Cedricsmom’s Reviews > Service > Status Update

This book is excellent if you're a struggling writer, because the protag of the novel is exactly that, and he offers up every single mind game and road block that potential writers wrestle with. It's therapeutic to read your neurosis shared on the paged; to see that you're not alone in the struggle. The magic is that he turned his struggle into a book, and a pretty funny one at that.

This poor man is miserable.

Dude is miserable. He takes way too much comfort from the misfortunes of others.

I work part-time as a cashier at CVS so I was keen to read this book. Our narrator is a middle-aged out of work journalist who currently works at a bookstore in Los Angeles. Dude had me at "do you need a bag?" The things customers say, the thoughts I have, things that happen in the store...truly, you have to be there, and this guy gets it because he's been there. Some hilariously funny stuff, too.