From Publishers Weekly
The title of Soft Skull's latest Soft Skill book is taken from Charles Bukowski, who said of wage labor: "I couldn't understand the murdering of my years." A struggling activist/artist, Z. found that he was too short on time and money to write an activist's memoir and how-to. Instead, he e-mailed a questionnaire (printed at the end of the book), asking fellow activists and artists how they managed to be active yet survive economically. Each of the sections of the book is created from the responses to a particular question, but one gets the feeling that many activists and artists are quite private about their survival techniques. A.D. Nauman, for one, provides concrete ideas for writers looking for relatively painless work within the mainstream, and for artists who are also mothers, but the section entitled "The Dark Side: Illegal Jobs" is not nearly as juicy as one might hope. The e-mail format creates a tone that is entertaining, conversational and immediate, but also often prolix. Yet for anyone looking for some human company in the long struggle to make a living outside of the corporate structure, this book provides grassroots moral support.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
Mickey Z. considers work a 50-year fugue from which some people awaken to wonder what has become of their lives. In The Murdering of My Years, cabbies, waitresses, clerks, telemarketers, and an array of others tell how they balance activism and artistic production with the daily struggle to make ends meet. Contributors’ essays are at once absurd and poignant; captivating and strange. Collectively, their reflections challenge the myth of the American work ethic and exhort readers to advocate for themselves in the workplace.
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