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DNF. 13% in and so far nothing but a straight guy complaining how difficult it is to get laid. Not my cup of tea.

An ex-salesman comes up with a creative solution for dealing with sexual harassment in the workplace. The juxtaposition of using such banal business/self-improvement jargon to describe such an outlandish idea really worked for me. DeWitt is a funny writer and great at conveying the gap between how people see themselves and how they actually think and behave.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

One way of looking at it is that it was just an unfortunate by-product of Hurricane Edna.

Second book completed for the Helen DeWitt spotlight group I joined. What can companies do to prevent sexual harassment? One business man comes up with a surprising solution. 👀😳🍑🍆 And then builds a business on it. DeWitt is clever beyond words & her ability to satirize the absurdity capitalist logic and American corporatese is amazing. Still, I will never love satire. Not for the faint of heart. A short story version would have been plenty.

DeWitt's second novel, a satire on sexual harassment in the workplace. It's testing me. 😒

Happy birthday month @wanderinglynn and congratulations on reaching 300k Litfluence! 🥳🥳🥳 Thanks for this generous giveaway opportunity. 🙏 I‘ve tagged a book from the never ending TBR that I‘d love to receive.

#300KBirthdayGiveaway

Joe is a struggling salesman when he suddenly gets his brilliant idea - a way for companies to safeguard themselves against sexual harassment suits by providing a (cough) facility which testosterone-fuelled workers can avail themselves of at scheduled times. Brilliantly written in a style which at times parodies the clichés of the self-help and motivational genres this is laugh-aloud hilarious.

Joe has bad luck selling the Encyclopedia Britannica so he comes up with an idea based on a sexual fantasy. This idea would install “lightning rods” at offices to prevent sexual harassment.

Overall I thought the story was boring and repetitive. I found myself rolling my eyes quite frequently.

This quirky, outrageous workplace satire was written in 2009, but feels especially relevant in the #MeToo era. It‘s definitely a book that makes you cringe, as does most satire that‘s all too plausible. DeWitt‘s writing is fresh and hilarious, reminding me of George Saunders and David Foster Wallace. The plot, unfortunately, does become redundant. But I‘m glad to have DeWitt on my radar now, and will definitely continue seeking out her writing.

#eyesoncovers #maybookflowers