Help Wanted was such a great read! I really appreciated the insight into working at big box stores and it seems Waldman certainly did her research!

3.5 This book took me back to my early twenties when I worked, and I’m going to date myself here, at a newly opened Turnstyle. Does anyone remember those stores? Anyway, I could identify with the group Movement in this novel, with the truck on loading, time crunches and the feelings of these employees. A boss that isn’t well liked, not sufficient at their job, feeling under appreciated, overworked and frustrated with the hours or lack of.

This book hits the nail on the head, so to speak, as we get to learn about the employees of the Movement group and their backstories. Their plots to improve their lives through a group decision on the way they can improve their job. There is some dark, ironic humor and it compels one to keep reading to see how their plotting will turn out.

I listened to the audio which was well done.

I loved the behind the scenes view into big box stores and the toll they take on people's lives. The cast of characters were interesting but I kept thinking something more was going to happen, but it did not.

This was well written and I enjoyed the audiobook, but I was glad that it was as short as it was because there are many scenes where the story drags and the long chapters were a lot.

Overall, a different type of book, one that I do not normally read, but was interested to see where the story went even though it did not really go anywhere.

Thank you to NetGalley and Spotify Audiobooks for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I spent my college years working retail (5:00am shipments for me!) so I knew I had to read this one. This was a well written and interesting story about the ins and outs of big box stores. Parts were highly relatable - I feel like any industry can appreciate the worker bees having more insight into how things should run vs the higher ups. It was fun getting to know the individual team members and their reasons behind their actions. Overall, this a a good, light read that criticizes the labor industry.

HELP WANTED focuses on a cast of characters working the early, unloading and unboxing shift at a big box store in a small town.

They get there in the dark of night to unload trucks from the corporate distribution center, then get the merchandise on store shelves.

Often wry, the book manages to cover consumerism, racism, economic struggles, and more. Basically I think you could both have a fun time reading this one and spend an hour discussing it with your book club.

I really liked all the little details Adelle Waldman included - a loved one has a similar job and it felt like a close peek at what he does every day! I also thought narrator Amanda Ronconi was fantastic - she somehow used different voices for the different characters, from Big Will to Ruby to Milo to Val.

Kirkus called this one "The workplace dramedy of the year" and I tend to agree.

Help Wanted remains one of my favorite releases of 2024. I was fortunate enough to receive a physical ARC of the book last year, and then an advanced listener copy more recently. While I highly recommend this book in any format, I will say that I personally preferred the physical copy, mostly so that I could savor the language. There is something about the pacing of the book (the intentional mundanity) that seems to lend itself better to reading at your own pace, rather than listening to it. I'm including my original review below.

I recently recommended a book to a colleague of mine. (It's not important what the book was.) He read half of it, returned it to me, and said, "This is the best possible example of a book about ordinary people doing ordinary things, but I hate books about ordinary people doing ordinary things. Why would I want to read about someone just like me?"

This was the moment that I realized my absolute favorite genre of book is "Ordinary People Doing Ordinary Things." I love when an author is able to capture the human experience in a way that feels deeply relatable and authentic. And Help Wanted is one of the best examples of this type of book that I have ever read.

In the same breath, I don't know how to recommend this book to anyone. What a challenge it is to explain that a fictional book about a logistics team for a Target-like superstore is one of my favorite books I've read this year (possibly ever). So far, when I've tried to do just that, the typical response is, "Ugh, what? That sounds so boring." But I think that's the beauty of it. Because life can be so mundane, so frustrating, so hard. And this book shows that amidst all that mundanity exist these tremendously complicated human beings with their specific hopes and dreams and individual histories and identities. I was rooting for so many of them, knowing that by rooting for one, I was simultaneously betting against the others.

By the last 50 pages of the book, I was intentionally slowing down my reading so I could savor the experience. I wasn't ready to be done with these characters. I found it tremendously comforting to read about their days, about their fictional lives. I am truly looking forward to reading Waldman's debut novel soon, as well as anything she may publish in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced copy!

After over 10 years, we have another offering from Adelle Waldman. Those who have read her debut (and only other novel) The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. will recognize the lofty vocabulary, character driven storylines, and attention to even the most minute detail. In this novel, Waldman gives a scathing behind the scenes look at a big box store much like Walmart or Target. She focuses on the loading dock and late night/overnight crew. In the story, a new store manager is about to be named. The store employees show us how the politics of the retail industry work. Although heavy-handed at times, Waldman surely gets her point across in a sarcastic, sometimes meandering way. I loved the diverse characters and learning about their varied, realistic backgrounds, but the book dragged along through most of the middle. We get the intricate detail about EVERYTHING whether it mattered to the story or not.

The narrator was good and didn't try too hard to change the voices which I appreciated. And ultimately I did want to know what happened to the characters in the end. Overall, an okay read. I'm not mad I read it, but I don't know that it will be overly memorable moving forward.

This novel was simply alright for me, if a bit of a drag to get through at points. I think someone else could probably enjoy it a lot more, but it isn’t one of my favorite reads, although it has its positives.
It was at times repetitive and rambling, without seeming to take the reader to any conclusion or observation or adding to the story. I feel like the timing is never quite nailed down. Some parts drag along, other details are skimmed over, and all throughout the novel, there isn’t much action or climax at all. Things just happen, and then the book ends.
In a way, the issue with timing and lack of exciting events are similar to how life is, and the author does nail the point home that the story is rooted in real life. In my view, the characters in this novel are turned into caricatures of perpetually down-on-their-luck retail employees from a small town, alongside their corporate counterparts with their own list of personal setbacks, but a lot more money and social advantages. No character is held too high, nor are any of them safe from the snipes of the omniscient narrator.
I’ll willingly credit the novel for providing an effective commentary on some big, sometimes uncomfortable issues: the unfair and exploitative practices of retail employers; the impact of class, race, and gender on employment and interpersonal relations; and the fallout of the early 2000s recession, among other hard topics. I felt the author got the operations, practices, and many personalities right in the novel. But I also felt the novel as a whole fell flat for me. I couldn’t get used to the pacing of the story, and although the omniscient narrator was useful for the purposes of the novel’s commentary, it made the reader lurch between topics and mindsets a little too often. The description had a lot more potential than what the novel turned out to be.

DNF at 20%. Help Wanted is about the team working logistics at a big box store - unloading the trucks and getting the goods out on the floor. Unfortunately the execution just didn’t work for me and instead of feeling drawn in by the characters I just felt bored. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook and audiobook to review.

Help Wanted aims to make the ordinary extraordinary in this tale of a team of employees at a big-box store. I don’t generally like to compare to other works, but this so strongly brought to mind both Nickel & Dimed and the tv show Superstore- if you combined the two, this book may well be what you’d get. It was definitely more character than plot driven, largely entertaining and a bit eye-opening.

Amanda Ronconi did a nice job narrating the audiobook.

Thank you Adelle Waldman, W. W. Norton & Company, Spotify Books, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

I received this audiobook in exchange for my honest review from Net Galley. So many people and storylines to keep track of- all with interesting backstories that kept you wanting more. The narrator did a good job keeping you engaged. The book felt a little like the show SuperStore. It illustrated the struggles of minimum wage workers dedicated and hard working but still struggling to make ends meat while the higher ups made 300% more. It's a story of ordinary people.

As someone who has worked retail for many years of my life, I was gravitated towards this book. The story of the employees working together to hopefully better their work environment, but while still focusing on each employee as an individual, was such a fun story, and all too relatable. It gives some insight on how the culture at big box retailers is, while still being a fun fiction book! If you’ve worked retail, you will be a fan of this book!

It's no secret to anyone who follows my reviews that I'm a sucker for nerdy work stories and that I love insider-business stuff. That's why Help Wanted was instantly on my TBR. I worked in a factory and in retail during my college years and remember so well the minutiae and drama of our shifts that kept us going and fueled our conversations. That's what I loved about this story, how we got to know each employee so well but recognized that we'd never see them again ~ relationships formed in those types of jobs simply aren't carried over when people leave. And having a supervisor to unite against is always the best situation, as it forms bonds between incredibly different people and gives everyone a reason to show up every day.

Waldman does a wonderful job of detailing the lives of the workers and how their situations have brought them to working in Movement (logistics) at a big box store with almost no other options. These people are real and deserving of having their lives understood. This isn't a story with major drama or events, but instead a novel that opens the door to a group of workers that are rarely depicted in fiction. I hope their story is read by many.

NOTE: the audio narration was excellent and perfect for the nature of the story

** This title will be featured on my Substack http://mindfullibrarian.substack.com later in April

While I found this enjoyable, witty, and very realistic - it lacked any emotionality and kept me thinking “what/who is this for?” I guess the point of the novel is that life is just sort of meandering and meaningless sometimes which is an honest and even interesting statement - it just overall left me cold.

Adelle Waldman’s sophomore novel, “Help Wanted,” centers around the logistics team at a big box store. Unusually and refreshingly, the book allots approximately equal space to all members of the Town Square “Team Movement.” Each character is well-developed with natural but distinct dialogue.
Waldman focuses on the people impacted by the downturn of retail and rise of internet shopping, but manages to offer keen commentary as the book follows the team’s struggle for autonomy after a shift in management is announced. Despite its somber undertones, “Help Wanted” does not fail to find some humor in difficult situations.

I listened to the audiobook and was impressed by Amanda Ranconi’s success making each character distinct and flawlessly using tone to balance the diametric themes of economic struggle and social commentary.

I have not read her debut, “The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.,” but “Help Wanted” has encouraged me to to so.

“Help Wanted” will be released in the US on April 2, 2024. Many thanks to Spotify Audiobooks and NetGalley for this audio ARC given in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is a unique book in that almost all of it takes place in one location -- the store, Town Square, where all the characters work.

The store manager at Town Square is leaving, which means there is an opportunity for one person to be promoted. The workers quickly pick their sides and have reasons why one person over another should be picked -- which made for some funny scenes.

Each character is quirky and different and all their storylines were interesting. The plot moved seamlessly between them, and we got enough backstory on them to be invested in their lives.

It was fun seeing the inner workings of a big store, hearing about the online retailer who was impacting their business, and all the dynamics of the people that work there and their various departments.

I listened to this one and enjoyed the narrator as well.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

I was predisposed to like this, but it just didn't work for me. It seemed like it wanted to be social commentary, but it fell flat as a book?


Review copy provided by publisher.

Thank you Spotify audiobooks for the review copy of Help Wanted. I really loved this story, it was a different in a good way from other fiction reads but also reminded me of so many ways I love a good character driven kind of found family cheer on the underdog kind of book, if that is a thing... I loved how the characters, all diverse and with different needs and goals but all working together at a costco like place to manage stocking/deliveries, come together, know each other, and really find ways to lift each other up even as changes come and some changes might mean less than great things for them. It is heartwarming and light, even with some fairly big themes underneath the story, and richly written with an affectionate style that lets the characters shine.
My one note... I think this audiobook might have been a bigger homerun with a multicast narration, which I know might be more challenging to produce and support.

This book delves into the intricate dynamics of workplace relationships, shedding light on how individual lives shape attitudes, opportunities, and perceptions within a retail logistics department. While the narrative ambitiously attempts to offer glimpses into each character's life, the lack of depth prevents a strong emotional connection. Presented from a third-person perspective, the story provides a comprehensive overview of the department's inner workings, highlighting workforce inequalities and the significance of shared goals or adversaries in fostering camaraderie.

Although the setting is compelling, the absence of a central character leaves the plot feeling somewhat detached. The conflicts presented lack the necessary urgency to fully engage the reader, despite their potential significance to certain characters. Perhaps anchoring the story around a central protagonist, while still incorporating other key perspectives, could have heightened the stakes and increased reader investment.

While the narrative may resonate more strongly with those familiar with the retail industry, it still offers an insightful portrayal of workplace dynamics. Despite its shortcomings, the book remains an enjoyable read, albeit one that falls short of its full potential.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this audiobook.

Help Wanted has an ensemble cast of characters working the early, early shift in a big box store, whose lives are pretty dreary overall, most expecting no change and devoid of hopes of opportunities. Their managers are an obtuse and ambitious woman, a thoughtful, insecure man, and an astute, charming, and completely competent general manager, who is being transferred to a new location. The potential for promotion that will be left behind in their normally stagnant working environment has all the players scheming on whether they want to compete for a promotion of their own, who they want to lead, and how to achieve this as a team. This motley group of characters is well developed, and you want each of them to have what they want, yet, as always with life, one's achievement means another's disappointment. This book is a departure from Waldman's The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., which was full of cringingly unlikeable characters.

Great audio narration.