The Men Can't Be Saved
A Novel
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2.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Now in paperback, a knockout debut novel that tackles a haunting question: What do our jobs do to our souls?
“Blistering . . . Mad Men ambition meets an epic, existential meltdown.” —VANITY FAIR, 20 Best Books of 2023
“[Purkert is] a sharply funny observer of male foibles, twenty-something angst, and the modern workplace.” —WASHINGTON POST
“A 21st-Century Catcher in the Rye . . . startlingly funny.” —ESQUIRE
“I laughed more times than I can count . . . A phenomenal debut novel by one of my favorite writers.” —CLINT SMITH, #1 New York Times bestselling author of How the Word Is Passed
Seth is a junior copywriter whose latest tagline just went viral. He’s the agency’s hottest new star, or at least he wants his coworker crush to think so. But while he’s busy drooling over his future corner office, the walls crumble around him.
When his job lets him go, he can’t let go of his job. Unfortunately, one former colleague can’t let him go either: Robert “Moon” McCloone, a skeezy on-the-rise exec better suited to a frat house than a boardroom. Seth tries to forget Moon and rediscover his spiritual self; he studies Kabbalah with an Orthodox rabbi by day while popping illegal prescription pills by night. But with each misstep, Seth strays farther from salvation—though he might get there, if he could only get out of his own way.
In his debut novel, Purkert incisively peels back the layers of the male ego, revealing what’s rotten and what might be redeemed. Brimming with wit, irreverence, and soul-searching, The Men Can’t Be Saved is a startlingly original examination of work, sex, addiction, religion, branding, and ourselves.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Poet Purkert (For the Love of Endings) makes his fiction debut with a smart satire centered on a New York City copywriter turned religious seeker. Seth Taranoff works for an ad agency, RazorBeat, where he wins an award for a viral campaign advertising underwear designed for men with incontinence ("Everyday Briefs for the Everyday Hero," went the tagline). But after RazorBeat downsizes, Seth is laid off. He then pursues freelance work, takes a barista job at a coffee shop called Sötma, and makes various half-hearted attempts at meaningful relationships. After traveling to Allentown, Pa., to track down a woman he's interested in from the Sötma staff, he meets a rabbi and is welcomed into a Chabad house. Seth's time with the rabbi's family and their religious sect offers opportunities to explore his Jewish identity, but it's also a place for free meals, and Purkert keeps readers guessing as to whether Seth is capable of sincerity. Like its protagonist, Purkert's freewheeling narrative sometimes feels unsteady in its direction, but the finely wrought prose and spot-on descriptions are undeniable: visiting a strip club with an odious former colleague, Seth notices how during a break between sets, "the mostly male audience twitched like a smattering of crabs at low tide." This is great fun.
