‘Afterwards Ellen liked to say she had once been to America but couldn't remember it very well.‘
Afterwards Ellen liked to say she had once been to America but couldn’t remember it very well. She had driven from the East Coast to the West Coast and back; she had been in California, Utah and Colorado; had seen Iowa, Illinois and Idaho; had gone swimming in the Atlantic and the Pacific, in the …
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‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
‘The story distracts the readers from the heart of the matter; it distracts them from me.’
Fiction by Judith Hermann, translated by Katy Derbyshire.
‘Time retreated, his dread crouched in the farthest recess of his mind.’
‘My first and only visit to a therapist cost me my red coral bracelet and my lover.’
‘At night her friends let loose and relax.’
Photography by Vera Yijun Zhou of house parties and clubs in Hangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing.
Our ten most popular pieces of memoir, criticism and reportage, including writing by Mary Gaitskill, Gary Indiana, Christian Lorentzen, Tao Lin and Sheila Heti.
‘I just wanted to say something about how decent people struggle in difficult situations.’
