I heard about [b:Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind|60754889|Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind|Molly McGhee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1682359454l/60754889._SY75_.jpg|95796035] via Cory Doctorow's blog. I was expecting some twist on the commoditisation-of-dreams concept, akin to [b:Red Dust, White Snow|62998024|Red Dust, White Snow|Pan Huiting|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1679759064l/62998024._SY75_.jpg|98837740] and [b:Sweet Dreams|34523623|Sweet Dreams|Tricia Sullivan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1497963085l/34523623._SY75_.jpg|55658036] but with greater focus on debt and satire on corporate labour. To my surprise, I did not find the dream elements that interesting. McGhee's writing unfortunately doesn't capture the visceral weirdness of dreaming - which to be fair hardly any fiction manages. ([b:Boy in Darkness and Other Stories|1939682|Boy in Darkness and Other Stories|Mervyn Peake|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328830606l/1939682._SX50_.jpg|210179512] and [b:The Unconsoled|40117|The Unconsoled|Kazuo Ishiguro|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1342193138l/40117._SY75_.jpg|6372970] are rare exceptions.) Moreover, the corporate satire was not as sharp and clever as, say, [b:Lakewood|51166519|Lakewood|Megan Giddings|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1579612241l/51166519._SX50_SY75_.jpg|67870702]'s and the third person omniscient narration a bit irritating.

What distinguished [b:Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind|60754889|Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind|Molly McGhee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1682359454l/60754889._SY75_.jpg|95796035] for me was something totally different. Imagine for a moment a fictional character. This person is young, naïve, sweet, vulnerable, and sincere. Their attractiveness and clothing are often commented on by the narration, but they are adorably unaware of how hot they are. They are socially awkward and klutzy, continually negged by their boss of the opposite sex, and in love with an older person of the opposite sex. They get on well with kids and have a complicated crafting hobby that involves making pretty things as gifts. You've come across this character before, right? Did you, by any chance, think of this hypothetical as a woman written by a man? Because I was describing a Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype that I've spotted in [b:XX|51075314|XX|Rian Hughes|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1605089707l/51075314._SX50_.jpg|75888103] (The Girlfriend) and [b:Black Moon|18050142|Black Moon|Kenneth Calhoun|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1379330979l/18050142._SX50_.jpg|25369239] (The Wife), to give only the most egregious examples.

Shockingly, I was also describing Jonathan Abernathy, the main character of this book. He is the first example I've ever come across of a genuine Manic Pixie Dream Boy - I thought they were mythical! I can only imagine that McGhee is deliberately and amusingly satirising the concept, as Abernathy struck me as no more plausible than the Manic Pixie Dream Girls. There is no indication that he is trans or otherwise gender non-conforming, but somehow he hasn't an iota of toxic masculinity. The narration even refers to him as 'our sweet boy', which is weirder once you realise exactly who the third person omniscient narrator is. All this fascinated and entertained me, especially after just reading [b:Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia|85893|Trouble on Triton An Ambiguous Heterotopia|Samuel R. Delany|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347816176l/85893._SY75_.jpg|82889], in which Samuel Delany dissected the psychology of misogyny with extraordinary subtlety. Towards the end of the book, Abernathy (he goes by his surname) does briefly act like an asshole rather than a sweetheart, but is deliberately copying his female former boss when he does so. Truly a male character unlike any I have previously come across in fiction, which is saying something!

Despite finding Abernathy the Manic Pixie Dream Boy hilarious, I did also appreciate moments of astute commentary on how work is hell:

Jonathan Abernathy resolves to think of his work like so: he will try his best to use it without letting it use him. Like every American, he believes this is feasible, and like every American, he is wrong.

The concept of indebted workers editing other workers' unconscious minds in order to make them more productive is certainly chilling. Indeed, the ideas in [b:Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind|60754889|Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind|Molly McGhee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1682359454l/60754889._SY75_.jpg|95796035] are undoubtedly arresting, but their execution could have been scarier. The writing style may not be to everyone's taste, as I wasn't keen on it. Despite this, I will not soon forget encountering an actual Manic Pixie Dream Boy protagonist. Incredible. ( )

Begins somewhat lighthearted with some great snarky sarcastic humor, but along the way it takes a very dark turn. ( )

"A company always has multiple revenue streams. If you can't easily identify at least two, it's likely you're one of them." (page p214)

The collection of writers who wrote the blurbs sold this one to me. Usually, I don't need to read blurbs for a book, really just the names will tell me all I need to know. Ah, Jonathan Abernathy. It's all in the title. He tries! He tries so hard! And he has so much up against him! Another possible title could be 'Jonathan Abernathy You Are Naive" but I do see him as kind, even when he does bad things. The book here skewers labor and poverty and that endless hamster wheel. All while throwing in a surreal plot about auditing dreams to take out anxiety and depression to create more productive workers. The book is dedicated to "the forgotten who have been worked to death" so that just immediately hits hard when you open the book. It just really hits hard -- a book about labor, poverty, capitalism, that it really is a privilege to spend time in fiction, in books. So many people are working hard every day of their life to have a chance to give time or energy to something like literature, so it makes me appreciate books all the more, AND all the people who are out there working away at the hard jobs, whether physically or mentally. To tie so much about WORK to a plotline that is so bizarre, like dream auditing, is also an interesting feat. I love the realism of capitalism mixed with the bonkers plotline. So much is brilliantly, yet subtly, funnily said here! I *think* this is a systems novel? Though I haven't read many of them, so I can't say for sure. I really like McGhee's writing style, so I will be eagerly waiting for what she writes next. I would set this on the shelf beside 'The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida' by Shehan Karunatilaka and 'Subdivision' by J. Robert Lennon and 'The Visitors' by Jessi Jezewska Stevens and 'Severance' by Ling Ma. ( )