Apathy and Other Small Victories

story alone would have been a 3, but there are some really adept observations that push it into the 4 star range. (i changed my mind it's a 3.)

what's wrong with the story: nothing really. it's just one of those anti-hero plot lines like “big lebowski” where the protagonist fumbles around in a drunk stupor and judges everyone else. in this case, as in lebowski, the protagonists drunken stupor leads him to the inevitable mystery of what did he do while drunk.*

what's so awesome about neilan's observations: they are seriously dead on. the protagonists descriptions of cubicle land and what it means and the phoniness of it's artifices is kind of priceless.

*at first these stories seem funny and people root for the anti-hero because, well, they also like to get drunk and win; and a lot of times this is what happens in these kinds of stories. i find them sad, and i find people rooting for the self-obsessed, lazy a holes even more sad. these characters are built to mirror the times, they are intelligent capable people who choose to be self-obsessed lazy a-holes who judge themselves superior to people who put themselves out there by trying or buying ideas. granted some of those people are a little delusional and/or absurd and poking a little fun or recognizing that delusion is not the evil, it's the judging from a position of apathy and inaction.^ and people idolize them for that. this does not speak well for our collective future.

^of course this is the entire point. the book is called apathy and other small victories. so the story is doing what is supposed to do, and i don't think the author intends for you to root for the sorry ass protagonist, but people do and that's distracting. to me at least.