Help Wanted By Adelle Waldman

A REVIEW OF
Help Wanted
By Adelle Waldman
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Hardback, 276 pages

Quirky, accessible characters in working class New York entertain and enlighten
By Sarah Tramel

Some books illuminate a corner of the world not typically in the spotlight. Some books are enjoyable and fun to read, the pages flipping easily as you chuckle to yourself or sigh with empathy. This novel is both.

‘Help Wanted’ follows the lives of the Team Movement employees of Town Square store #1512, located a few hours north of New York City in Potterstown, increasingly dependent on the cash influx from the summer destination crowd with many locals struggling to make ends meet.

Some of these locals are rank-and-file workers of Team Movement, coming in at 4 a.m. to unload the delivery truck, unbox and resupply the store’s inventory. Most count themselves lucky to work for an employer that pays (slightly) above minimum wage and touts the possibility of upward mobility within the company.

One such opportunity becomes apparent when Town Square store #1512’s store manager, Big Will, announces that he is going to be transferred to Connecticut to be closer to family. This opens up a chain of promotions that could be life changing in Potterstown (that is, if you have your GED and are thus eligible for promotion).

The subsequent chapters explore the lives of the Team Movement members, a group rich in diversity (a fact belovingly advertised by corporate) but lacking in work hours and benefits (a corporate effort to spend as little money on them as possible). At the forefront of each employee’s mind is what a low-level management position could mean for them.

For Val, a gay woman who has made strides since running away from home at 17, a promotion means the validation that she is a person of value with something to offer. It is a continuation of the trajectory of finding her wife, getting her GED and having a baby.

For Diego, an immigrant and self-proclaimed ladies’ man, it means the advancement that his accent and limited English writing skills had prevented at other jobs.

For Ruby, a middle-aged black woman with a notable love of accessorizing her uniform, it means being able to pay her back bills and have things set up for her son to make a fresh start when he gets out of prison. These are just a few of the secretly hopeful members of Team Movement who band together in an unlikely way to try to improve their work environment.

As the personnel changes loom closer, Team Movement employees from the bottom to the top take stock of their lives and daydream of their ideal better future. The world seems always to be evolving, and no one wants to be left behind.

‘Help Wanted’ explores what it means to one’s identity to be a rank-and-file employee, feeling ever against the odds. It is a book that will make you think twice about ordering from Amazon, and will prick empathy instead of frustration for the brick-and-mortar store that isn’t “what it once was.”

Whether you relate to these characters or put yourself in shoes you have never been in before, this novel will immerse you in a world often ignored, and you will emerge all the better for it on the other side. 

---

Sarah Tramel is an avid reader who lives in Belhaven with her husband, Robert, her daughter, Tindall, and her rescue dog, Leo. Her passions also include running, drinking wine on porches, dancing to live music, and adventures with her girlfriends.