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Irish Examiner
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Book review: Do not put this book on hold
I have long suspected it's the independent presses that are printing the most interesting, daring, and inventive fiction around. Published by Indigo Press, Calls May Be Recorded for Training and Monitoring Purposes — the sophomore offering from Katharina Volckmer — certainly supports this suspicion. Our protagonist, Jimmie, works the late shift on a zero-hours contract in a soul-crushing London call centre — half-listening to disgruntled holidaymakers rant about a hair on their pillow or too much sand in their drawers. The novel compactly follows Jimmie through a single workday, where a scheduled meeting with his supervisor looms over the narrative, leaving us to wonder if his increasingly bizarre disengagement from the job might have finally backfired. A drama school graduate and part-time clown who imagines backgrounds and castings for the people on the other end of the line, Jimmie has little time for annoying customers but treats the vulnerable with a poignant tenderness — while exposing everyone to his Wildean wit and meandering digressions. Volckmer's canvas is satire, although anyone who has slogged through a customer service job or waited an inordinate amount of time to talk to someone who cannot actually help, will recognise how close we are to reality here. Jimmie's acts of defiance include muting his telephone, donning his mother's lipstick, and drawing genitalia on his deskmate's notepad. He has no desire to occupy a higher position but resents that management are allowed to forgo the ugly company hoodie and sit on chairs that have armrests. In hilarious dialogue and inner monologue, scathing observations on everything from late capitalism to wellness culture punctuate Volckmer's animated prose: 'In this new world nothing was tangible, and when Jimmie couldn't breathe he only had his lack of self-care to blame.' The majority of the jokes land and, for the most part, Jimmie's generalisations are either valid or good natured: 'Italians all wore the same puffa jacket in winter' made me laugh out loud. Still, others, particularly in relation to his appearance, feel a little cheap in a story ablaze with wisdom. I tend to steel myself when I see the word 'transgressive' attached to a modern writer's work, preparing for material so preoccupied with disruption that it becomes untethered from fundamentals. This worry is unfounded with Volckmer, a master of pace with a talent for creating captivatingly flawed characters. An eclectic cast of co-workers, who provide connections both platonic and passionate, are brilliantly rendered. In the novel's claustrophobic, communal interior, windows offer solace and hope for the future, doors deliver comfort from the life currently being endured, even if it is temporary; 'a knock on the door, the loose bolt shaking like a lost promise'. Dismissed by acquaintances as an oddball, to the reader Jimmie is a quiet rebel, a philosophical, imaginative thinker just trying to make it through another workday. He is also a fantasist, and beneath the novel's humour lies an unsettling undercurrent that lingers. Yet, despite its bleak backdrop, Calls May Be Recorded… ultimately offers optimism amidst society's strain. As Jimmie remarks: 'The only real revolution is to be happy in spite of your circumstances.' This is fresh, highly considered work, from a writer deserving of the praise garnered for her debut. Her follow-up more than delivers, and cements Volckmer as a beguiling voice in literary fiction. For fans of irreverent novels from the likes of Ottessa Moshfegh and Fien Veldman, or cult TV comedy such as Peep Show, this pithy, delightfully peculiar book would prove the ideal holiday companion — possible to enjoy in the combined amount of time you may have spent listening to looping hold music on your phone this year.
The Guardian
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
I Hope You're Happy by Marni Appleton review – a darkly comic look at millennial womanhood
Marni Appleton's bittersweet debut collection of short stories focuses on the experiences of millennial women – their obsessions, friendships, betrayals and crushes. Appleton is good on mother-daughter relationships. In the title story, Ana is alienated by the realisation that everyone around her is pregnant. As she obsesses about the breakdown of her friendship with Chloe, tormented by her upbeat social media posts, we realise there is more going on: Ana is projecting her pain about her bipolar mother and conflicted emotions about having children. In Road Trip, 17-year-old Allie hangs out with older friends. Her mother's coldness is palpable when she picks up her hungover daughter. Driving home, they have to stop so Allie can vomit. Left there by her mother, Allie recalls other incidents of maternal cruelty: 'How bad do you have to be to be rejected by the person whose body was your first home?' Positive Vibes explores how social media erodes one's confidence and sense of identity. Lia, an art student, works in a coffee shop. She becomes obsessed with Sara, a local influencer, and her Instagram posts advocating positivity: 'Like having a friend in your pocket.' When Lia realises that Cora, fellow barista and art graduate, has stolen one of her ideas and posted it on Insta (gaining prized followers), Lia's meltdown is excruciating and darkly comic. The curse of social media is everywhere in the 11 tales: the scrutiny, the need to perform, the desire for 'likes', and relentless fear of being blocked. This is best exemplified in Shut Your Mouth: when photos of women eating go viral, the sale of voiles, mouth coverings, soar. Appleton's wry observational style is well suited to these tales of young women navigating the modern world. She writes with empathy for her vulnerable protagonists, conveying their inner conflicts and deceptions. I Hope You're Happy by Marni Appleton is published by Indigo Press (£12.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at Delivery charges may apply
