The Skinny- From Publishers Weekly
Like many a hip young literary antihero these days, the protagonist of this hilarious if aimless debut is sunk in slacker anomie. Shane has a monotonous temp job at an insurance agency, where he is supposed to alphabetize paperwork but instead spends his time sleeping on the toilet. After work, he is besieged by a gallery of grotesques: a vapid girlfriend who sexually brutalizes him; an absurdly macho neighbor with a leather-clad guinea pig for a sex slave; and his dentist's deaf assistant, who sings atonal karaoke, teaches him to sign obscenities and furnishes a wispy narrative thread by getting murdered.
The Verdict- I haven't laughed this much reading since Sedaris. Neilan has a sense for the ironic matched with equally potent comedic timing and in his first novel he has something for everyone... A smattering of office humor, base sexual escapades, and a carnivale of the absurd. Don't miss out on this hilarious little novel, after all, you should be ready for a fun little ride when the author's dedication reads, "To my parents, who will hopefully never read this book".
Four stars out of five ****
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