Apathy and Other Small Victories: A Novel

Paul Neilan

Apr 2007 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

A scathingly funny debut novel about disillusionment, indifference, and one man's desperate fight to assign absolutely no meaning to modern life.

The only thing Shane cares about is leaving. Usually on a Greyhound bus, right before his life falls apart again. Just like he planned. But this time it's complicated: there's a sadistic corporate climber who thinks she's his girlfriend, a rent-subsidized affair with his landlord's wife, and the bizarrely appealing deaf assistant to Shane's cosmically unstable dentist.

When one of the women is murdered, and Shane is the only suspect who doesn't care enough to act like he didn't do it, the question becomes just how he'll clear the good name he never had and doesn't particularly want: his own.

“The malaise of cubicle culture may be well-trodden comedic territory by now, but Neilan's debut skewers office life with a flourish for the grotesque.” —The Village Voice

Ratings and reviews

If you ever worked in an office, or otherwise have a dark sense of humor, you will love this book. Absolutely hysterical. I couldn't put it down.

ugh just reading the sample bored me.he sounds like a bloody moron..nothing makes me want to continue reading

Repeatedly. One of the funniest things I've read, ever. Need moar from this author.

About the author

Paul Neilan recently left his mind-numbing job at an insurance company in Portland, Oregon, where he spent most of his time hiding in the bathroom and weeping. Born of this and many, many other humiliations, Apathy and Other Small Victories is his first novel.