Service
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Profile Books Ltd
Publishing:6th Nov '25
£14.99
This title is due to be published on 6th November, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Life at a bookstore in LA through the eyes of a cynical English bookseller - irascible, witty and darkly humourous at his own expense and that of his unfortunate customers
'John Tottenham writes with a rare comic intensity' COLM TÓIBÍN 'My favourite nihilistic romantic' RACHEL KUSHNER 'A brutally honest, insightful, intelligent and absolutely hilarious novel' MICHAEL IMPERIOLI What's this book about? Is there a restroom? Do you have gluten-free bagels? Do you work here? Do you have a restroom? Do I buy books or rent books or what? Still a bookseller in his late forties, Sean knows that the worst thing about a bookshop is the customers. Then there's the gift-wrapping, the invoicing, the Yelp reviews. The overwhelming sense of self-loathing after another day of not writing a novel yourself. While Sean's book remains unfinished, his city has changed around him. As have friends and acquaintances, at least the ones who keep in touch. The service industry is different, too. But what, or whom, is he serving anyway? Biting, hilarious and self-aware, John Tottenham's debut novel is a razor-sharp dissection of gentrification, friendship, jealousy and the role of literature in a digital age.
So heartfelt that we find ourselves howling with laughter because, despite his best efforts, John Tottenham writes with a rare comic intensity and re-creates himself in the guise of an unforgettable character in fiction -- Colm Tóibín
The weariest bohemian, with a Keatsian death-drive he somehow keeps outliving, John Tottenham is my favourite nihilistic romantic -- Rachel Kushner, Booker-shortlisted author of Creation Lake
Hilarious... A book about the destruction of bohemia and the nightmare of trying to live--let alone make art--with very little money. * The New York Review of Books *
Hilarious, refreshingly mean-spirited and often brilliant * Washington Post *
A post-punk Byron ... Service looks like a blow but is a prayer -- Constance Debré, award-winning author of Love Me Tender
Tottenham is an extraordinarily fine writer. He is blessed with a gift for observation ... this is a book of the moment -- Jarett Kobek, author of the internationally bestselling novel I Hate the Internet
Consistently hilarious and occasionally heartening -- Los Angeles Review of Books
This gritty, bleak, nihilistic, yet darkly funny, novel contains more insight into bookseller life than the many dozens of other contemporary novels on the subject * Lit Hub *
Savage, furious, hilarious and melancholic all at once -- Suzi Feay * Financial Times *
ISBN: 9781805227021
Dimensions: 214mm x 134mm x 30mm
Weight: 340g
336 pages
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