Not Working

Lisa Owens

Average Rating 6/10 (1 Review)

Now and again we all lie awake wondering what on earth we're doing with our lives... don't we?

Claire Flannery has had more than a few sleepless nights lately. Maybe she shouldn't have walked out of her job with no idea what to do next. Maybe she should think before she speaks -- and maybe then her mother would start returning her calls. Maybe she should be spending more time going to art galleries, or reading up on current affairs, and less time in her pyjamas, entering competitions on the internet. Then again, maybe the perfect solution to life's problems only arises when you stop looking for it...

'A deadpan comic debut for the procrastination generation.'

'Piercingly observant and funny.'

Review by Ben Macnair (211120) Rating (6/10)

Review by Ben Macnair
Book Source: Not Known
Rating 6/10
This is a soufflé of a book. A light confection, but one that requires the right ingredients, the right temperature, and the right preparation to come to full fruition, and it delivers a story, believable characters and a strong narrative with a good style and panache.

Claire Flannery has left her job, but with no actual clue what she will do next. Understanding medical boyfriend Luke supports her through her career travails, but a misunderstanding and a misremembering at her Grandfather’s memorial means that neither her Mum nor other family members will talk to her. Add in a caring, but fairly useless Dad who is also facing challenges on the career front, and former work colleagues who are not that supportive when she returns to her office on a freelance basis, knowing that although everything has changed, the office, and the people still plod on in the same way that they usually do, as in most offices, and you have some of the ingredients that often beset people trying to make their way in their careers.

The novel’s chapters are all short, and although there is not much in the way of character development in the novel there is some forward momentum as Claire improves her relationship with her Mother, resolves some of the issues within her career, and realises that the affair she feared Luke was having was only in her head.

This is a fast and easy read, and although it has no real development it looks at the modern world, and at modern life in a way that is completely fitting for young people finding their way in the world, and not always succeeding.
Ben Macnair (21st November 2020)