by-night entrepreneur. There are highlights to this dysfunctional odyssey—a major freak-out involving a tire dealer and a disastrous trip to swim with dolphins are two of the book's best moments. However, for all the zippy dialogue and culturally savvy humor, the story never seems to go anywhere—just like its increasingly tiresome protagonist's career. The book might appeal to the masses of unemployed workers out there, but its lessons are few and far between.
A sprawling story about the value of work that ultimately misses the point of redemption.
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August 1, 2010
After 18 years writing mind-numbing copy for a Florida newspaper, Jeffrey Reiner is shocked to receive a pink slip. At first, he finds solace in his neighbors sympathy and his wifes willingness to pick up extra hours at the medical lab. But as Jeff counts down the days before his severance pay ends, his concern turns into complacency as he decides hed rather not work at all, then only jumps at opportunities as they arrive. He winds up performing odd jobs for a mysterious man of whose name hes uncertain, networking at bars with the fellow unemployed, and seeking out a long-lost middle-school friend who seems to have disappeared after a violent accident. When his son openly resents his fathers relationship with lusty next-door-slacker Alex, and his daughter begins showering at friends houses to avoid penny-pinching, Jeff realizes theres more at stake than his career. Unpredictable and with deprecating humor, journalist Shines debut will appeal to anyone affected by the current economic crisis.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)