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There are currently 26 reader reviews for Help Wanted
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Sandy P. (Chandler, AZ)
Big Box Drama
Great read! I enjoyed all of the characters; their quirks and their stories drew me in. It was fun and funny, sad and hopeful. This enjoyable book describes the drama of the ups and downs of mostly ordinary people working at an ordinary big box store. Recommended for book clubs.
Stephanie K. (Glendale, AZ)
Selling Retail Lives
In "Help Wanted," Adelle Waldman cuts close to the quick in detailing the struggles of retail workers in a big box store. As a former retailer myself, I identified with many of the emotions the characters were attempting to work through. This novel gave me a mild case of the "cold dreads" as I vicariously faced what each of the workers were facing in their personal and professional lives. It was a good take on the realities of life in retail, which at times can be like trying to run through mud.
Edie M. (Kennett Square, PA)
Help please
This book seemed extremely repetitive. Kind of like the life of an employee at a big box store! Makes you appreciate the people behind-the-scenes, who unload the trucks and stock the shelves! It doesn't happen by magic.
Elizabeth L. (Langhorne, PA)
Not for me
Unfortunately, I had a difficult time engaging in and relating to the characters and storyline of Help Wanted. Obviously working in retail is difficult yet I did not feel sympathetic to the workers' plight. I found the use of the names Big Will and Little Will distracting, and I was not interested in knowing how the story would end or what happened to the myriad of characters. There were a few moment of levity but not enough for me to recommend the book to others.
Jennie W. (Denver, CO)
Help Wanted
I wanted to like this book. It has a great premise about the inequalities in the workforce; rank-in-file versus management. However, there were so many characters with so many issues that it was hard to keep track of each character and their problems. The writing and the plot were flat and made it difficult to stay interested in the story..
Barbara T
A look into the retail industry
This book is about a group of people working in a large retail store and their job is to unload merchandise and stock shelves before the store opened for business. Their department manager was a self-absorbed woman who felt she was on the fast track to be promoted into the position being vacated by the Store Manager. The workers have a plan to get her promoted so she’ll be out of their department and her current position would be open to one of them. The basic theme of the story is to keep reading until we find out who gets promoted.
The author did a good job of giving the reader a glimpse of the treatment of
…more employees in the corporate America setting. It didn’t matter the workers had to work 2 jobs to make ends meet. The store’s “pat on the back for a job well done” mentality was sufficient compensation.
All in all, I feel this could have been told in short story form and not 275 pages. (less)This is a work place novel and there is a lot of detail about the work place. A general store, a step above Walmart, Town Square has its own drama, but the large number of characters made it hard for me to care about any of them. A little depressing as well, as all are struggling, except for the managers. Adelle Waldman has written a social critique, including important issues, especially racism and worker exploitation. It is too bad her prose and plot took away from her message.
Melissa C. (Saint Johns, FL)
Average at Best
I was disappointed that I didn't really enjoy this book. I was hopeful that I would, given the serious subject matter of work force inequality. But I found the characters flat and not very interesting. Oh well - can't love them all.
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