- Temporary, by Hilary Leichter. Allen and Unwin, $27.99.
As someone who has had her fair share of temporary, non-ongoing, seasonal and downright unusual jobs, I couldn't wait to read this book.
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Finally, I thought, a novelist is getting stuck into the contract-hopping existence through which most of us pay the rent.
While late capitalism's disregard for its workers is indeed given the full absurdist treatment in this sharp satire, Temporary never fully engages the reader because the very worker at the centre of it all fails to develop as a fully-fledged character
The unnamed temporary has a slew of interchangeable boyfriends to match a slew of placements found for her by Farren, a creepy, manicured recruitment agency staffer.
After working her way up from menial jobs like window-washing, the temporary cracks white-collar work.
She is sent to fill in for the chairman of the board at the major corporation, called of course, Major Corp.
From there she moves on to a string of ever weirder placements. She is hired as an assistant to an assassin, and as a shipmate on a pirate ship plundering the seas of adventure capitalism.
There are some wonderful turns in this comic, dystopian presentation of the world of human resources.
Before Farren puts the temporary forward for the shipmate job, she asks, "Do you have experience with, or training in, seasickness?.... It's not on your resume, so I had to check."
On the ship, the temporary learns that workers must become their predecessors, as every worker is expendable, replaceable and interchangeable.
Her co-workers paint a picture of Darla, the woman she replaces, as a second-guessing, ever-vigilant automaton: always on hand when needed, ever ready to brew a fresh pot of coffee for her superiors, but never claiming credit for the fresh brew.
While Leichter has a sharp eye, and a great sense of balance, I waited in vain for an emotional coda to match the social commentary.
Who is the temporary? Did Leichter intend her to be hollowed out, almost brainwashed by the up-tempo responses she must parrot in order to secure her next gig? If we don't know her do we care about her? Unfortunately, not.
The economic consequences of insecure work are also sidestepped. While the temporary exists in a strange twilight of bizarre placements, she doesn't appear to want for anything materially.
Leichter's heroine grapples with existential dilemmas, rather than the hard economic or social consequences of badly paid work.
- Christine Kearney is a writer and reviewer.
