For most people, the real American experience is slinging coffee, hammering nails, unloading boxes, and realizing you’re an underpaid cog in a system designed to make you forget your humanity for the majority of your waking life, and grasp onto what you can in those few hours between clocking out and passing out.
For the latest episode of the Toxic Lit podcast, I interviewed Caleb Caudell about his new book, Hardly Working, which is a collection of connected essays/short stories mostly about working in the service sector, but also about looking for meaning in a world of dehumanizing work, whether through art or relationships or something else.
Interspersed among stories centered on the narrator’s work life and personal life are segments that offer some coldly smart analyses of our society and how the individual is alienated, commodified, and objectified in an economy that is essentially wrapped in plastic and imported from China.
But among all the talk about dehumanization and techno-philosophizing is a lot of humor - all from a viewpoint that isn’t well-represented in American commercial literature: the service worker, despite the fact that this is the biggest and lowest paid sector in the United States. But importantly, the POV of this book isn’t a sad victim narrative, which would probably be the go to POV for such a narrator in most American commercial lit. Rather, the POV here is that of a booksmart man with a very aware and energetic mind who is trapped, not entirely unwillingly, in an industry that everyone relies on, but few respect or care about.
I’m not a book reviewer or critic. I’m just a humble reader who can tell you I think Hardly Working is good and you will probably like it, so check it out.
In the meantime, listen to Caleb in his own words talk about his book, his style, and the many ideas he put into Hardly Working.
Toxic Lit Podcast: Caleb Caudell