Temping Fate [Hardcover]

Esther Friesner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2006

Until she stumbled upon the Divine Relief Temp Agency, Ilana Newhouse was having a hard time finding a summer job. Apparently, a T-shirt that reads "Orc: The Other Green Meat" isn’t appropriate for an interview. But when she reports for her first day as a temp, Ilana discovers why Divine Relief isn’t shy about hiring someone a little left of ordinary. Ilana is temping for the extraordinary, life-controlling, Greek mythological goddesses, the Fates. Now her summer is going to be less about surviving a stuffy office and more about avoiding being turned into a pig, or worse!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9–Ilana is relieved to get a summer job, but she wonders if she's made the right choice when the Divine Relief Temp Agency sends her to Tabby Fabricant Textiles, where she meets the three unusual sisters who will be her supervisors. Tabby, Dimity, and Georgette refer casually to work that they've been doing for the past several centuries, brandish extremely sharp scissors, and seem to know every detail of Ilana's life. When she is given an unusual typing assignment, Ilana wonders aloud why a textile business would be issuing death certificates. Georgette calmly replies, They're not death certificates, dear….They're death receipts. We're the Fates. It's what we do. Soon Ilana discovers that everyone employed by the agency works for the gods or the heroes. Learning that she isn't the only one with a bizarre job gives her the impetus she needs to persevere through a summer filled with unusual experiences. She also becomes a close friend of Arachne (currently residing in her web at Tabby Fabricant Textiles) and weathers her older sister's frequent wedding-planning anxiety attacks. Teens familiar with Greek mythology will have the most fun with this book, since they'll pick up on the clever references to myths (I temp for Demeter and Persephone….It's a great job, very down to earth), but even readers without this background will find Ilana's story a perfect choice for their own summer reading.–Ginny Gustin, Sonoma County Library System, Santa Rosa, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. Ilana, who favors t-shirts that read "Orc: The Other Green Meat," can't find a summer job in her "white-bread-and-vanilla" Connecticut town. Then she signs up with Divine Relief Temps, whose truly divine client roster includes Greek gods and goddesses. Her first assignment? Typing death certificates for the Fates. While Ilana adjusts to the impossible facts of her new job, home brings its own chaos; her sister, Dyllin, has mysteriously transformed into a full-blown bridezilla in preparation for her upcoming wedding. The story's pacing is uneven, disparate elements aren't always well-integrated, and lengthy passages of dialogue may slow some readers. Still, the clever, brash concept will easily draw teens. Readers will find lots that's familiar and likable about sardonic, vulnerable Ilana as she wrestles with gods and agonizes over moments of social awkwardness: "I put my foot in my mouth so much, everything tastes like toenails." For more irreverent fantasies about classical gods and contemporary teens, suggest Clea Hantman's Heaven Sent (2001) and Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief (2005). Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (June 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525477306
• ISBN-13: 978-0525477303
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,535,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars from missprint.wordpress.com, March 17, 2007

By 

Miss Print (NYC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Temping Fate (Hardcover)

Ilana Newhouse is desperate for a summer job. Any summer job. So, she doesn't worry too much when the temp agency that hires her proves to be a little . . . strange. It turns out that Ilana is temping for The Fates of ancient Greek fame.

Chaos ensues as Ilana tries to navigate the complexities of her new job with the Fates while helping prepare for her Bridezilla-sister's upcoming wedding. Add in some fun co-workers, spastic gods and goddesses and this book has all the makings for an entertaining read. Happily, at the same time, the story does have some twists and turns to keep things interesting.

This book gets major points for putting ancient Greek gods (and some other myths from other countries) into a modern setting and preserving their integrity. The gods that we meet in the story are convincing characters and they work perfectly in the modern environment. It's the first book I have read in a while that can claim as much.

Furthermore, the story is hysterical. Ilana is a true oddball and following the plot through her point of view is a lot of fun. Friesner had me laughing out loud several times during the reading of this story. Some of the characters come off more like cartoons than "real" people, but that's probably to be expected of a story like this. Friesner introduces some great characters in a fun, upbeat story that readers will definitely want to see again.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining silliness, September 23, 2006

By 

Elisabeth Carey (Lawrence, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Temping Fate (Hardcover)

Ilana Newhouse needs a summer job, and she's not having much luck. For some reason, potential employers are put off by the little skull she drew on her face in ink, or the t-shirt reading ORC: The Other Green Meat, or her unfortunately sardonic sense of humor, or maybe just her hazy acquaintance with punctuality. Things aren't looking good until she finds a business card in her sister's room, and calls the Divine Relief Temp Agency.
It's very disorienting when she finds herself temping for the Three Fates--Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Oh, and Arachne hangs around the office, too. Weekly meetings with her fellow temps, at a coffee house run by Circe, also add variety to her life, and the only damper on what's turning out to be a good summer is all the disruption caused by her sister Dyllin's upcoming wedding. When Ilana learns that she and the other temps can borrow the powers of the gods they temp for, she can't help trying to fix just one or two little things, and Ilana starts to get acquainted with the meaning of the word "chaos." (This is apparently a sequel to an earlier book, but not having read it didn't seem to be a problem.)
Great fun.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and original, June 17, 2006

By 

Elizabeth Sise (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Temping Fate (Hardcover)

In her newest novel, Friesner takes us into the world of teenage summer jobs-and actually makes it exciting! This book has the perfect mix of everyday life (friendships, bosses, family, love interests, COFFEE) and mythical fantasy (gods, goddesses, talking insects, what have you). I was drawn in by the witty, fast paced dialogue and the original plot line. I think this story will appeal both to the die hard sf fans and to people new to the genre, myself included. Maybe we'll be reading more about the gang at D.R. Temps in the future? I hope so!