Pawan Mishra

A well written novel based on the life of an ordinary office worker with an annoying habit. That in itself should not be enough to engage my interest, let alone hold it for the length of an entire novel...
And yet, the author tells the tale with a generous helping of humour throughout and anyone who has ever worked in an office environment will instantly recognise, love and loathe the meaty characters.
It is not a novel I would say full of thrills and spills, but one of those slow burners you enjoy reading with a glass of wine in hand because of its uniqueness and fully laid to bare naked honesty.
Give it a go.… (altro)

Thanks to the author for allowing me to review his book!

This one is a fairly difficult book to review, because while certain elements were dong very well, the book didn't stay within the lines of how it began, how it progressed, or how it ended. It started out as a pretty funny Milton-like office satire, with tons of details that really showed us how horrible the corporate world is in bright and shiny satire.

The way the Coinman was shown to us, I was frankly expecting this to turn into a fantasy where the coins jingling in his pockets annoying all his coworkers would turn into some sort of magical realism, and especially when they ganged up on him and made his life a living hell, I rather hoped for some sort of dire revenge or a setup for a greater fall for Coinman, himself.

But no. Instead, the novel became a pretty decent setup for a horror novel, with Coinman's early life, troubles, social isolation, obsessions, and a number of truly pathos-inducing incidents that make him what he is in the modern Office-Space. I felt the dire-build-up. I felt like we were headed toward tragedy town, with Coinman being the tragic hero. The novel set up me up for a few anxiety attacks. Hell, perhaps there should be a trigger warning on the novel for people who are introverted and isolated. By this point, I wanted some serious resolution in a positive way for the man.

But then, the novel took another turn and we got to know his wife, his home situation, and things only get worse for him.

Where's the satire? Well, it's there, still plowing away at us and it's still good, but the humor has given way to sadness, and I'm not entirely sure that the novel worked well for me at this point.

The whole office conspiracy was a pretty good setup, and I did eventually like Coinman, even if he was a very flawed individual, and each of the elemental setups were good by themselves, but they were promises that weren't really filled by the end of the tale.

In this respect, it's more of a mainstream novel. Maybe a bit arty. Let you make up your own mind who's the hero or even if there was one at all. Unfortunately, it's not really my kind of thing.

Fortunately, I was never really bored by the book, though, even if the ultimate satisfaction wasn't there.
… (altro)

This office clash had me laughing out loud. Coinman has a habit that drives his coworkers crazy. He can’t quit and they can’t make him. We’ve all dealt with a constant whistler, or bubble gum snapping colleague but this situation is just out of control and the staff is on the warpath. Will management ever step in? Are they just oblivious and happy to not mix with the lowly employees?. And what happens if they do deign to pull their heads from the sand? The bullies, bullied, flirts, sad sacks and team leaders are all the same around the world. Coinman made my skin crawl, my heart break and my belly laugh. No wonder it’s been noticed.

Winner: 2016 eLit Book Awards for Literary Fiction (Bronze)
Finalist: 2016 National Indie Excellence Award for Humor

An advanced copy of this book was provided for an honest review.… (altro)