- This wonderful debut novel was published last year to enthusiastic acclaim. And it so deserved it. Here's what the New York Times said a few weeks ago in an article about the difficulties of publishing new literary fiction during the COVID lockdown:
Before the shutdown, Hilary Leichter's 'Temporary' was shaping up to become one the year's breakout debuts. It was nominated for the PEN/Hemingway Award and shortlisted for the 2020 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, was praised by critics and became ubiquitous on 'best books of 2020' lists. But the accolades surrounding the novel were not enough to overcome the obstacles the pandemic posed, after Ms Leichter had to cancel a 10-city tour and appearances at literary festivals. In the end, it sold just a few thousand print copies. 'It was a bummer not to be able to push off of all that momentum', Ms Leichter said.
- The narrator is perpetually stuck in temporary jobs, and has temporary boyfriends. It's a temporary life of existential emptiness. She and her colleagues keep track of their postings in leather-bound planners.
- Her numerous boyfriends establish a book club and meet while she’s away on her various jobs. And the jobs are absurd: She's a mannequin, a ghost, a cleaner on a pirate ship, a door opener and closer, a barnacle, a murderer's assistant, a bomb button presser in a blimp, a pamphlet distributor, a young boy's mother, a burger flipper, a metal and mood detector. Her employers are harsh, inhuman cogs, with not an ounce of feeling or loyalty. She is dispensed with and fired on the flimsiest of grounds.
- This is not just about temporary work. It's about permanent isolation. She admits she '...could find glimmers of joy in this ephemeral life’, though that sensation is rare.
- What is conveyed is an end of times fragility, a fractured society slowly sinking into nothingness.
- Leichter has written an extraordinary work, full of imagination and flights of fancy and written in sharp, crystal clear prose.
(The brilliant cover at the top is from the original US edition. The other one is from the simply awful, pedestrian and uninspiring UK edition)
No comments:
Post a Comment