Blog Archives
The Difficulty of Escaping the Rat Race
The Lay-Off House follows a group of people who wind up living together due to circumstances beyond their control and create a supportive community. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The very first inkling was an article I read on the BBC News website about a genre of Japanese novels, heroic tales of career triumphs and adversity. Office lit, I guess you can call it. And I thought, Americans are workaholics, this country is organized around business and work life, why don’t we have this genre over here?
Then I realized, oh yeah, it’s because Americans hate their jobs. So, I decided to write an anti-work book, about the difficulty of escaping the rat race.
It’s also a bit of a kitchen sink book, a conglomeration of lots of thoughts and experiences I’ve had the past decade or so. Many of the details are based on real people and stories. Just a bit here and there; only they would recognize themselves.
What were the morals you were trying to capture while creating your characters?
Individualism. Take people as they are, as they actually act. Don’t just look at their social identity or position, whatever that may be.
Another moral would be, not self-reliance as such, though that is a virtue, but its related virtue of surviving together. Build a community and give help and be open to accepting help. The people at the top of this heap we call society don’t care about us, so it’s up to us to care for one another.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The one-word key to the book is “dignity.” I wanted to show the difficulty of living with a sense of dignity in our society, which has become so stratified. Dignity is reserved for a few at the top. So, we have to provide it to ourselves, and gift it to others.
“Adulthood” is another theme. When does someone become an adult? If you define adulthood as having the knowledge and power to sustain oneself and have full agency, are you really an adult if you can be laid off from your job any time for reasons beyond your control? How about if an HOA can seize your property that you paid for and have equity in, if your fence is ¼” too tall? Where’s the control over your own life? And there are many powers that are trying to keep their control over you, because that’s how they define themselves—how many peoples’ lives they can command. That means a perpetual childhood for most of us.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
The theme of the next book will be “communication.” It’s still percolating in my subconscious, and I’ve only written a few pages, just to try and feel things out. As far as I know it will be a combination of The Razor’s Edge by Maugham, Hesse’s Siddhartha and the old TV show Convoy. This will be interesting. It’s going to take a couple years to write and perfect, I think.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
Doug knew this from three previous lay-offs and now he had to deal with the familiar disaster for the fourth time. He did what he always did when the pink slip was handed to him; he went home, he drank, and he brooded alone. But this time, acquaintances and strangers come to Doug’s door, seeking shelter from the same economic calamity. Together they make a community, a home, and a way out of the rat-race. But there are those in the wider world, some close and some far, who don’t think there should be an escape and that the rat-race is all there is and ever will be.
A story about the challenge of making one’s own life in a society that tries to say ‘no’, The Lay-off House by David Rogers portrays how many of us live now, in the real economy, and suggests a way to try and live a little better.
The Lay-off House
Doug gets fired from his job, but he sees it coming. The recessive state of the economy and his three previous lay-offs have prepared him for the logistics and emotions of getting fired from his place of work. When he gets his letter, Doug packs up his belongings and heads home, alone and ready to dive again into his routine until a fellow laid-off co-worker shows up at his doorstep. Tyler has been put out by his roommate due to his recent unemployment status. Doug takes in Tyler and, subsequently, other people who were displaced from their jobs and their homes.
The Lay-Off House portrays the common man’s reality in light of the conditions of a recessive economy, which typically leads to lay-offs. As part of the unemployment statistics, these individuals plagued by the same difficulty are brought together and become a family by association. Doug embraces them as his family being in the same boat and thus understanding one another’s employment predicament. Although they are a household of strangers, they grow into a family of sorts.
The story is narrated from the different points of view of the characters. They are of different social statuses and backgrounds and have distinct objectives. However, they are bound by a shared experience which makes the story relatable. Although he had not planned it, Doug’s house becomes a sanctuary for his housemates, and their presence becomes solace to revive his house of loneliness. While cohabiting, each person discovers their interests and is motivated to follow their dreams. The narrative technique offers clarity and shows the growth of the characters. This is a good story that highlights how relationships can be built and how a community can come together to help one another.
The Lay-off House by David Rogers is a work of contemporary fiction that will appeal to readers who enjoy realism. This novel is a quick and easy read that can be enjoyed in an afternoon and provide readers a look at society as they find the good left in the world together.
Pages: 192 | ISBN : 1639886109
LITERARY TITAN 