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Entry Level
Entry Level is a graceful and thought-provoking sequence of stories with a flair for the comedy of the workplace. Each story is intense in its own way; McIsaac explores the costs of being female, often in the workforce. A group of women telemarketers deal with the escalating absurdity of management’s rules and restrictions; a seasonal-help cashier in a bustling toy store encounters hostile co-workers, perverted customers and fake fifties, and her parents just don’t understand; a preteen girl takes revenge on her lecherous neighbour; two chambermaids clean a hotel room turned upside down in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Each story turns on the revelation of emotional connections that emerge, often to the surprise of the main character, and the reader. Told in a sparse and taut writing style, Entry Level is a top shelf collection.
162 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 3, 2017
Seven short stories all focusing on women, who are often in entry level jobs - trying to get by in the workplace - and also entry level to adulthood, and some pregnant and entry level to motherhood. One story is set in Niagara Falls, Ontario and I believe the others are set in Hamilton, Ontario. The author Julie McIsaac lives in Hamilton, Ontario and I hope that she does more writing!
August 20, 2012
I loved Entry Level. This hilarious collection of seven short stories takes the reader on a fun, yet bittersweet, journey through the lives of working-class women, using some of the best dialogue I’ve ever read, not to mention a nicely varied mix of settings, characters, and narrative voices.
Three stories follow the foibles of Kathleen, a Toys-O-Rama cashier who constantly feels like a fish-out-of-water--when she’s dealing with co-workers who disapprove of her intercom technique and with parents who seem more interested in Ken Jennings’ triumphs on Jeopardy! than in their pregnant daughter’s desire to eat dinner in a smokeless room.
My favourite story, “The Falls Side,” is about two 20-something maids and their experience cleaning a room filled with the pricey belongings of a couple who mysteriously decided to leave their luggage behind.
The only story that doesn’t have a working-class, female protagonist, “Hidden In Plain Sight” is narrated from a second-person POV, which puts the reader into the mind of an 11-year-old girl. It’s a chilling tale about her role in the death of a lecherous neighbour.
Entry Level isn’t judgmental or preachy; it’s just honest in its portrayal of the protagonists’ emotional struggles to validate their gender and their class in a society that demeans both.
Three stories follow the foibles of Kathleen, a Toys-O-Rama cashier who constantly feels like a fish-out-of-water--when she’s dealing with co-workers who disapprove of her intercom technique and with parents who seem more interested in Ken Jennings’ triumphs on Jeopardy! than in their pregnant daughter’s desire to eat dinner in a smokeless room.
My favourite story, “The Falls Side,” is about two 20-something maids and their experience cleaning a room filled with the pricey belongings of a couple who mysteriously decided to leave their luggage behind.
The only story that doesn’t have a working-class, female protagonist, “Hidden In Plain Sight” is narrated from a second-person POV, which puts the reader into the mind of an 11-year-old girl. It’s a chilling tale about her role in the death of a lecherous neighbour.
Entry Level isn’t judgmental or preachy; it’s just honest in its portrayal of the protagonists’ emotional struggles to validate their gender and their class in a society that demeans both.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews