This book is a comic tragedy.

The protagonist is a guy who simply desires to do his job and receive a decent pay without all the unnecessary nonsense. Sadly, all the jobs he encounters are either low-paying or充斥着大量的废话, or both. In reality, he is a hard worker who attempts to be helpful and only turns to theft and quitting as a last resort. I was truly impressed by the fact that he managed to survive through so many terrible jobs.

The irony lies in the fact that he is a college-educated English major. This is supposed to be humorous because most of the jobs he takes on involve heavy manual labor, and his education seems to be of no use whatsoever. These jobs require street smarts and the ability to strike shrewd bargains, which he quickly learns. He is a smart individual who only wants the basics in life, yet it is a pity that our society makes it so arduous to achieve reasonable goals.

It makes one wonder about the state of our society and the opportunities available to those who are simply trying to make an honest living.

Highly entertaining!

This statement sums up an experience that is truly captivating and enjoyable. Entertainment comes in various forms, such as movies, music, sports, and more. When something is highly entertaining, it has the power to engage our emotions, make us laugh, cry, or feel excited. It can transport us to different worlds and allow us to forget about our daily troubles for a while.

Whether it's a thrilling action movie, a catchy song that gets stuck in our heads, or a nail-biting sports game, highly entertaining experiences leave a lasting impression. They bring people together, creating shared memories and conversations. Entertainment is not only a source of pleasure but also an important part of our lives. It enriches our experiences, broadens our perspectives, and helps us relax and unwind.

In conclusion, highly entertaining activities and events have the ability to make our lives more enjoyable and fulfilling. So, the next time you come across something that is highly entertaining, sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!

This book was truly an oddity. It was funny, yet in a really depressing sort of way.

One has to wonder who in their right mind would imagine that they will have to endure crappy jobs just to pay their way through college, only to end up working more crappy jobs after graduation.

It seems like a never-ending cycle of mediocrity and dissatisfaction. The author's portrayal of this reality is both comical and tragic at the same time.

It makes you question the value of higher education and the meaning of hard work. Are we all just doomed to a life of unfulfilling jobs and financial struggles?

This book definitely makes you think, and perhaps even laugh a little through the tears.

I laughed until I cried while reading this book. It is truly excellent, excellent, excellent.

The author vividly chronicles a plethora of the less-than-desirable jobs he has held since graduating from college. Yes, despite graduating from college, he has been reduced to working these rather unappealing jobs. In fact, any one of us could potentially find ourselves in a similar situation.

After reading this, I am now more than ever filled with gratitude for my lovely library job. It makes me realize how fortunate I am to have a job that I enjoy and that provides a certain level of stability and fulfillment. I can't help but appreciate the value of my job even more, knowing that there are others out there struggling with less-than-ideal employment circumstances.

Overall, this book has not only entertained me but also made me reflect on my own situation and be more grateful for what I have.

Quick read and very amusing.

It's truly a delight to go through this. I found certain parts to be highly relatable.

Specifically, having a college degree and yet engaging in a job where that degree isn't really a prerequisite.

This situation is something that many of us can identify with.

The book, in a strange way, makes me feel a sense of luck.

After all, things in my life aren't as bad as what the author seems to have experienced.

It serves as a bit of a reality check and a reminder that we should be grateful for the relatively better circumstances we find ourselves in.

Despite the humorous tone, there are also some underlying messages that make you think about your own life and choices.

Overall, it's a great read that combines entertainment with a touch of self-reflection.

Awesome! I truly loved this book. It is not only funny but also really thought-provoking. The story is about the author's arduous struggle to support himself financially. He has to take on various unappealing jobs, which is no easy feat. Through his experiences, we get a glimpse into the challenges and difficulties that many people face in the real world. The author's writing style is engaging and entertaining, making it a pleasure to read. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good read that will make them laugh and think at the same time.

This is the story of Levison, who, armed with a nearly-useless degree in English, had an incredibly eventful 10 years. He worked 42 jobs, quitting 30 of them and being fired by 9, while the other 3 he can't even remember. Throughout this seemingly endless journey, which many can relate to on a personal level, he took on a variety of occupations. He was a cook, a fish cutter, a crab fisherman, and a truck driver, just to name a few. In each job, he discovered the absurdity not only of that particular task but also, in a broader sense, of what passes for "work" in this country. He realized that applying for jobs he wasn't capable of doing wasn't his worst issue. Far worse was the way most employers were solely out for themselves, stepping on those who didn't fit into their plans. In every situation, he inevitably came to the conclusion that working for a living was merely a means to keep a large number of people occupied while making a very few at the top extremely wealthy.

Despite a somewhat downer ending, some less than exemplary behavior in the middle, and a few dated observations about the internet (understandable considering many of these events occurred before things like e-mail became commonplace), this book is a real hoot. I thoroughly enjoyed every page. It's like a combination of Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed" and Charles Bukowski's "Factotum," but for me, this book was far more relatable and funnier than either of those two.

I can clearly see the inspiration for Levison's fiction, with all his characters striving to break free from monotonous and unbearable existences, albeit in a hilarious manner. It was difficult to find much about this book that I didn't like. I would highly recommend anyone interested in Levison's work to start with this one before delving into his fiction. It's all truly great, and I consider myself a fan.

At the beginning, I kept laughing; the absurdities of the working world are wonderfully depicted. The protagonist sees through them and refuses - at least to a certain extent - to follow their rules.

After some time, my reading mood flipped from laughing to depressed. This is especially related to the fact that there is hardly any turning point; it just gets worse and worse at most.

In the end, the plot just meandered along due to a lack of new developments; perhaps the author has experienced a large part of it like this, but a shortening would have done the book good.

The story seems to lose its momentum towards the end, and the continuous downward spiral without a glimmer of hope can be a bit overwhelming for the reader. It might have been more engaging if there were some unexpected twists or a glimmer of possibility for change.

Overall, while the beginning was quite entertaining and thought-provoking, the latter part could have been improved to make the book more satisfying as a whole.

While there are indeed some truly priceless moments (such as the ceramic donkey), this book left me more than a little disturbed.

Levison initially joined the military to obtain training in electrical engineering. Although he received training in what could be considered a vocation, he soon discovered that what he learned was highly specialized and nearly useless in the real world. He then went on to attend college and earned an English degree. Once again, he felt deceived about the practicality of the degree. At this point in the book, the lines from the musical Avenue Q kept echoing in my mind:

What do you do, with a BA in English?
What is my life going to be?
Four years of college and plenty of knowledge
Have earned me this useless degree

In Levison's case, the degree is not only useless but also a hindrance. One employer after another shows no interest in Levison and his degree, assuming he will demand more money and be arrogant. Instead, he bounces from one terrible, low-paying job to another, often lying about his skills to secure minimum wage jobs. All in all, he estimates having held at least 40 jobs after college. After a brief stint working as an assistant to a long-distance trucker friend, Levison decides to take the plunge and go to Alaska to work on a slime line gutting fish. While significant sums of money can be earned on those rusty hulks, leaving before the contract expires can leave you stranded without pay or a ticket home. The conditions are miserable, and the other workers are often violent and dangerous.

If anything, I found this book to be a sad, yet fascinating, cautionary tale for the modern worker. While Levison mostly portrays himself as a hard worker with poor decision-making skills who just can't seem to catch a break, I have a sneaking suspicion that some of his misery is self-inflicted. He does mention once, towards the end of the book, that he often has to suppress feelings of superiority due to his degree. He also mentions that he put himself through college as an EMT, something he never returns to. Regardless, it is a much more thought-provoking book than I had anticipated, though I doubt the author intended it to be so. Perhaps the most disturbing comment in the book is that in his blurb at the back, he is listed as currently unemployed.

This was a truly enjoyable and rapid read. It was precisely what I had been seeking to offset the thick and serious books that I had been engrossed in.

However, I am of the opinion that the job title in the book is misnamed. I most definitely do not recollect him actually referring to 42 distinct jobs. And, truth be told, it sort of irks me that this number is in the title. He could just as easily have titled it, "A Memoir of Jobs I've Quit, Been Fired From, and Some I Can't Remember." There is no necessity for numbers that will ultimately prove inconsequential, is there?

There isn't a great deal that I can say about the book other than the fact that it was a lighthearted read about a man discussing all of the less-than-ideal jobs that exist out there. It provided a humorous and relatable perspective on the various employment experiences that one can encounter.

Overall, it was an entertaining and diverting read that offered a welcome break from the more serious literary fare that I had been consuming.

Only 1 review! Poor bloke, here's my two cents.

I read this doozy over a year ago but I still remember enjoying it immensely. The story is about a twenty-something who gets a liberal arts uni degree and struggles to find work, despite no lack of effort. Sound familiar? Certainly does to me! Levison, a Scot living in America, does what he can to stay afloat and find something fulfilling and well-paying.

Like I said, it's been a year, but there was one unforgettable sequence. He gets a job aboard a fishing ship, thinking he'll earn $3000 for 2 weeks of work. Turns out it depends on how much fish they catch, and they don't catch many. Needless to say, it's far less than £3k. His job is to sit in a hold with a shovel and wait for a ton of fish to drop down on him. Then he shovels the fish down a chute, but the effort numbs his arms, and he resorts to sitting on a pile near the chute and using his legs. There's a powerful moment near the end of his shift when his body is so battered and numb that he kicks the last few hundred fish down the chute while screaming at the sky that's raining down on him.

Besides this moment, the entire book, which is short at about 200 pages, is filled with genuinely funny moments in his everyman career. Levison comes across as very likeable and articulate, and the book flies by. I've had jobs in America, Japan, and the UK, where I'm now living, and wanted to write a book like this. Having read Levison's, I can say his experiences are far more entertaining and funny.

I checked out his other two books, both novels, and loved them. "Since the Layoffs" is similar in theme to "Manifesto" as it details an unemployed chap in a dying town who turns to a career as a hitman, while "Dog Eats Dog" continues the crime theme with great success. I urge you to check this writer out. He's awfully underrated and unheard of, and it's unfair that such a talent goes unnoticed while millions of dunderheads wait salivating for Dan Brown's next load of tripe. I also recommend "Hunger" by Knut Hamsun if you enjoyed this book.

So, here's the story of a guy who has been through a plethora of different jobs ever since he graduated from college.

He's bounced around from one position to another, trying to find his true calling. But what was the real message behind all of this?

Was it to encourage others to go out and explore the world, take on different experiences? Or was it a cautionary tale, warning people not to do certain things because they might just be a complete waste of time and energy?

The truth is, it seems like the story was missing that extra something, that crucial element that would have really brought it all home and made it resonate with the reader on a deeper level.

Maybe it needed more details about the guy's personal growth and development, or perhaps it could have delved into the specific challenges and rewards he faced in each job.

Without that extra oomph, the story just kind of falls flat and leaves the reader feeling a bit unsatisfied.