review 1: This story made me laugh at a lot of things: prestigious writing programs, company politics, upper management, middle management, PR specialists who use every tool at their disposal to build up their company, idealists who use every tool at their disposal to tear those companies down...I never realized before how much both factions (company PR people and social reformers) have in common.The story is about a man trying to finish his novel. He manages to get into an elite writing class but is, alas, thrown out because the leader thinks his story whitewashes the Holocaust. Or maybe it's because our hero Francis dared criticize a star pupil's poem.Anyway, a literary agent takes an interest in his novel, offering to help him with it. For twenty-five thousand dollars. As soon as... more Francis can come up with a down payment, the agent/book doctor will begin working on it.That means Francis needs a job to get the cash. So he goes out and gets a job. Well, at first he thought he didn't get it but then it turns out he did. And he likes it! He discovers PR is just his thing!Then his boss suspects he's out to get her job even though he isn't and...An easy read for someone who enjoys poking a little fun at the Establishment, whether it be in corporate or collegiate America. review 2: It's really a shame that the female characters more closely resemble damp cardboard pin-up girl coasters than actual humans. This contributed the narrator seem unpleasantly egotistical to me. Otherwise this book would have been right up my twisted little alley. Three stars for story concept, imagery, and well-adjusted attention to detail in most areas. Two less than perfection for distractingly awful portrayal of half the population of the planet. less
