Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind

By Molly McGhee

Book Overview

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

"Disturbing and darkly funny, McGhee's surrealist debut is sure to keep readers up at night." --People

Now in paperback, an Electric Literature and Chicago Review of Books best book of the year, the debut Xochitl Gonzalez called "wildly imaginative, tender and piercing critique of the squeeze of capitalism."

Jonathan Abernathy is a self-proclaimed loser--he's behind on his debts, has no prospects, no friends, and no ambitions. But when a government loan forgiveness program offers him a literal dream job, he thinks he's found his big break. If he can appear to be competent at his new job, entering the minds of middle-class workers while they sleep and removing the unsavory detritus of their waking lives from their unconscious, he might have a chance at a new life. As Abernathy finds his footing in this role, reality and morality begin to warp around him. Soon, the lines between life and work, love and hate, right and wrong, even sleep and consciousness, begin to blur.

Molly McGhee touches on themes most people know all too well--the relentlessly crushing weight of debt, the recognition that work won't love you back, and the awkwardness of finding love when you are without hope. A workplace novel, at once tender, startling, and deeply funny, Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind is a stunning, critical work of surrealist fiction, a piercing critique of late-stage capitalism, and a reckoning with its true cost.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1662602111
• ISBN13: 9781662602115
• Release Date: October 2023
• Publisher: Astra House
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Deeply Human

I usually go for lighter stories with more of an escapist flavor, and this is not that. This book brought to mind the old Kafka quote about how "A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us". I want to tell everyone about it, I want to warn everyone about it, I want it to warn all of us about the importance of human connection and how very vital it is that we honor one another's dreams. Please read it, and please find someone to discuss it with, because I think this is the kind of book that wants a reader to talk to a kind English teacher or walk with friend afterwards.