I was not familiar with author David Szalay before and discovered him via Instagram. There was a giveaway from the Book Club Cookbook and Grey Wolf Press. Lucky me, I won!
While the writing is sharp this is definitely a downbeat plot. You find yourself feeling very sorry for our main character, Paul Rainey. Can you imagine a career in telemarketing sales for a magazine which, sadly, is only subscribed to by the advertisers. Paul is depressed, drinks and smokes too much and finds little solace at home. He is on a treadmill that never gets him anywhere even though he would love a change in his life.
I thought it may be like The Office, but it wasn’t quite. Real life glimpse of an ordinary middle-aged man drifting along in his unsatisfactory life. The cover grabbed me straight away and so I entered for a chance to win the book.
Linking up with Joy’s British Isles Friday
Novel Meals 
I’ve never heard of this author.
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I hadn’t either. He writes well but it was a bit disheartening.
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That does sound like a sad life. I wonder if there’s a cultural difference between Americans and Brits — are we more likely to make a change, for the sake of change? On the other hand, are Brits more able to accept life as it is and not strive for something that isn’t achievable?
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This sounds like an update of George Orwell’s novels written in the 1930s, ‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying’ and ‘Coming Up for Air’. In one a bored insurance salesman tries to recapture his lost youth, and in the other a bored advertising copywriter gives up his job to write poetry.
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