There’s a moment in Adelle Waldman’s new novel, Help Wanted, that deliv
ers a sharp comment on the status of literature in a culture gripped by
app-enabled conspicuous consump
tion and next-day delivery. The novel is set in the warehouse of a big-box
store, where each morning a group of nine workers clocks in before dawn to
wrangle the endless flow of goods and the accompanying detritus of pallets,
Styrofoam, and ever more cardboard.One by one boxes of tiki torches, mini
gas grills, pool noodles, DVDs, and lux
ury quilted toilet paper fly from the truck. Finally the workers reach their
last sad nackaae:
