This year’s One Book, One Community Event
For our 3rd year, the One Book, One Community program invites members across our Jewish Federation, whether book clubs, friend groups or individual readers, to join us in discussing one socially significant book. We encourage the community to read this engaging book in advance of the event and meet the author in person to learn more about her inspiration and perspective.
This year’s One Book, One Community, takes us behind the scenes and into the world of a “big box” store in upstate New York. Our author, Adelle Waldman, found a unique way to truly understand the struggles of the part time, low wage worker in a time of economic downturn and the rise of online shopping: she got a job herself! In many ways, it’s a real-life version of the TV show “Superstore”.
Back in 2018, with an eye to writing a novel about low-wage workers in America, she got a job at a big box store near the Catskills in New York where she lives. She was on the team that unloaded the truck of new merchandise each day at 4:00 am. Most of her co-workers had been at the store for years, but almost all of them were part time. This meant the store had no obligation to give them a stable number of hours or cover health insurance, not to mention these workers needing to coordinate hours with other part time jobs if more hours were made available. Many didn’t have cars because it was hard to secure loans with unstable pay. How do they manage, and how can they get ahead?
Waldman creates a diverse character study, loosely based on her co-workers, of all the types of workers, managers, and “corporate” who keep the store running while struggling with their own personal lives to get to work on time, juggle multiple part time jobs, and try to make a living. We also see how managers try to recognize or promote employees, and the impact on corporate trying to keep the business afloat and prices down.
Under the eyes of a self-absorbed and barely competent boss, we observe the workers behind the scenes as they follow a grueling routine to meet the tight time deadlines to finish unloading before the store opens. When the store general manager announces he is transferring to another store, the team spots an opportunity to promote within their own ranks to supervisor and move their boss “up” the corporate ladder. How they humorously set this up behind the scenes could happen anywhere. This unique novel has been called a humane and darkly comic workplace caper, and a fascinating and often funny workplace “dramedy” and social observation.
Help Wanted: A Novel is ultimately a funny, moving tale of ordinary people trying to 
make a living. Hear her story and what she learned along the way. The author shines a light on what low-wage workers, and those holding second, and third jobs are up against in today’s economy. In the post-COVID labor market, with the increasing use of technology to track customer flow and replace routine work, is this trend for hiring only part time hires and flexible scheduling continuing? Based on her stint at the big box store, Ms. Waldman points out in her February essay in The New York Times, that we can’t talk about low wages without talking about the number of work hours.
Adelle Waldman’s first book, The Love Affair of Nathaniel P. was published in 2013, and named best book of the year by The New Yorker, Economist, NPR and Elle, and many others. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Join us to hear about her latest novel, Help Wanted: A Novel, at Temple Sinai of Glendale on Sunday, December 8 at 4:00 pm. As their tradition, the temple’s Sisterhood will host a bountiful and delicious dessert reception after the program.
The book will be sold at all Jewish Book Festival events, and resources are available on the Jewish Federation website, and at the program.
Denise Schaefer is a Jewish Book Festival committee member and a contributing writer to JLife Magazine.
