Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Humor/Short Story Collection
Approximate word count: 6-7,000 words
Availability
Click
on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or
Smashwords store
Author:
Donovan
Sotam describes himself as “Portuguese by origin,” which will seem pertinent
when you read the explanation for this book title. He also has a second volume
now available, Working for Heat II.
Description:
“A
collection of short-stories centered around the working world. Surreal aspects
of everyday workplaces and exaggerated characters, that we can all,
unfortunately, relate to. Working for heat is a direct translation of the
Portuguese idiomatic expression - “trabalhar para aquecer” - which, very
roughly, translates into working to no avail. A humorous satire about the
working world.”
Appraisal:
A small
collection of three short stories, each about the workplace, its humor and
frustrations. I found that each story had both good and not so good things,
although not the same things from story to story.
The first
story, Severance Coffee, was my
favorite (at least as far as the content of the story goes). It’s about an
employee who is being laid off, in spite of being the best employee in her
department. (We not only have her opinion on this, but also a bit of evidence
to back up her contentions.) I found the two main characters in this story,
Jenny, the employee being let go, and Victor, the senior manager doing the
dirty deed, to both be sympathetic (anyone who enjoys firing an employee isn’t
much of a person and he was nervous, to say the least). The biggest problem
with this story is the abundance of typos, also an issue with the third story.
The second
story is called, The “older you get, the
less you work, the more you earn” Paradox. Yes, that whole thing is the
title. He shot his wad there. There isn’t much else to say. The story itself
doesn’t add much. There’s a bunch of ridiculousness (which isn’t meant in a bad
way, these stories are over the top on purpose) with an ending that leaves the
reader with nothing more than a short chuckle at best.
The
collection ends with The Forgotten Chosen
One. In the book’s description, one word used is surreal. This story might
fit that word the best. It’s the most bizarre, the least true to life, yet I
can see how, depending on a reader’s taste in fiction, how this could be
considered the best of the bunch. One reason is the ending. The first story
just kind of died. It made sense, but left me wanting something more or
different. The second did nothing for me. This last story came to a logical,
satisfying ending.
Format/Typo Issues:
An
abundance of typos (often a missing or incorrect letter) and other minor proofing
misses for a book of this size.
Rating: ** Two stars
No comments:
Post a Comment