The premise of John Tottenham’s debut novel, ‘Service’, is ironic. It’s about Sean, a failed writer and self-proclaimed misanthrope who works in a bookstore, surrounded by customers and the work of successful writers. For Sean, everything is moving on without him; he no longer recognises the rapidly gentrified Los Angeles neighbourhood he lives in; his former hospitality comrade is now his manager who berates him for poor customer service; and he begrudgingly sells books written by his peers. Staring down the barrel of fifty with little romantic prospects and a whole load of debt, Sean attempts to write the novel that he’s been itching to write for decades. Incidentally, it’s the novel we’re reading. Service is a self-deprecatory reflection on failure, aging and literary pursuit. Although it is lengthy and repetitive at times, conversations with challenging phone-obsessed customers and musings about gentrification and purpose make for a self-aware and bleakly funny read. IM

Published by Profile Books Ltd