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Temporary
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
29 posts | 13 read | 25 to read
Eighteen boyfriends, twenty-three jobs, and one ghost who occasionally pops in to give advice: Temporary casts a hilarious and tender eye toward the struggle for happiness under late capitalism.
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quote
ImperfectCJ
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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"She knew when they were genuine because she was built to feel the world through active, staggered checks of compassion. She could not help but understand where they were coming from, because it was where she came from, too, because she was meant to begin where other people ended."

review
ImperfectCJ
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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Pickpick

I find this novel funny, quirky, true, and very sad. It's a look at how we (some of us) are conditioned to put ourselves aside to become what everyone else wants us to be, whether realistic or not, and to change when their whims change. It's a look at how this is okay until it's not, and then we have to figure out what to do with the disillusion and grief that result.

Photo: Unusually active koala at the zoo this morning.

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ImperfectCJ
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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I had about 30 minutes to read, eat lunch, and synthesize vitamin D between academic endeavors today. I'll have to make different arrangements when it starts raining Thursday, but I sure enjoyed the sunshine and blue skies today.

TheBookHippie Green!!!!!!! 9mo
46 likes1 comment
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ImperfectCJ
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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1. It's the first week of the classes I'm taking to explore a possible new career path. So now I have homework in addition to prep and classroom time for the three classes I'm teaching. Excited and nervous!
2. Still working on the tagged.
3. Persistent, intense.
#MotivationalMonday @Cupcake12

Texreader That is exciting!! 9mo
Cupcake12 Oooh…what career path are you thinking? Thanks for joining in and have a great week x 9mo
ImperfectCJ @Cupcake12 It's a little too embryonic at this stage for me to feel comfortable announcing it just yet, but I'm taking classes in the music and drama departments. 9mo
See All 6 Comments
julesG Exciting! Best of luck with the new career path. 9mo
Cupcake12 Good luck x 9mo
TieDyeDude ⭐ Best wishes on the new path! 9mo
33 likes6 comments
blurb
ImperfectCJ
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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I went to a cat show today! I bought nothing, not even a kitten (or these socks for my spouse, the reluctant "cat dad"), but I started to wonder if maybe I'm not asking as much as I could from Silo and Camille. I bet most of these cats are much better about having their claws trimmed than mine are.

Now it's time to spend the afternoon acting like I'm watching football but actually reading.

AmyG Hahahaha. I always read through football. 9mo
rubyslippersreads Nicky and Sadie hate having their claws trimmed. 😾 9mo
43 likes2 comments
blurb
ImperfectCJ
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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I'm enjoying the tagged book this evening (I love how weird it is...it reminds me a little of Subdivision) after dropping off the elder kid at college again. On the way there we got to see SoCal snow, both on distant mountains and on cars that presumably had just driven from said distant mountains. We have no chains so we don't visit snow ourselves, but it's exciting to see while we remain down in the 60°F valleys.

Ruthiella I already have the book stacked, but the Subdivision comparison has me doubly intrigued! 10mo
Faranae You're making me miss road trips so much! And mountains! Not snow, though. Got plenty of that here. 😂 10mo
Cupcake12 Great photo x 10mo
49 likes3 comments
review
julesG
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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Pickpick

Another gem from the #AuldLangSpine list @rachelsbrittain put together.

I cannot say exactly why I liked this weird book about a temp who works in the strangest jobs: a shoe-shiner, on a pirate ship, opening doors, even as a human barnacle 😳

@monalyisha

monalyisha That does sound weird! 😅 10mo
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 10mo
rachelsbrittain I'm so glad you liked it! It's a super weird but that somehow still works! 10mo
67 likes2 stack adds4 comments
review
triplem80
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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Mehso-so

I heard about this on one of my favorite podcasts, and I was so excited to read it. A story about a temp whose jobs include Chairman of the Board, a murderer's assistant, and a pirate! Sounds fun!

I thought it was funny at times, and definitely a little quirky -- perhaps a little too quirky (and a little too fantastical) for me? It definitely had Piranesi vibes -- which I didn't like. If you DID, then maybe you'll enjoy this one too!

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rachelsbrittain
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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Pickpick

A lifelong temp worker runs through a series of stranger and stranger jobs including as a replacement pirate and a serial killer's assistant. But being a temp is more than just a job-- it's a lifelong pursuit of finding permanency, something that might outlast even humanity itself. A wonderfully weird story.

Tea_and_Starstuff This sounds fascinating! Will have to check it out. 1y
rachelsbrittain @Tea_and_Starstuff I saw it recommended on a tiktok and couldn't believe I hadn't heard of it before! 1y
DaveGreen7777 I had to add it, the book description had me at “replacement pirate”! 😁 🏴‍☠️ 1y
48 likes1 stack add4 comments
review
Robotswithpersonality
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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Pickpick

Finna meets There's No Such Thing As An Easy Job. I really think there should be a sub genre called employment-based existential horror. May have literary/elevated writing style, magical realism elements, heavy on social commentary, leaning dystopic.
We Had to Remove This Post and Horrorstor are also good candidates.
1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? Of course, we could just call it 'the realities of capitalism'...but this particular sub genre definitely exaggerates to emphasize the dehumanizing badness, desperation eliminating choices, emotional manipulation, endless unsupported hope, power and privilege differential, prevalent in the modern workplace.
1y
Robotswithpersonality 3/4 This book in particular features commentary on training people to feel disposable in a capitalist setting, also
seems to be feminist subtext on society/tradition training women to be peacekeepers and people pleasers to the extent that they will put others' interests before their own safety and comfort.
1y
Robotswithpersonality 4/4 If you managed to have a good experience with temp work (I can vouch it occurs, it just never lasts) or are in a steadier employment situation I can recommend it. Even in the interests of solidarity, I'm not sure I would have suggested it to mid-twenties me when I was GOING THROUGH IT.
Would read from this author again, as I'm now prepared for how dark she can go, and I love the breadth of her imagination.
⚠️SA
1y
batsy Great review. I've had this on my TBR; I should make a note to get to it soon. 1y
6 likes4 comments
quote
Robotswithpersonality
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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Oo oo! New (to me) word alert!
According to Merriam-Webster,
"Aedicula: a small structure used as a shrine : a niche for a statue."

quote
Robotswithpersonality
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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🦁👀What gets me is I fully believe there are people who exist who actually say things like this and expect it is an achievable outcome.

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Robotswithpersonality
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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👀🎂🍰🍮🍭🍪🍨🍦

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Robotswithpersonality
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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"Take your tuffet and stuff it." HA! ?

6 likes1 stack add
review
AlizaApp
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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Pickpick

A lifelong Temp takes a series of jobs, including as a pirate, a barnacle, and a bank robber, trying to see if her life can ever become permanent.

suvata Sounds interesting 4y
readordierachel That description with a blurb from Kelly Link? Sold! 4y
41 likes3 stack adds2 comments
quote
Lindy
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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The First Temporary studied the world. She noted the shortcomings of the gods, their tempers and their feuds. It was their bureaucracy that allowed for her existence. She noted the fallacy of permanence in a world where everything ends and desired that kind of permanence all the same.

(Detail of painting by Laurie MacFayden)

review
Lindy
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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Pickpick

This hilarious novel about a woman going from one absurd temporary assignment to another has a charming energy. Whether she‘s filling in for a chairman of the board, an assassin‘s assistant or a barnacle, she tries to do her very best. “Steadiness” is her dream, which seems forever out of reach. Leichter‘s pointed commentary on capitalism is slipped in almost under the radar.

41 likes1 stack add
blurb
Lindy
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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The review of this novel in Publishers Weekly compares Leichter to Italo Calvino. Oddly enough, I was thinking that André Alexis‘ The Night Piece reminded me of Calvino—and I‘m not a fan of Calvino. Conversely, I‘m a big fan of Leichter.

quote
Lindy
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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These days, all my boyfriends are long-distance. But then again, so is the length of an arm stretched between two people watching each other from afar.

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Lindy
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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“There are only a few kinds of jobs in the world,” says the captain, who is the type to pontificate & listicle on subjects varied & profound. “Jobs on land, jobs at sea, jobs in the sky, jobs of the mind, & working remotely.”
“You mean like working from home?” I ask.
“No,” the pirate captain says. “Working remotely is what we call being dead. Pirate lingo.”

[This passage has new shades of meaning in the work-from-home time of Covid.]

Centique This sounds good - is there a sort of tongue in cheek satire aspect? 4y
Lindy @Centique Yes, satire and surrealism too. It‘s pleasantly different. 4y
22 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
Lindy
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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Hilary Leichter is giving me Helen Phillips vibes, only Leichter is less chilling.

quote
Lindy
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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“I propose a new kind of vote,” says an entirely insignificant shareholder, “in which we vote the way we think our grandmothers would‘ve voted, contrast this against the votes our unborn grandchildren might make, then, using a system of charts and graphs, concede to the hypotenuse of the two hypotheticals, in the name of our forbearers and our descendants.”

(Image: Shaun Tan. See link in comments)

batsy 😆 4y
ManyWordsLater Great quote! 4y
31 likes3 comments
quote
Lindy
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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“You ok?” Farren asked. She handed me a form and touched my elbow with a cold, outstretched tip of shimmering nail. Just the nail, not the finger. I couldn‘t tell if it was meant to soothe or scratch.
“I‘m fine. Thanks, Farren.

(Internet photo)

30 likes1 stack add
blurb
AnneCecilie
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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December 16: In the Mist of Everything by Hilary Leichter. Story published in Conjunctions

“Shira thought she would buy furniture for the bedroom first. Kevin made attempts at saving his garden.” So the story begins and so it continues with different names until it start over again.

review
mklong
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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Mehso-so

I think Leichter is making an important point about the way that profession makes a up a disproportionate part of identity and stability, but it‘s all so aggressively quirky, that I had a hard time taking it seriously. #ToB

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Well-ReadNeck
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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Mehso-so

Liked (but didn‘t live) this odd novel that takes sharp jabs at capitalism and modern life.

merelybookish I do love the cover! 4y
67 likes1 comment
blurb
TheBookStacker
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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Trying this book. Only book I‘ve read for all of quarantine has been The Guest List. Ugh I‘m so stuck!

44 likes1 stack add
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BookNAround
Temporary | Hilary Leichter
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I had to get out of my house so I‘m in a lawn chair on the driveway reading until the pollen drives me back inside.

SamAnne I‘m jealous. We‘ve had 3 days of late season snow, hail, graupel, rain and chilly temperatures. I want to take my work breaks outside with a book! 5y
BiblioLitten Look at all the green💚💚 I‘m in a place like @SamAnne 5y
batsy I want to read this! That cover 😍 5y
71 likes3 stack adds3 comments