esrosedotblog

FUNNY LOSERS

I just finished reading

Middle Men: Stories by Jim Gavin.

You know these guys. Maybe you have been one once.

If you still are one of these guys you might still enjoy the book.

"These guys" are the ones who are smart and funny and see the world in an insightful way. They have pretty good bullshit detectors.

But they have not connected. They are having trouble with work. Or school. Or marriage.

They are career underachievers.

They are the guys you might hang out with in bars listening to their hard luck stories.

A guy who wants to be a standup comic but his act sucks. And he knows it.

A guy who sells toilets to house builders and doesn't know the first thing about the product.

I know. It sounds drab. But Gavin captures them in a way that makes them special. They shine. As losers, they are, in fact spectacular. Their greatest success.

He does not condescend. They are valued.

All of these guys are from Southern California which probably encourages this kind of slacker life style. There are just enough dead end jobs or pit stops in the service economy to keep them with enough change in their pockets but they are not going anyplace.

You will want to shake them and say "wake up".

I am not much of a fan for the short story but these are just right.

Look at that picture. That is Gavin. I can imagine that his characters look just about like him. The same slight smirk and what the hell glint in his eyes.

He is a natural serious humorist.

Labels: books