EVERY
DAY
IS LIKE MONDAY
Jessica Westhead will see you now…
by Nathaniel G. Moore
 Whether
it’s the British original or the new American adaptation, the ongoing
popularity of television’s The Office has brought chuckles and
fits of cringing intolerability to our real life hate-on for office work
of any kind. Now to give us another reflection into the grim ritual
depicted in the parameters of office politicking and gossip, comes Pulpy
and Midge (Coach House, 2007) the debut novel from Toronto’s Jessica
Westhead.
It seems that Girl Friday and Coach House author Westhead has a very
important memo for every single one of us who has ever been viciously
fettered to a stinky office cubicle. But you’ll just have to wait
until Pulpy and Midge is released to find out all the ingredients
to this savoury water cooler gossip.
For the office working stiff, Westhead’s book might be too close to
home, or work, as the case may be. "Don’t get me
wrong," muses Westhead, far from a cubicle, but instead speaks from
the comfort of her home office just north of Danforth Avenue, "I
don’t think all office work is bad news. It just isn't for
everybody."
Westhead claims the main character
doesn’t hate his job. "Pulpy does it because he’s used to it,
it's comforting, in a way. It’s only when he gets a new boss that
things start to fall apart."
Westhead, who has been involved in
Toronto’s readings and book fair scene around the city for the past
nine years, says she first got the idea for the novel while sitting at a
desk job numerous office jobs ago. "I was the company secretary,
and it wasn’t very much fun because the working environment was so
toxic."
Westhead found some of upper management
to be quite mean, and to pass the time between answering the phone and
typing, she began writing Pulpy and Midge. "It was a short
story at first, but I kept coming back to it because I enjoyed the
characters so much. After countless office jobs through various
temporary employment agencies in the city, Westhead found a similar
theme after each gig. "So many people go to work every day and
treat each other horribly, and most of the time they get away with it
because their cruelties are small ones. But those little cruelties can
add up pretty quickly."
A huge fan of dialogue, Westhead can be
found, at work or not, listening in on the world of voices around her.
"Listening to people talk, and trying to figure out the stuff they
leave unsaid, is one of my favourite things to do. If you run into me
and I’ve got glazed eyes and a slack jaw, I’m probably
eavesdropping."
Drop in on Westhead and Coach House
(through THIS IS NOT A READING SERIES) for the launch of Pulpy
and Midge complete with office party theme on September 25, 2007 at
the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen St. West.) at 730pm. Please wear
uncomfortable office clothing and anecdotes on fax machines and
malicious accidents with staplers. The event is free.
Further sources:
Pulpy & Midge by Jessica Westhead
http://www.chbooks.com/catalogue/index.php?ISBN=1552451852
Those Girls by Jessica Westhead
http://www.greenboathouse.com/chapbooks/jessica_westhead.htm
|
