What do you think?
Rate this book
Slime Line
Equal parts workplace satire and character study in delusion, Slime Line is a fresh and urgently needed examination of work, grief, the male ego, and the false promise of environmental capitalism.
A fresh and trippy portrait of the diverse underclass of the commercial fishing industry, Slime Line is a tragicomedy of one college dropout’s attempts to remake himself into a hard-nosed workingman.
Fleeing the aftermath of a bizarre college prank and mourning the death of his deadbeat dad, Garrett Deaver escapes Pennsylvania for a salmon processing plant in remote Alaska, a state he has only known from his father’s stories. There he renames himself Beaver—just like a beaver, he’s “an industrious motherf*cker”—and he connives to become a supervisor at Klak Fancy Salmon, LLC, thinking it will solve his psychological and financial issues. He soon falls in with an entrepreneurial Turkish fish processor and a cynical old woman who mends nets and tells filthy jokes. In these two, he finds solidarity, or even friendship, for the first time in his life.
But the methamphetamines Garrett uses to work long hours delude his thinking, and an old photo on the wall of a bar contradicts his dad’s stories. When sabotage at the plant sets his new friends at odds with management and an ensuing act of violence disrupts his schemes, Garrett is set on a path toward reckoning with his dad’s secret legacy and the mythos of rugged individualism he’d always believed.
A fresh and trippy portrait of the diverse underclass of the commercial fishing industry, Slime Line is a tragicomedy of one college dropout’s attempts to remake himself into a hard-nosed workingman.
Fleeing the aftermath of a bizarre college prank and mourning the death of his deadbeat dad, Garrett Deaver escapes Pennsylvania for a salmon processing plant in remote Alaska, a state he has only known from his father’s stories. There he renames himself Beaver—just like a beaver, he’s “an industrious motherf*cker”—and he connives to become a supervisor at Klak Fancy Salmon, LLC, thinking it will solve his psychological and financial issues. He soon falls in with an entrepreneurial Turkish fish processor and a cynical old woman who mends nets and tells filthy jokes. In these two, he finds solidarity, or even friendship, for the first time in his life.
But the methamphetamines Garrett uses to work long hours delude his thinking, and an old photo on the wall of a bar contradicts his dad’s stories. When sabotage at the plant sets his new friends at odds with management and an ensuing act of violence disrupts his schemes, Garrett is set on a path toward reckoning with his dad’s secret legacy and the mythos of rugged individualism he’d always believed.
- GenresFiction
344 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2024
4 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 25, 2024
Got an ARC of this and wow. The most original novel I’ve read in years.
Garrett Deaver (or Beaver because he’s “an industrious motherf**ker”) is trying to climb the ladder at a salmon processing plant. Only it’s not so simple. It’s not simple at all because Garrett makes everything complicated. Because Garrett - grieving after the mysterious death of his father - has the kind of mind that snowballs and snowballs. And in a brilliant mirror of that, the plot snowballs and snowballs, too.
The amazing thing is that, there are moments of grief and tragedy and violence, it’s all told with such wit and humor that I found myself laughing out loud. Often. Fans of dark humor will LOVE this. So will anyone who’s had a crazy job, because I guarantee you you haven’t had a job THIS crazy.
Honestly, this would’ve still been a good book even if it hadn’t been as well written, for the subject matter alone. We Americans tend to think of salmon as something that comes in plastic wrapped rectangles at the grocery store, so it was genuinely fascinating to pull back the curtain and look at the wild world of salmon processing. It is gnarly. You will never look at the fish aisle the same way again.
Two words to describe the prose, though: rip snortin’. Maynard takes us deep within Deaver’s (twisted, but empathetic, but definitely twisted) mind.
Will be recommending this to everyone I know. This Maynard’s first novel, which is exciting because I can’t wait to see what he does next.
Garrett Deaver (or Beaver because he’s “an industrious motherf**ker”) is trying to climb the ladder at a salmon processing plant. Only it’s not so simple. It’s not simple at all because Garrett makes everything complicated. Because Garrett - grieving after the mysterious death of his father - has the kind of mind that snowballs and snowballs. And in a brilliant mirror of that, the plot snowballs and snowballs, too.
The amazing thing is that, there are moments of grief and tragedy and violence, it’s all told with such wit and humor that I found myself laughing out loud. Often. Fans of dark humor will LOVE this. So will anyone who’s had a crazy job, because I guarantee you you haven’t had a job THIS crazy.
Honestly, this would’ve still been a good book even if it hadn’t been as well written, for the subject matter alone. We Americans tend to think of salmon as something that comes in plastic wrapped rectangles at the grocery store, so it was genuinely fascinating to pull back the curtain and look at the wild world of salmon processing. It is gnarly. You will never look at the fish aisle the same way again.
Two words to describe the prose, though: rip snortin’. Maynard takes us deep within Deaver’s (twisted, but empathetic, but definitely twisted) mind.
Will be recommending this to everyone I know. This Maynard’s first novel, which is exciting because I can’t wait to see what he does next.
March 2, 2024
Punchy, Funny, refreshing, trippy, and so so relatable. I loved this book because it captures so many visceral feelings I've never bee able to name. Have you ever worked a job that sucked your life completely into another life? The rules and reality are absurd til they're not. Raw economics force disparate people together for 10, 12, or 18 hour shifts doing totally menial work. The book periodically greets us with a deranged shop-floor newsletter written by the owner, which will be familiar to a lot of people out there. And one thing I've heard about Alaska irl: there's a lot of people there who are running from something.
Slime Line is named for the drudgery of fat-trimming line at an Alaskan salmon processing factory. When the international workers show up 2 months after main character starts the job, he sees himself as a veteran worker. A would-be company man trying to escape his past, ignore his future, and turn his mind off while making some seasonal money. His name is Beaver, and he wants you to know that's because he's "an industrious motherfucker."
This book is trippy in the way work-sleep-work is trippy. With a bit of drugs to keep you going thru the day. The characters are unabashedly foul-mouthed and clearly based on real people in a place much like this one. The scene—Alaska's Bristol Bay—is vivid and most definitely not the idyllic Alaska of advertisements. It's a place where hard-luck people try to make their way, be they natives, locals, or young seasonal dupes.
The worst thing I can say is it's not very plot driven. There's rolling events rather than a central conflict. It was hard for me to put down because I loved the jokes, characters and texture; less so because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I read someone else's advanced review copy—is that a conflict of interest?
Slime Line is named for the drudgery of fat-trimming line at an Alaskan salmon processing factory. When the international workers show up 2 months after main character starts the job, he sees himself as a veteran worker. A would-be company man trying to escape his past, ignore his future, and turn his mind off while making some seasonal money. His name is Beaver, and he wants you to know that's because he's "an industrious motherfucker."
This book is trippy in the way work-sleep-work is trippy. With a bit of drugs to keep you going thru the day. The characters are unabashedly foul-mouthed and clearly based on real people in a place much like this one. The scene—Alaska's Bristol Bay—is vivid and most definitely not the idyllic Alaska of advertisements. It's a place where hard-luck people try to make their way, be they natives, locals, or young seasonal dupes.
The worst thing I can say is it's not very plot driven. There's rolling events rather than a central conflict. It was hard for me to put down because I loved the jokes, characters and texture; less so because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I read someone else's advanced review copy—is that a conflict of interest?
February 21, 2024
Where to start—the delightful cast of characters, who I missed as soon as I closed the book? The percussive, rollicking plot? The prose, that is by turns irreverent, laugh out loud funny, and heartbreakingly clear eyed?
I’ll start with Garrett Deaver. Garrett is a kissing cousin to McCarthy’s Harrogate: irritating and beloved, determined and directionless, world weary and oblivious. I have known dozens of Garretts in my life—kids that act out, slip through the cracks, fall behind—and Slime Line forced me reckon with the fact I might never have actually known a single one.
Garrett deserves all of the attention he is sure to get from other readers, but I think my favorite character was Bonnie. A foul-mouthed net repairwoman who stomps in and out of the narrative, the local village, the margins of society, Bonnie is who I want to be when I grow up (Bonnie is also, I think, who my parents were always afraid I would be when I grew up). It would have been easy for Maynard to paint Bonnie as some wise, ancestral matron, but instead he lets her be her own person. The other women in the book receive the same respect and regard for their inherent humanity. After kerfuffle with a bartender, Garrett has cause to ask “why are all the women in this state so fucking strong?” The answer Maynard provides is that they have to be to survive, and furthermore, that they’re really pissed off by the fact so much of their lives are spent babysitting the men around them.
Slime Line’s plot feels a bit like riding in the back of a beat to shit pick-up truck driven by someone who’s half drunk: you’re white knuckling it, and still having an absolute ball of a time. Once I started the book, it was difficult to put it down; the pacing is percussive, rhythmic, and sinks into the background like the backbeat of a good song. Maynard doesn’t miss a note.
One of my favorite things about books is that chimeric feeling of stumbling upon a feeling or a memory you thought was oppressively unique and being able to think “oh! Isn’t it nice to have words for that!” In the best books, it feels like the author gives you a little key to a piece of yourself. This is one of those books.
Slime Line manages to tell a lot of different stories: about Garrett, about commercial fishing, about fathers and sons, about labor, and about loneliness. To me though, it’s a story about how we can, against all odds, choose how we want to interact with the world—even if sometimes it means swimming up stream.
I’ll start with Garrett Deaver. Garrett is a kissing cousin to McCarthy’s Harrogate: irritating and beloved, determined and directionless, world weary and oblivious. I have known dozens of Garretts in my life—kids that act out, slip through the cracks, fall behind—and Slime Line forced me reckon with the fact I might never have actually known a single one.
Garrett deserves all of the attention he is sure to get from other readers, but I think my favorite character was Bonnie. A foul-mouthed net repairwoman who stomps in and out of the narrative, the local village, the margins of society, Bonnie is who I want to be when I grow up (Bonnie is also, I think, who my parents were always afraid I would be when I grew up). It would have been easy for Maynard to paint Bonnie as some wise, ancestral matron, but instead he lets her be her own person. The other women in the book receive the same respect and regard for their inherent humanity. After kerfuffle with a bartender, Garrett has cause to ask “why are all the women in this state so fucking strong?” The answer Maynard provides is that they have to be to survive, and furthermore, that they’re really pissed off by the fact so much of their lives are spent babysitting the men around them.
Slime Line’s plot feels a bit like riding in the back of a beat to shit pick-up truck driven by someone who’s half drunk: you’re white knuckling it, and still having an absolute ball of a time. Once I started the book, it was difficult to put it down; the pacing is percussive, rhythmic, and sinks into the background like the backbeat of a good song. Maynard doesn’t miss a note.
One of my favorite things about books is that chimeric feeling of stumbling upon a feeling or a memory you thought was oppressively unique and being able to think “oh! Isn’t it nice to have words for that!” In the best books, it feels like the author gives you a little key to a piece of yourself. This is one of those books.
Slime Line manages to tell a lot of different stories: about Garrett, about commercial fishing, about fathers and sons, about labor, and about loneliness. To me though, it’s a story about how we can, against all odds, choose how we want to interact with the world—even if sometimes it means swimming up stream.
June 3, 2024
BARBARA KINGSOLVER!!! BARBARA KINGSOLVER, JAKE MAYNARD IS STEALING YOUR PURSE!!!!!!
4.5 stars.
Running from the death of his college education and a father he never knew, Garret Deaver seeks answers and contentment at a salmon processing plant in remote Alaska. Garrett sure is one industrious motherfucker. A beaver, if you will. And he will stop at nothing to climb the ladder at Klak Fancy Salmon, even if the only path there is to betray his coworkers and abuse meth to get the job done.
I went into Slime Line expecting it to be the "little brother" of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, which is one of my all time favorite books. There certainly are many similarities between the two stories (lack of a father figure, poverty, grief, masculine individualism, and drugs abuse to name a few), Slime Line is unique in its commentary of so-called environmental capitalism.
Have you ever truly considered where your food comes from? Do you even have a passing thought about the people who risk their lives to put fish on our tables? Me neither! But Jake Maynard's extensive knowledge of and real-life experience with this dangerous industry lends itself to a stunning and thought-provoking novel that urges you to contemplate the delusion that is the backbone of our capitalist society.
The more serious moments of this quick read are interspersed with a laugh-out-loud satirical analysis of the workplace environment, creating a wholly original, beautiful slice of life look at one man's search for self-actualization.
Thank you so much Jake Maynard, Brilliance Audio, West Virginia University Press, and NetGalley for this advanced audio copy!!
4.5 stars.
Running from the death of his college education and a father he never knew, Garret Deaver seeks answers and contentment at a salmon processing plant in remote Alaska. Garrett sure is one industrious motherfucker. A beaver, if you will. And he will stop at nothing to climb the ladder at Klak Fancy Salmon, even if the only path there is to betray his coworkers and abuse meth to get the job done.
I went into Slime Line expecting it to be the "little brother" of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, which is one of my all time favorite books. There certainly are many similarities between the two stories (lack of a father figure, poverty, grief, masculine individualism, and drugs abuse to name a few), Slime Line is unique in its commentary of so-called environmental capitalism.
Have you ever truly considered where your food comes from? Do you even have a passing thought about the people who risk their lives to put fish on our tables? Me neither! But Jake Maynard's extensive knowledge of and real-life experience with this dangerous industry lends itself to a stunning and thought-provoking novel that urges you to contemplate the delusion that is the backbone of our capitalist society.
The more serious moments of this quick read are interspersed with a laugh-out-loud satirical analysis of the workplace environment, creating a wholly original, beautiful slice of life look at one man's search for self-actualization.
Thank you so much Jake Maynard, Brilliance Audio, West Virginia University Press, and NetGalley for this advanced audio copy!!
April 27, 2024
Available June 1/2024
Disclaimer: Please note that I received an Audio ARC from NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
“Slime Line” by Jake Maynard is a quick, engaging read that takes you deep into the world of a fictional commercial fishing industry in Alaska.
Following Garrett, who’s trying to escape his past and finds himself on a wild ride of humour, tragedy, and unexpected friendships. Renaming himself Beaver, he dives headfirst into the gritty reality of salmon processing.
Maynard’s writing sucks you in, painting a vivid picture of the characters and their struggles. From the entrepreneurial Turkish fish processor to the cynical old woman, each one adds a layer of depth to the story.
Despite being a quick read, “Slime Line” doesn’t skimp on immersion. It’s a blend of humor and introspection that keeps you “hooked” from beginning to end.
“Slime Line” is a pretty good read with plenty of heart and humor. It leaves you wanting more from author Jake Maynard in the future.
Disclaimer: Please note that I received an Audio ARC from NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
“Slime Line” by Jake Maynard is a quick, engaging read that takes you deep into the world of a fictional commercial fishing industry in Alaska.
Following Garrett, who’s trying to escape his past and finds himself on a wild ride of humour, tragedy, and unexpected friendships. Renaming himself Beaver, he dives headfirst into the gritty reality of salmon processing.
Maynard’s writing sucks you in, painting a vivid picture of the characters and their struggles. From the entrepreneurial Turkish fish processor to the cynical old woman, each one adds a layer of depth to the story.
Despite being a quick read, “Slime Line” doesn’t skimp on immersion. It’s a blend of humor and introspection that keeps you “hooked” from beginning to end.
“Slime Line” is a pretty good read with plenty of heart and humor. It leaves you wanting more from author Jake Maynard in the future.
May 26, 2024
The voice/style is amazing, the characters are great, the book is worth reading.
I really liked this book. It’s written with a very stylized voice that gets us into the head of our protagonist and kept me turning the pages. We follow Beaver, a self-proclaimed “industrious motherfucker” who is working in a salmon processing plant and through his dad’s death. I love books where the authors do their research, and it is clear that Maynard knows everything about the cutting and gutting of fish. This book is engaging and left me in a satisfied stupor that few books can manage. Highly recommend.
I really liked this book. It’s written with a very stylized voice that gets us into the head of our protagonist and kept me turning the pages. We follow Beaver, a self-proclaimed “industrious motherfucker” who is working in a salmon processing plant and through his dad’s death. I love books where the authors do their research, and it is clear that Maynard knows everything about the cutting and gutting of fish. This book is engaging and left me in a satisfied stupor that few books can manage. Highly recommend.
June 1, 2024
Garrett Deaver is a trailer park kid who grew up in Pennsylvania who unfortunately loses his father while he is growing up. His father was a man who was barely around with lack of work in Pennsylvania finds himself in Alaska. He occasionally returns where he is a hometown hero regaling the locals with stories about his Alaskan adventures and his various schemes to make money.
After a nasty little incident Garrett finds himself as a college dropout and with getting the boot at home (you got to make your own way) finds his way in Alaska with dreams of being a salaried foreman for Klak Fancy Salmon which is a processing facility that processes Sockeye salmon. The story revolves around this facility and the day-to-day grind with a cast of co-workers from literally around the world. Along the way you follow Garett as daydreams often about his relationships and the ultimate search for people who knew his father. This book is described as humorous in highlights and there are spots it is sprinkled in, I just did not find it that way. I give this story an average rating.
After a nasty little incident Garrett finds himself as a college dropout and with getting the boot at home (you got to make your own way) finds his way in Alaska with dreams of being a salaried foreman for Klak Fancy Salmon which is a processing facility that processes Sockeye salmon. The story revolves around this facility and the day-to-day grind with a cast of co-workers from literally around the world. Along the way you follow Garett as daydreams often about his relationships and the ultimate search for people who knew his father. This book is described as humorous in highlights and there are spots it is sprinkled in, I just did not find it that way. I give this story an average rating.
November 24, 2024
This fast-paced story is told in a gritty authentic voice of a young man with nothing to lose, who followed his recently deceased father's path to Alaska to work in a fish processing plant. There's the mystery of the leg bone found on the beach, and the bites taken out of the fish, all told in a fever dream of drug-induced psychosis. With its short punchy chapters, I ran through this book in no time, barely able to put it down.
April 2, 2024
An accelerol-fueled hellbender of a book. SLIME LINE takes a bite out of the Alaska you don't see in the brochures or TV shows...and guts the fancy red salmon that arrives so pristine on your dinner plate. Maynard is a bold new American voice in fiction, and he's arrived with a fillet knife. Christ I loved this book.
May 14, 2024
A well plotted, provocative and intriguing novel.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Read
September 1, 2024At first I wasn't sure what fish-gut fever dream I had wandered into, but soon I got invested. It was wild.
(Great work, Jake!)
(Great work, Jake!)
October 23, 2024
Excellent storytelling. Garrett Deaver is such an entertaining character to be stuck in the head of.
May 28, 2024
A gritty, coming-of-age novel that takes place one summer at a salmon processing facility in Alaska. Tough jobs and tough bosses, made even tougher by the unpredictable nature of climate change’s impact on fish populations.
Garrett Deaver left college due to an unfortunate incident that was exacerbated by social media. In his shame he takes a job in remote Alaska where the hours are long and the work grueling and smelly. Can he find his way forward and create a new life for himself among these hardened souls?
A great sense of place and descriptions of jobs I’m pleased to have avoided.
My thanks to the author, publisher, and #NetGalley for an advance copy of the audiobook for review purposes.
Garrett Deaver left college due to an unfortunate incident that was exacerbated by social media. In his shame he takes a job in remote Alaska where the hours are long and the work grueling and smelly. Can he find his way forward and create a new life for himself among these hardened souls?
A great sense of place and descriptions of jobs I’m pleased to have avoided.
My thanks to the author, publisher, and #NetGalley for an advance copy of the audiobook for review purposes.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews