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Vendor
Fritz Agency
Christian Dittus
Original language
English

TEMPORARY

Hillary Leichter

In Temporary, a young woman's workplace is the size of the world. She fills increasingly bizarre placements in search of steadiness, connection, and something, at last, to call her own. Whether it's shining an endless closet of shoes, swabbing the deck of a pirate ship, assisting an assassin, or filling in for the Chairman of the Board, for the mythical Temporary, “there is nothing more personal than doing your job.”

This riveting quest, at once hilarious and profound, will resonate with anyone who has ever done their best at work, even when the work is only temporary.

Hilary Leichter's writing has appeared in n+1, the New Yorker, the Cut, the Southern Review, and elsewhere. She has taught fiction at Columbia University and has been awarded fellowships from the Folger Shakespeare Library and the New York Foundation for the Arts.
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Published 2020-03-01 by Coffee House Press

Comments

“A narrative so deliciously allusive and disarmingly literal that this reader kept thinking maximum glee had been attained, only for the glee to somehow grow even more maximal just a few sentences later.” — Helen Oyeyemi

“TEMPORARY is a demented, de-tuned love song for the working life. Hilary Leichter possesses the brute force of language and imagination to create ultra-vivid worlds, suffused with an eerie weirdo beauty. It is Leichter's brilliance that these invented worlds reflect so directly, blindingly, on the secret, mythical workings of our own.” – Ben Marcus

Most Anticipated Books of 2020

“Leichter's funny, absurdist debut cleverly explores a capitalist society taken to a dreamlike extreme. . . . Though consistently zany, there are moments of profundity. . . . will appeal to fans of Italo Calvino.” (starred review)

“Temporary took me by storm. Each short chapter is a wallop of topsy-turvy wisdom and humor, and together they build a strange and sparkling universe. The novel is about work and identity and the masks we wear, but it's also about our weird little human hearts and what they can bear. I am a Hilary Leichter superfan.” — Ramona Ausubel “In Temporary, the quest for gainful employment is epic; operatic; deliciously, sunnily, terrifyingly entertaining. Hilary Leichter is a conjurer of rare talent.” — Kelly Link “This clever book! I don't know how Hilary Leichter worked this bit of sly magic, but she waved a wand and created the perfect parable for our perilous gig economy. This hilarious, sad book about work and worth is what everyone needs to read right now.” — Amber Sparks “A profound, devastating, and unforgettable book of wonders. Devour Temporary in one sitting so you can join the feverish club of people who love this book!” — Xuan Juliana Wang “A weird, punny, hysterical, hard and soft-hitting collection of laughs, tears, and thought-provoking entertainment. Temporary will be one of the best books you read next year.” — Paperback Paris

"The temp jobs this protagonist takes on are definitely — how should I say it? — not of this world, but she tries her best anyway." (The 20 Must-Read Books Of 2020) Read more...