#max bowen

 What is so interesting about “Go To Work…” is that it is simultaneously a (as the title suggests) blunt societal critique and a thoroughgoing work of alt lit- its tone non-confrontational and stenographic. (((WHAT IS A STENOGRAPHIC IS THAT THOSE NOTBOOKS THAT YOU BUY, THE STENOGRAPHIX NOTEBOOKS???)))

“Go To Work…” is about recent college graduate Michael Scipio, who settles for an entry-level job at a prison known as “NEOTAP”. NEOTAP is an amalgamation of arbitrary disciplinary practices and bewildering hierarchies; Mike spends much of his time getting chastised by higher ups and becoming more and more depressed. (((TAP THIS< IS THIS LIKE THE UFCMMASTREETFIGHTER PROGRAM???)))

It soon becomes clear that, as the back cover states, “the employees are treated no better than the prisoners.” Soon, there is a string of disappearances amongst the employees and prisoners alike. The disappearances go unacknowledged and Mike grows wary of the pernicious ambivalence promoted by the institution.

I LIKE THIS BOOK. 

Basically, Mike and Monica talk about their fears re: NEOTAP, watch Netflix, have sex, and eventually love one another enough that they would both be unhappy if the other disappeared for no reason.

The way Noah Cicero combines the most jaded sarcasm with the most voluptuous sincerity is incredible to me. He grasps the fact that romantic love is no longer part and parcel with political idealism, the way it may have seemed to be to hippies 45 years ago or whatever. (((VOLUPTUOUS SINCERITY???___)))

Love born out of a commonly held, pressing societal dissatisfaction and manifesting itself as an attempt to regain a lost sense of normalcy.