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Book Summary and Reviews of Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman

Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman

Help Wanted

A Novel

by Adelle Waldman

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  • Published:
  • Mar 2024, 288 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From the best-selling author of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. comes a funny, eye-opening tale of work in contemporary America.

One of New York Magazine's "23 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2024" • One of VOGUE's Best Books of the Year So Far • One of ELLE's Best (and Most Anticipated) Fiction Books of 2024 • One of Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2024 • One of Kirkus's Most Anticipated Books of 2024 • One of Lilith Magazine's "21 Books We Want to Read in 2024"

Every day at 3:55 a.m., members of Team Movement clock in for their shift at big-box store Town Square in a small upstate New York town. Under the eyes of a self-absorbed and barely competent boss, they empty the day's truck of merchandise, stock the shelves, and scatter before the store opens and customers arrive. Their lives follow a familiar if grueling routine, but their real problem is that Town Square doesn't schedule them for enough hours—most of them are barely getting by, even while working second or third jobs. When store manager Big Will announces he is leaving, the members of Movement spot an opportunity. If they play their cards right, one of them just might land a management job, with all the stability and possibility for advancement that that implies. The members of Team Movement—including a comedy-obsessed oddball who acts half his age, a young woman clinging on to her "cool kid" status from high school, and a college football hopeful trying to find a new path—band together to set a just-so-crazy-it-might-work plot in motion.

Adelle Waldman's debut novel was a breakout sensation, lauded by the Los Angeles Times as an "exacting character study" with "excellent and witty prose" and described as "incisive and very funny" by the Economist and "brilliant" by both NPR's Fresh Air and the Washington Post. In her long-awaited follow-up, Waldman brings her unparalleled wit and astute social observation to the world of modern, low-wage work. A humane and darkly comic workplace caper that shines a light on the odds low-wage workers are up against in today's economy, Help Wanted is a funny, moving tale of ordinary people trying to make a living.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Whereas Waldman went narrow in the cultural purview of her first book, she has gone wide now…If The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. was a comedy of manners, Help Wanted is a tragedy of circumstance…As ever, Waldman is a sharp observer of the world, a writer whose attention to particulars only sharpens the big picture." —Jordan Kisner , The Atlantic

"The workplace dramedy of the year." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"[A] bracing and worthwhile glimpse of the high stakes faced by low-wage workers." —Publishers Weekly

"Help Wanted is like a great nineteenth-century novel about now, at once an effervescent workplace comedy and a profoundly human exploration of the psychic toll exacted by the labor market. The characters are so richly drawn―so full, under all their defenses, of the desire to be loved―that even the annoying ones will win your heart. Adelle Waldman is a master." ―Elif Batuman, author of Either/Or

"In Help Wanted, the tragic heroes of the gig economy, full of dreams and sob stories and what-if scenarios, concoct a plot to better their lives. Yet even as frustrations mount and their plot goes sideways, hope never dies. Adelle Waldman delivers both a brilliant diagnosis and a moving account of retail workers hidden in plain sight all around us, whose full humanity has never been so richly displayed or touchingly rendered." ―Joshua Ferris, author of A Calling for Charlie Barnes

"A serious moral inquiry into the lives of a group of people who work in a big-box store, Help Wanted is a novel about work, about the retail industry in the age of Amazon, and about the effects of late capitalism on human relations. It is also hard to put down." ―Keith Gessen, author of Raising Raffi

"What a gorgeous and ingenious and heartfelt work Help Wanted is!" ―Michelle Orange, author of Pure Flame

"I can't think of a book more necessary. Adelle Waldman takes us into the universe of American labor with generosity and compassion. It has been a while since workers have been portrayed through the lens of a novelist with such insight and attention to the details of service industry life. Simply enthralling." ― Gary Shteyngart, author of Our Country Friends

"Help Wanted is a marvelous novel. We get to eavesdrop and follow and enjoy the misadventures of the motley cast working the four in the morning shift (unloading trucks at a big box store, a place none of these workers can afford). On one level this is about economics and gentrification; on another level it is about people struggling to keep themselves from drowning; meanwhile there are hijinks so funny you blow your tea out of your nose; there's a perfectly absurd plot straight out of Catch-22. We want everyone to get that lifesaving promotion. The worst thing about this novel is that I finished it and can't ever read it again for the first time. But now it is part of my life. I am thankful to Adelle Waldman for being brave and talented and bighearted enough to have created this gift." ―Charles Bock, author of Alice & Oliver

"Help Wanted isn't just smart and funny and wise. It's also important—vital, really—to our understanding of how and why the American dream is becoming increasingly inaccessible to working class Americans, even as that long-shot dream stubbornly refuses to die." ―Richard Russo, author of the North Bath trilogy and Empire Falls

This information about Help Wanted was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Lloyde N. (Olympia, WA)

Could "Help Wanted" be one of the best books of 2024?
Very interesting and timely fiction book about working in a big box store and what that implies. Arriving in the early morning to begin unpacking, sorting and shelving new merchandise a small counter revolutionary plot is hatched to bring extra hours, more benefits, and if you can imagine this more dignity and empowerment to those who work in these grand canyon environs of retail 2024. The humor is obvious, at times sly, but a very enjoyable book to read and savor. I loved reading this book, and think it will be a break out "book to read" for 2024.

Cindy R. (North Miami Beach, FL)

It's just a job!
HELP WANTED (W.W.Norton) captures what it's like to work in a big box store, like a Target or Walmart. It probably won't be everyone's cup of tea, but give it a chance. HELP WANTED reminded me of Seinfeld in the way that it's about ordinary people doing ordinary things and providing laughs. There are plenty of characters working together in ridiculous situations to deliver comedy.

Because HELP WANTED is about workers working long hours, and being treated unfairly by mean bosses, I'm sure many readers will relate. The numerous diverse group of characters are well-developed, complex, and each has their own baggage and mishegas.

HELPED WANTED will be published March 5th by W.W.Norton.

Thank you BookBrowse for providing an early copy to review.

Elizabeth D. (Apple Valley, MN)

Just getting by in America
I loved this book. I just finished and wish I could spend more time with these characters. I thought about them when I wasn't reading the book, and I imagine they'll stay with me for a long time.

I feel the book does an excellent job of showing some of the complex circumstances people have to negotiate just to start their workday, many of which higher income people likely never consider, or the schedules/people/transportation that economically disadvantaged people need to take into account when having to cobble together multiple jobs to earn enough to (just) get by, and how mentally taxing it is to be constantly juggling.

I also feel it does an excellent job of highlighting what we as a community have accepted as a trade-off for cheaper goods, in terms of workplace conditions and corporations holding all the power as they're beholden to their shareholders to make decisions based on bottom line profitability. It isn't just retail, of course. And this is just one (albeit major) contributing factor in income disparity.

None of this information is new or especially eye-opening to me, but I imagine it will be to some people, and I still find the inequitableness infuriating and heart wrenching. I appreciate the mention of the importance of generational wealth even in circumstances one doesn't think of as wealthy - I think I tended to think of rich people and estate taxes and trust fund babies when I hear generational wealth, but it's critically important at all economic levels, as demonstrated through these characters' lives.

I found the writing style to be interesting - at points almost factual or documentary in tone, but I felt it fit the subject matter and it didn't prevent me from feeling close to the characters or having empathy for them.

I am probably making this sound like a rather dull economic analysis, and it's nothing of the sort. The characters all have full, interesting lives and back stories peopled with a cast of family and friends, just as we all do. They were people I'd like to know in real life. The plot was solid and engaging.

I'll be recommending this to others upon publication.

Thank you to BookBrowse and W.W. Norton & Company for the advanced reading copy. Now I'm off to read what other BookBrowsers thought of the book!

Susan P. (Boston, MA)

Help Wanted
After reading HELP WANTED, you won't look at the humans working in retail the same, especially the people working behind the scenes -- unpacking, shelving, cleaning. The book details the dreams, expectations, hopes, motivations of the (pretty much unseen by the public) workers in a big box store who unpack the daily truck and get the merchandise to relevant parts of the store. These individuals want what we want: a step up, recognition, meaning, love -- but it's harder for them. The story revolves around hopes for promotions when a new store manager is going to be named. Some funny parts and some heart breaking. Really, you have no soul if you remain oblivious to these people after reading this book. It was VERY hard to put down.

Lynne Z. (San Francisco, CA)

Help Needed
Adelle Waldman has written a book with a pulse on what is happening to retail/warehouse workers in this country. Low wages, cut hours, and a lack of benefits combine to make it impossible for people in these positions to make ends meet, let alone have opportunities to advance. Despite these miserable conditions, the author has created characters that are doing their best to survive and to maintain some degree of hope to find a place in this world. They are not stereotypes - each one has individuality, humanity, and a desire to be acknowledged and respected. This was a book of compassion, and a reminder that "There but for fortune, go I."

Gary R. (Bolingbrook, IL)

Blue light special aisle six
I really enjoyed this book,it's been awhile that I've laughed while reading,great cast of characters that you can relate to,especially if you're ever worked in retail.just a real fun read,thanks bookbrowse for another author that's new to me. I've put her on my watchlist.if you want a funny,bittersweet read pick this one up!

...20 more reader reviews

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Author Information

Adelle Waldman Author Biography

Photo by Lou Rouse

Adelle Waldman is the best-selling author of The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., which was named a best book of the year by The New Yorker, Economist, NPR, Elle, and many others. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal, among other publications. She lives in New York State.

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