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  3. Zero Hours

EBOOK

Zero Hours

Neil CampbellSeries: Manchester Trilogy (Campbell)
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Year
2018
Language
English
Publisher
Salt

About

In this, the second volume of a projected Manchester trilogy, the young writer takes a zero-hours job in a mail-sorting depot but struggles to cope with the demands of menial work and the attitudes of his colleagues. Only after rescuing and acquiring a pet tortoise does he realise what is most lacking in his life: intimacy. Embarking on a handful of sexual misadventures, he continues to struggle as a writer. He sees the city in which he was born and brought up changing all around him and, when he gets sacked from the sorting office, some hard choices lie ahead.
A powerful indictment of austerity politics and Brexit Britain, the novel never loses sight of its working-class characters' dignity and humanity, and Campbell's mordantly witty dialogue ensures that the next laugh is never far away. Gripping in its fascination with the everyday, Zero Hours is keenly observed, blackly funny and ultimately uplifting.

Related Subjects

  • Literary
  • Adult Fiction

Extended Details

  • SeriesManchester Trilogy (Campbell)

    Reviews

    "Surely already a regional classic of some sort … This book has its nearest equivalent in Mark Hodkinson's northern writing. It is unpretentious and powerful, cuttingly honest … It tightens its grip on you by loosening its hold. It achieves high results by not trying … It silently slides its tentacles around you, showing you how life in structural poverty feels … All of this is achieved through ve
    Manchester Review of Books
    "Campbell's narrator is a young working-class man from Manchester. Throughout the novel he works a number of zero hours jobs, first at a mail-sorting depot, later at a number of libraries. There is nearly always something to dishearten our man, be it his duties, colleagues, managers, or just the constant uncertainty that comes with this kind of employment. Besides work, the narrator has a number of unsuccessful attempts at relationships, and sees the face of his city change, losing its character to gentrification. There's a stop-start feel to reading the novel itself: as with zero hours work, the present moment is all, and even the immediate future uncertain."
    David's Book World

    Artists

    Neil CampbellAuthor