Help Wanted, Desperately

September 27, 2004
Alexa Hoffman, the 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania senior at the center of Ariel Horn's debut novel, has got exactly seven months, three weeks and two days before her initiation into the real world. Determined to secure a job in New York City, she embarks on a life-altering journey from one bizarre interview to the next. As a last resort and to avoid moving back in with her parents, she signs up to become an English teacher on the Third World island of Majuro while continuing her search for a job that will prevent her from actually having to go there. Over the course of this witty and wise coming-of-age novel, Alexa interviews for every imaginable position—earthworm breeder, deodorant sniffer, phone sex operator—evoking all the expectations and anxiety of the modern-day career search. Each chapter ends with a list of "Lessons Learned" comprising such hard-learned aphorisms as "Never assume your mother believes in something you plan on doing simply because she doesn't say otherwise" and "Do not—under any circumstances—interview for Internet jobs listed as 'other' ever again." Blithe and fresh-voiced, this book covers almost every tribulation of entering adulthood, forging a career and falling in love, against the odds. Agent, Jeff Kleinman.

September 1, 2004
Alexa Hoffman is a senior English major at the University of Pennsylvania who fears she will be the only person in the world to remain unemployed after graduation. Readers may find it hyperbolic that Alex is certain that not having a job seven months before graduation signals her doom, but there is obviously a kernel of truth in Horn's tales of the job-hunting neuroses of college seniors. Horn (whose initials are the same as those of her protagonist) is also a Penn graduate and uses her own job-interviewing experiences for comic effect. From phone-sex operator to earthworm breeder to deodorant sniffer, Alex racks up rejections, but they ultimately serve to crystallize her vision of what she really wants to do with her life. Soon-to-be and recent graduates will certainly relate to Alex's travails and enjoy the over-the-top humor.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)