Working Stiff's Manifesto: A Memoir

Publishers Weekly

Levison is a "modern-day Tom Joad" who, over the last decade, has worked 42 jobs in six different states, including mover, fish cutter, cook, caterer and cable TV thief. He recalls those jobs in this entertaining, unusual mix of autobiography and social commentary reminiscent of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. Levison imagines himself a new breed of itinerant laborer a college graduate with a $40,000 English degree. His America is a desperate and brutal country, a place where you're hired with a promise of insurance after 90 days, then fired on the 89th; where criminals beat each other to a pulp in Alaska fisheries, and truckers make fraudulent entries in their logbooks in order to keep up with impossible schedules. But Levison's droll sense of humor eases him (and his readers) through the tough times; he recalls catering a party and bleeding into the guests' Merlot, expounds on the definition of "r sum " ("the French term for `page full of bullshit' ") and proposes a new motto for Dutch Harbor, Alaska ("What fatal flaw in your character made you wind up here?"). As both a writer and an employee, Levison can come off as a trifle obnoxious some of his workplace misfortune he definitely brings on himself and he's mercilessly scornful of the corporate yes-men and unscrupulous characters he works with. Yet his moral vision more than makes up for it; he's a sharp-eyed, impassioned critic of the American workplace. (Apr.) Forecast: Although any book that targets itself toward people without a steady paycheck would seem to be doomed, Levison's just might do well, given today's high unemployment rates and the book's undeniable originality. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

A college graduate with a degree in English, Levison has held 42 jobs in the past ten years. He quit 30 of those jobs, was fired from nine, and can't remember the other three. He is currently unemployed. This 164-page screed details his employment history, but it is obvious that Levison's problem is as much his attitude as the poor market for college graduates. He declares an English degree is only good for secretarial work (ignoring such jobs as public relations and journalism), and he applies for jobs for which he clearly is not qualified and seems surprised when they don't work out. Most of the positions he has held are low-wage, dead-end jobs (e.g., Alaskan fish cutter, furniture mover, heating oil deliveryman, etc.), but he makes little effort to improve his lot. Moving up, Levison observes, is "asking for trouble." His employment history is an entertaining read, but there is no reflection or analysis that would be useful to others. Not recommended. Christopher Brennan, SUNY Coll. at Brockport Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

A humorous memoir of working in dead-end jobs around the United States. The author classifies work into two categories: jobs he's not qualified for, and jobs he doesn't want. Despite these obstacles, he finds himself having had 42 jobs over ten years, from fish cutter to computer wirer. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kirkus Reviews

A raucous memoir of odd jobs and unhappiness by an author who is more drifter than working stiff. Willing to up-end his life for a shot at earning a few bucks, Levison finds himself by turns a trucker trainee, a fish cutter, an oil deliveryman, and a film-set gopher. He encounters each job at once dutifully and passively, accepting the need for work and working willingly enough, yet never staying with anything beyond three months. This, Levison claims, is a result of having majored in English, which has no practical application. Thus every job is either one he "can't get" or "doesn't want"; rather than stay with one thing he doesn't like, Levison varies the experience. When a job at a high-end food market grows old, he pirates cable professionally. Later, he works for weeks packing crabmeat on a rusty Alaskan tanker. Like David Sedaris in Naked, Levison is able to show each job as both funny and pathetic. Perhaps the best moment comes when he bungles a delivery of home-heating oil. Holding instructions that read "Fill at the donkey's nose," he assumes that a statue of a donkey in the front yard is, in fact, the receptacle and stuffs the oil gun up one of its nostrils. The donkey explodes from pressure. He later finds the intended oil tank beside the donkey and realizes, as he explains to his boss, that "fill" is a noun as well as a verb. Unlike Sedaris, however, Levison offers the reader no narrative arc. In addition, "manifesto" is a misnomer for something that asserts no beliefs and recommends no course of action. Levison is a nihilist who can only complain. Though he has yet to find a job he likes, he is accepting of careerists, seems to support capitalism, and other than wishing hehadn't wasted his money on college, harbors few regrets. Amusing but punch-less.