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On the Clock
A voice-driven, penetrating novel of the exploitation and alienation of the working class.
In one strand, a young family bumps and scrapes through life. The hapless father balances demanding factory shiftwork, while the mother constantly prioritises the needs of others over her own. But there is also happiness: a trip to the seaside; sibling squabbles, games and laughter; tenderness and support. In another strand, a young woman describes her days working in a burger chain. It is exhausting, repetitive labour, too often peopled by tricky customers and even trickier managers. Hours pass. Days, weeks, years. It is an existence that marks the body and mind and governs a life.
What emerges, alive with eloquent detail, is a compelling exploration of social inequality. Writing with nimble nuance, a sly, subtle wit, and a sharp ear, Claire Baglin marks her debut in On the Clock as a blazingly original talent.
‘A sophisticated new voice exploring the French working-class experience and the ways in which language may express its precarious specificities.’ Times Literary Supplement
‘Remarkably masterful.’ Le Monde
‘A virtuoso debut on alienation through work and the pain of the working class . . . an admirable writing of strength and precision, with a fierce anger simmering below.’ Livres Hebdo
‘Vibrating with tension… a beautiful discovery.’ Elisa Shua Dusapin
In one strand, a young family bumps and scrapes through life. The hapless father balances demanding factory shiftwork, while the mother constantly prioritises the needs of others over her own. But there is also happiness: a trip to the seaside; sibling squabbles, games and laughter; tenderness and support. In another strand, a young woman describes her days working in a burger chain. It is exhausting, repetitive labour, too often peopled by tricky customers and even trickier managers. Hours pass. Days, weeks, years. It is an existence that marks the body and mind and governs a life.
What emerges, alive with eloquent detail, is a compelling exploration of social inequality. Writing with nimble nuance, a sly, subtle wit, and a sharp ear, Claire Baglin marks her debut in On the Clock as a blazingly original talent.
‘A sophisticated new voice exploring the French working-class experience and the ways in which language may express its precarious specificities.’ Times Literary Supplement
‘Remarkably masterful.’ Le Monde
‘A virtuoso debut on alienation through work and the pain of the working class . . . an admirable writing of strength and precision, with a fierce anger simmering below.’ Livres Hebdo
‘Vibrating with tension… a beautiful discovery.’ Elisa Shua Dusapin
176 pages, Paperback
First published March 4, 2025
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1180 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 135 reviews
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August 2, 2023Throwing the towel after 34 pages because Claire Baglin's writing comes across as too flat, banal and tasteless while I was expecting a wry and astute take on mind-numbing labour in the style of her compatriote Joseph Ponthus in his terrific and poetical On the Line: Notes From a Factory.
Even as a compulsive book finisher and despite its slimness, continuing this feels simply a waste of time.
Even as a compulsive book finisher and despite its slimness, continuing this feels simply a waste of time.
July 20, 2025
Growing up, the rare trip to a popular fast food burger joint used to be the highlight of the glassy childhood stretched out ahead of Claire. A decade and some later, she takes up a job at the same restaurant to tide herself through the summer after the covid-19 lockdowns. From an intensely competitive interview for a dull and stressful entry-level gig follows a powerful account that speaks with a refreshing uncompromisingness to the drudgery and dehumanisation of working class life.
On the Clock is a voice-driven novel delivered in the clipped, unadorned style of the exhausted. Here, Claire's narrative – with its calluses, oil burns, and micro-managers, a relentless present rendered in cinematic specificity – is punctuated and appended by that of her father Jérôme, an electrician who has laboured twenty years of his life away at the same car-parts factory and is due to be awarded a medal for his loyal, long-term service. Alienated by the mindless work and having every ounce of productivity squeezed from her mind and body by the slow ticking of the punch clock, Claire soon finds herself 'mired in the heart of pointlessness', caught in a similar repetitive work cycle to Jérôme but with none of the pride he had felt.
Still, she works has hard as she can, forced to compete with her colleagues rather than collaborate with them, hoping that her manic diligence brings her some relience. However, the insatiable workplace is beholden only to profit and sees all hands as disposable, and when the backbreaking work leads to both father and daughter suffering grave injury – she is burnt by frying oil, he electrocuted while repairing a robot – they know that there is no recompense; that even this harm will be pinned against them.
In this, the book presents the real, grimy, and really grim story of French class politics, also subtly examining how the system has engineered a depoliticisation of the working masses. We see that Claire was forced to become aware of her class position at a very young age – by her family's dependence on meagre holiday vouchers; by growing up in a house furnished by items destined for the scrapyard; by her lifelong inability to fall asleep until she heard her father come home – something that deepens further in adulthood as she socialises with those 'better off' than her, unable to switch the lens she sees the world through. And yet, though she is conscious of her class, class consciousness has been beaten out of her through a generational experience of precarity; it is irrecoverable even when she has the language to describe it.
A powerful, feiry debut, brilliantly translated to English by Jordan Stump.
On the Clock is a voice-driven novel delivered in the clipped, unadorned style of the exhausted. Here, Claire's narrative – with its calluses, oil burns, and micro-managers, a relentless present rendered in cinematic specificity – is punctuated and appended by that of her father Jérôme, an electrician who has laboured twenty years of his life away at the same car-parts factory and is due to be awarded a medal for his loyal, long-term service. Alienated by the mindless work and having every ounce of productivity squeezed from her mind and body by the slow ticking of the punch clock, Claire soon finds herself 'mired in the heart of pointlessness', caught in a similar repetitive work cycle to Jérôme but with none of the pride he had felt.
Still, she works has hard as she can, forced to compete with her colleagues rather than collaborate with them, hoping that her manic diligence brings her some relience. However, the insatiable workplace is beholden only to profit and sees all hands as disposable, and when the backbreaking work leads to both father and daughter suffering grave injury – she is burnt by frying oil, he electrocuted while repairing a robot – they know that there is no recompense; that even this harm will be pinned against them.
In this, the book presents the real, grimy, and really grim story of French class politics, also subtly examining how the system has engineered a depoliticisation of the working masses. We see that Claire was forced to become aware of her class position at a very young age – by her family's dependence on meagre holiday vouchers; by growing up in a house furnished by items destined for the scrapyard; by her lifelong inability to fall asleep until she heard her father come home – something that deepens further in adulthood as she socialises with those 'better off' than her, unable to switch the lens she sees the world through. And yet, though she is conscious of her class, class consciousness has been beaten out of her through a generational experience of precarity; it is irrecoverable even when she has the language to describe it.
A powerful, feiry debut, brilliantly translated to English by Jordan Stump.
November 12, 2022
Il faut lire entre les lignes de ce court roman original qui claque comme un coup de torchon mouillé. Roman social sans pathos qui m'a fait penser à Joseph Ponthus. A la ligne ou en salle, même combat. Fatigue extrême, aliénation, rentabilité à n'importe quel prix, petites victoires vides de sens, mesquineries entre collègues...
Le quotidien du père à l'usine et de la fille au fastfood se succèdent, se répondent et finissent par se superposer pour ne faire plus qu'un à leur manière, avec un dénominateur commun et irrévocable : une ligne d'horizon bouchée.
Le quotidien du père à l'usine et de la fille au fastfood se succèdent, se répondent et finissent par se superposer pour ne faire plus qu'un à leur manière, avec un dénominateur commun et irrévocable : une ligne d'horizon bouchée.
August 22, 2022
Mouais... Très oubliable. Aucun style. Les parties sur la famille du personnage sont plus intéressantes que celles sur le fastfood
August 7, 2025
This is an all-too-real portrayal of the working class experience and how difficult it can be to get ahead. It’s told in two alternating timelines—the narrator’s childhood and her summer job at a fast-food restaurant—and it’s inspired by the author’s actual experiences. Though the pace is slow, something about this book felt cinematic. I could totally see it as a quirky indie movie. This is going to be relatable to anyone who’s ever worked a food service or retail job: power-tripping managers, workplace politics, and ridiculous customers all make an appearance. This is a quick read, and I think it’s definitely worth your time!
October 23, 2025
A friend pointed out a few discrepancies about the restaurant and about the father's job, but also that it's fiction, and that there's so much more to a book than whether certain parts add up. It's bleak but I enjoyed this one.
March 15, 2025
I absolutely raced through this! This is a sharp book about working in a fast food restaurant but also having to live through the disintegration of a family. Both stories are told at the same time through alternating paragraphs. I did like the bits about the fast food restaurant better - they were deadpan, satirical and full of dark humour. The bits about the family were similarly good but they had more sadness in them, whereas the fast food sections were really biting.
The book offered a great juxtaposition between a soul sucking job and the heartache of family tensions. It did such a great job of keeping you hooked and it felt so compulsive to read. It will resonate well with you if you have ever worked in the food industry as it really captures the worthlessness and capitalist nightmare kind of vibe.
The book offered a great juxtaposition between a soul sucking job and the heartache of family tensions. It did such a great job of keeping you hooked and it felt so compulsive to read. It will resonate well with you if you have ever worked in the food industry as it really captures the worthlessness and capitalist nightmare kind of vibe.
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December 16, 2022Ouvrage un peu inégal.
Les paragraphes alternent entre le premier travail de la protagoniste dans un fast-food et des moments familiaux.
Les moments au fast-food m’ont fait penser au livre Le plongeur de Stéphane Larue. Cependant, ce n’est pas aussi immersif.
Les autres paragraphes sont des moments familiaux. J’ai cherché la ligne directrice, mais sans grand succès. On suit la protagoniste enfant qui allait dans des restaurants avec ses parents, mais ça dévie éventuellement pour être des souvenirs tout simplement. J’ai l’impression que l’autrice voulait nous dire quelque chose à propos du père, mais je n’ai pas saisi l’objectif. J’ai préféré les moments au fast-food que ceux-ci.
Les paragraphes alternent entre le premier travail de la protagoniste dans un fast-food et des moments familiaux.
Les moments au fast-food m’ont fait penser au livre Le plongeur de Stéphane Larue. Cependant, ce n’est pas aussi immersif.
Les autres paragraphes sont des moments familiaux. J’ai cherché la ligne directrice, mais sans grand succès. On suit la protagoniste enfant qui allait dans des restaurants avec ses parents, mais ça dévie éventuellement pour être des souvenirs tout simplement. J’ai l’impression que l’autrice voulait nous dire quelque chose à propos du père, mais je n’ai pas saisi l’objectif. J’ai préféré les moments au fast-food que ceux-ci.
April 8, 2025
Pointless
September 9, 2022
Rentrée littéraire 2022.
J’attendais peut être trop de ce livre. Il m’avait été énormément vendu par mes collègues et j’avais hâte de m’y mettre. La prose de l’autrice est assez magistral, je n’en reviens pas qu’il s’agisse d’un premier roman et qu’elle ait déjà un style si particulier et unique.
J’ai juste eu du mal à visualiser le « tout » que forme ce livre. Je me souviendrais toujours de certains moments, des émotions que m’ont procurés certains personnages, mais le tout formait un grand (et beau) bazar dans lequel j’ai eu du mal à m’y retrouver émotionnellement.
Il n’empêche que je suivrai avec beaucoup d’intérêt la suite de la carrière de l’autrice. Le talent qu’elle a est indéniable.
J’attendais peut être trop de ce livre. Il m’avait été énormément vendu par mes collègues et j’avais hâte de m’y mettre. La prose de l’autrice est assez magistral, je n’en reviens pas qu’il s’agisse d’un premier roman et qu’elle ait déjà un style si particulier et unique.
J’ai juste eu du mal à visualiser le « tout » que forme ce livre. Je me souviendrais toujours de certains moments, des émotions que m’ont procurés certains personnages, mais le tout formait un grand (et beau) bazar dans lequel j’ai eu du mal à m’y retrouver émotionnellement.
Il n’empêche que je suivrai avec beaucoup d’intérêt la suite de la carrière de l’autrice. Le talent qu’elle a est indéniable.
July 22, 2023
Bijzonder, verleden en heden loopt door elkaar. Een hele andere manier van werken dan ik doe, weinig voldoening, echt voor de kost
October 6, 2024
Je pourrais lire ce genre de bouquins toute la journée. Le style me parle, tout ce que ça évoque, avoir réussi à capturer toutes ces bribes qui font une époque, un moment, et aussi qui rappellent des souvenirs, des mots et des gestes presque oubliés - et nous en font imaginer d’autres, ceux qui ne sont pas les nôtres. L’alternance récit d’enfance / récit du travail présent fonctionne étonnamment jusqu’au bout, la progression marche très bien, c’est fluide, on s’ennuie pas, de la bonne longueur car c’est court mais il se passe des choses à chaque phrase. Et puis ça me touche juste à plein d’endroits, cette mouvance dans laquelle elle s’inscrit de la réévaluation du potentiel d’écriture de l’expérience de la classe ouvrière / moyenne continue de me parler vraiment vraiment beaucoup. Malgré la violence il s’en dégage quelque chose de doux, de sincère, de si beau. Merci <3
April 22, 2025
The intertwining of two tales, a father, a daughter, characterized by the exploitation to which their jobs subject them, and the social strata to which their labor condemns them. Uplifting may be too generous an adjective for the despair with which the novel leaves us at its end— but the resilience of the narrator’s humanity is evident in the humor with which, grimly, yes, but consistently and in small moments of resistance she annotates her condition.
August 18, 2023
Ik heb me laten vangen aan de vergelijking met Edouard Louis. Ik vind de vergelijking niet helemaal terecht. Dit overstijgt het anekdotische nauwelijks. Wel mooi geschreven. Eerder droevig dan grappig. Benieuwd naar een volgend boek van deze auteur.
October 12, 2022
2,5⭐
C'était bien écrit et la lecture était assez fluide mais je n'ai pas aimé le sujet abordé ou du moins comment cela a été abordé, il me manquait quelque chose
C'était bien écrit et la lecture était assez fluide mais je n'ai pas aimé le sujet abordé ou du moins comment cela a été abordé, il me manquait quelque chose
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May 25, 2025I found the style of this hard to read. I’ll put it down to the translation, though. I get the feeling it’s likely quite beautiful in its original French.
August 26, 2025
De schrijfstijl lag me niet echt, maar past wel voor wat het boek wil overbrengen. Ik vermoed dat dit het enige boek is waarin een papegaai 'Sarkozy fini' zegt en daarvoor krijgt het een bonuspunt.
April 29, 2023
J'ai ouvert ce livre avec beaucoup d'espoir, et j'ai été grandement déçue. En salle est un roman qui mêle l'histoire de deux périodes de la vie de l'autrice: son premier job à mcdo et son enfance avec un père ouvrier. Tandis qu'au début du livre les parallèles entre les deux histoires sont intéressants, cela s'estompe très vite. Les deux histoires ne se parlent pas, n'influent pas l'une sur l'autre. Les passages de l'une à l'autre sont extrêmement rapides. Les souvenirs évoqués ne forment pas un tout cohérent ni parlant. En somme l'ouvrage est à mon sens peu intéressant et désagréable à lire. En ce qui concerne le style d'écriture je n'ai rien à lui reproché, rien de marquant mais tout de même réussi.
April 9, 2025
I get what it was trying to do and respect that but in the end this book will be very forgettable.
August 16, 2025
Over dit boek gehoord uit een podcast, ze waren er erg lovend over. Het zou mooie onderwerpen aansnijden als: je bent geboren als een dubbeltje en dat blijf je je hele leven, het harde werken in een fabriek van vader, het werkende leven en het leren werken van een tiener.
Het kwam allemaal voorbij, maar ik was niet heel erg geïnspireerd erdoor, wat ik wel had verwacht. Helaas.
Wel grappig om over het werken bij de Mac te lezen
Het kwam allemaal voorbij, maar ik was niet heel erg geïnspireerd erdoor, wat ik wel had verwacht. Helaas.
Wel grappig om over het werken bij de Mac te lezen
November 17, 2022
Le parallèle entre les époques est intéressant, l'écriture est fluide, mais l'histoire ne semble pas aboutie, on ne voit pas où elle veut vraiment en venir.
November 9, 2025
Wat the hellie?
November 24, 2022
Très bon premier roman qui me donne le goût de manger au mcdo
September 7, 2025
"I was helping out the crewmember on drinks and was just about to take over her station so I could get out of the washing-up when the Coke started spitting. Then the orange juice began yelling refill refill but nobody there spoke English, the manager said maybe it means, wait, I'll look it up, no I don't know. After the orange juice it was the iced tea and everyone was worried because the tea looked like the orange juice before it started yelling refill refill, the same look in the cup, and the Coke was still spitting away quietly."
A quick read but a slow burn, if that makes sense? The story jumps between intimate moments of a working class family and the relentless mayhem of working in a fast food chain. At first the back-and-forth felt a little wobbly, but I gradually grasped the rhythm and got through the book in a day. It's a great social commentary on capitalism and wealth disparity – a topic done to death, but delivered with fresh flavour by Baglin. Baglin's writing is unconventional and snappy, and I am delightfully impressed by her debut.
A quick read but a slow burn, if that makes sense? The story jumps between intimate moments of a working class family and the relentless mayhem of working in a fast food chain. At first the back-and-forth felt a little wobbly, but I gradually grasped the rhythm and got through the book in a day. It's a great social commentary on capitalism and wealth disparity – a topic done to death, but delivered with fresh flavour by Baglin. Baglin's writing is unconventional and snappy, and I am delightfully impressed by her debut.
August 28, 2023
3.5
Chapeau pour la cohérence du projet.
Chapeau pour la cohérence du projet.
June 25, 2025
2,5/5
L’idée d’écriture est vraiment sympa : parler de l’expérience de travail dans un fast-food (bon, on le dit pas mais tous ceux qui y ont travaillés le savent : c’est McDonald’s). Donc, superbe idée. De la même façon, l’alternance de récit avec la période de l’enfance dans laquelle le fast-food est objet de rêves et d’envies, géniale aussi.
Mais l’exécution me laisse très froide. Le style est sec, une écriture sans fioriture, d’accord, mais aussi sans lien de cause à effet. On passe d’une action à une autre sans savoir pourquoi, la motivation de cette exécution . Il faut sans cesse tenter de deviner, d’interpréter sous peine de sentir l’exécution générale absolue ment absurde, sans aucun sens.
C’est aussi assez fatiguant, comme un livre constitué uniquement de pures descriptions sans avis, sans point de vue. Un peu comme Ernaux, ça peut donner un sentiment de perte de sens, de vide de sens.
L’idée d’écriture est vraiment sympa : parler de l’expérience de travail dans un fast-food (bon, on le dit pas mais tous ceux qui y ont travaillés le savent : c’est McDonald’s). Donc, superbe idée. De la même façon, l’alternance de récit avec la période de l’enfance dans laquelle le fast-food est objet de rêves et d’envies, géniale aussi.
Mais l’exécution me laisse très froide. Le style est sec, une écriture sans fioriture, d’accord, mais aussi sans lien de cause à effet. On passe d’une action à une autre sans savoir pourquoi, la motivation de cette exécution . Il faut sans cesse tenter de deviner, d’interpréter sous peine de sentir l’exécution générale absolue ment absurde, sans aucun sens.
C’est aussi assez fatiguant, comme un livre constitué uniquement de pures descriptions sans avis, sans point de vue. Un peu comme Ernaux, ça peut donner un sentiment de perte de sens, de vide de sens.
June 9, 2025
I want to make a joke about how this book treats a summer job at McDonald's like a lifetime in the gulag, but any novel that is explicitly "about" working class life will make ethical compromises one way or another, and I can't help it I got sucked into the story.
March 18, 2025
Well, I adored ON THE CLOCK. It’s a fantastic, modern addition to the literature on labor in the twenty-first century. Its account of the life of the working poor is touching and alarming. The themes of poverty are deep, boundless, and full of life, and their poignancy is only heightened by the concision and wryness with which Baglin penned this slim book. I’m really very impressed. I only wish I figured out what Baglin was doing a few pages earlier, because you can blink and miss it. I look forward to revisiting ON THE CLOCK soon.
October 29, 2025
Tbh, I didnt quite understand the concept of this book. I picked up this book by reading the gist on the cover but the story and the summary had no resemblance. This story has been described in four parts
● The interview
● Out front
● Deep fat
● Drive-Thru
After struggling upto 20 pages, to give it a second chance I had to go back and restart it on a whim just to understand the writers notion but all in vain. For me, the story didnt seem to fit in and the narration, the translation itself was so off putting, mediocre and exhausting. It felt as reading an amateurs diary only to get the expected result.
The detailing undeniably lacked emotion, essence and sensitivity resulting into a flop show of the narration overall, yet being a compulsive reader I somehow raced to the finish line only to regret and complain on the waste of time and money. Clearly not a fan of intertwining stories!
On the contrary I couldn’t help fancy few remarks in this book that actually made sense for which I gave 0.5⭐️
Out Front :
● One evening, as I’m trying to sort out my work experience, my father tells me there’s one thing about work, you can’t let yourself be kicked around, you’ve got to let them know who they’re dealing with. He tells me about his interview at the factory, the manager said shall we sign? and my father said I’ll think it over, he dares to ask is this a new position or a replacement
● There’s more to life than work, you’ve got to have hobbies, passions, things you do on the weekend, and you can’t let yourself get sucked in, otherwise that’s it
● Writers don’t wear beach shorts and flip-flops, not to mention that writers don’t have library cards, they write books, they don’t borrow them
● The interview
● Out front
● Deep fat
● Drive-Thru
After struggling upto 20 pages, to give it a second chance I had to go back and restart it on a whim just to understand the writers notion but all in vain. For me, the story didnt seem to fit in and the narration, the translation itself was so off putting, mediocre and exhausting. It felt as reading an amateurs diary only to get the expected result.
The detailing undeniably lacked emotion, essence and sensitivity resulting into a flop show of the narration overall, yet being a compulsive reader I somehow raced to the finish line only to regret and complain on the waste of time and money. Clearly not a fan of intertwining stories!
On the contrary I couldn’t help fancy few remarks in this book that actually made sense for which I gave 0.5⭐️
Out Front :
● One evening, as I’m trying to sort out my work experience, my father tells me there’s one thing about work, you can’t let yourself be kicked around, you’ve got to let them know who they’re dealing with. He tells me about his interview at the factory, the manager said shall we sign? and my father said I’ll think it over, he dares to ask is this a new position or a replacement
● There’s more to life than work, you’ve got to have hobbies, passions, things you do on the weekend, and you can’t let yourself get sucked in, otherwise that’s it
● Writers don’t wear beach shorts and flip-flops, not to mention that writers don’t have library cards, they write books, they don’t borrow them
December 9, 2023
Okidoki. ‘Werken voor de kost’ was nummer 36 van dit jaar. Het boek was zeker oké maar geen mega hoogvlieger. Je moet een beetje tussen de lijnen lezen bij deze. Een jonge vrouw komt terecht in de fastfood industrie. Tegelijkertijd krijg je haar backstory mee en het lijkt bijna onvermijdelijk dat ze in dit werk terecht is gekomen. Klein maar fijn boekje is de conclusie.
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