28 January 2015

Book Review: The Cautionary Tale of Butch Black

Title: The Cautionary Tale of Butch Black
Author: JB Maynard
Genre: Humor
Rating: 3 Stars

If you have ever worked in retail, then you will understand why this cautionary tale exists. J.B. Maynard really captures the despair of feeling stuck in a retail job that is going nowhere.

Butch Black is a dedicated employee of World-Mart. He has given ten years of his life to the company and does not want to quit. One of my favorite lines from the book is "A quitter gives up on his or her dreams in the face of complacency. A quitter gets comfortable." This mentality does not just apply to people working in retail jobs, but really to anyone who has ever felt stuck in a position and does not want to, or know how to, change.

Another favorite line is about how we become complacent. "Morale is necessary, a placebo to drown out the wasted years. People need to progress, even if it's down a road to nowhere."

This was a very quick read. It is written journal-style and it is easy to follow along with Butch's descent into madness, even if you have never worked a day in retail. There were a few technical issues that need to be worked out, but the story is there.

Full disclosure: JB Maynard is a personal friend to me and I received a Kindle copy of this book as a gift.

1 comment:

  1. This sounds like an interesting book and one that a lot of people will be able to relate to, sadly.
    ~Jess

    ReplyDelete