It's a clever book with excellent writing and some very funny scenes. I'm not sure I warmed to the characters but I appreciated the humour and zingy one-liners.

This book left perplexed. There's a lot of potential in the idea behind the story but somehow the story felt skin deep and it didn't keep my attention.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

"A person is a tangle of nerves and veins and relationships, and one must untangle the tangle like repairing a knotted necklace and wrap oneself at the centre of the mess."

A Temporary takes any job, fills in for any position, whether it be as a human barnacle or a pirate. This story is an interesting take on modern society, how so many of us are inclined to take a temporary job, because that is all there is available. Although it is good for experience, you ultimately want a permanent position and steadiness.

Leichter describes her vision of a capitalistic society, which is very much like the one we are currently in, and showing the extremes of temporary work. You never find out the narrator’s name, which amplifies how little people know about you as a Temporary. It tells stories of her mother, and her mother’s mother, how they have lived the same life, looking for permanence but never finding it.

Another interesting part of the story, was that she has numerous boyfriends, none with actual names but rather described by their physical appearance or their profession. To me this describes the dating scene of the modern day perfectly, how there is always more than one, an abundance of choice but nothing that really sticks.

Although I think Hilary has done a great job at capturing the world as we know it, and what it could be. I didn’t fall in love with this book like thought I would. It jumped around too much, I didn’t get attached to any of the characters and frankly just didn’t know what was going on. But maybe that was the aim of the book? Sometimes really quirky books like this go over my head, but I think it is a good read if you fancy something a little different.

Thank you to @netgalley and @faberbooks for allowing me to read and review this book!

DNF at 11%

Is this suppose to be funny?

Because I’m bad at picking up on humour, especially in written fiction. I don’t ‘get’ it, and if that book relies on humour then it’s going to be a flop for me. But this... what was this?

I knew this was going to be a strange book, but the lack of sense this story has didn’t work. I was hoping for a quirky story like Eleanor Oliphant, and the synopsis was so intriguing and interesting, but it failed to be engaging. Maybe it was experimental, maybe it was absurdist fiction — I just think it’s nonsense that failed to have substance.

Which is sad because I want to read stories on the nature of work in modern society, and this seemed like that, but it’s just too crazy and weird.

Genre: Fiction

Release Date: 3rd March 2020



"The Gods created the first Temporary so they could take a break."

She is one of the Temporary. Who she is today depends entirely on her assignment. She could be anybody - a pirate, a barnacle, a mother, a murderer, you or even me. The entire world is her workplace and she could be filling in for anyone. According to the Temporaries, the most personal thing you can do is your job.

Along with her ever changing identity, the Temp agency and a cast of temporary boyfriends each with their own practical designations - from the handy one to the real estate one, she happily agrees to every assisgment, longing for the identity it brings.

But she dares to dream of permanance, of stability, of family instead of transience.

If you're looking for a book that makes perfect sense and doesn't hurt your brain - this isn't the book for you.

Completely absurd and wonderfully unique, this was a delightfully playful quick read that was a deeply dark and disturbing tale in a vibrant and colourful world. It felt like a string of whimsical dreams, each one fading into the next and slowly becoming more farcical and unbelievable than the next.

Temporary hit a nerve deep down in all of us somewhere in between the insanity - about the maddening fleeting, instable nature of modern life and our own identities.



RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐



Thank you to Hilary Leichter and NetGalley for a reviewers copy in return for an honest review.

Leichter has written a novel that everyone will like because it is endless in its derivative nature taking from the entire history of western culture to present a limply adventurous take down of late capitalism and neo-liberalist fake-ness. Leichter does nothing new or exciting but is lumped in with other millennial ennui fiction such as The New Me and anything written by Ottessa Moshfegh, but where the quirks presented within Temporary might be alarming to some they ultimately are tiresome and shallow, but then when Calvino made an entire career on literature made up of those characteristics I think Leichter is on to something.

It’s just sad that this had no soul.