Read This, Then That: Put Your Nose to the Grindstone with Two Corporate Reads

Read This: Rich and Poor by Jacob WrenThen That: Job Shadowing by Malcolm Sutton(Both BookThug)Our Read This, then That picks today have even more in common than usual: Malcolm Sutton, author of novel debut Job Shadowing, is Jacob Wren’s editor. Funny that both would write on a theme that’s front-of-mind for many living in North America – the present-day, post-recessionary job market and the ethical dilemmas that abound when trying to do something as simple as finding work.Wren’s novel, Rich and Poor, examines this idea by switching between the minds of a corporate billionaire at the top of his game (we get his perspective through his autobiography) and the poor dishwasher who’s got a bullet with the rich man’s name on it. Sutton’s novel also explores the tensions between employers and -ees, in imaginative ways (Gil becomes a literal shadow to an up-and-coming young woman at an educational company, his wife Etti, becomes a witness to all measure of deplorable actions undertaken by a rich man).Both books expertly capture the acute desperation of anyone seeking secure work (especially these days) but moreover, give us a glimpse into the nature of the tricky beast that is our economy, and what we ascribe to paid work.

* * *If you like when literary recommendations come in twos, check out previous Read This, Then Thats here.