Reviewed by Franz Sidney for Readers' Favorite

The Retail by Joshua Danker-Dake tells the story of a would-be Christian author, Penn Reynard, who works returns in a hardware store after gaining his English degree. Writing in his journal, Penn describes with dry humour how some customers try to run scams with their returns and talks about his difficulties in dealing with management while getting rejections for his writing submissions to several magazines. Penn struggles to please his difficult managers and spoiled customers while suffering from chronic foot pain, but manages to outwit them and even get a supportive coworker girlfriend in the process.

‘If Greek mythology were updated, Sisyphus wouldn’t have had to push the stone forever; he would have had to work at the Station until he made a million dollars,’ writes Penn in one of his inner conversations. Joshua Danker-Dake carves his dialogues with sharp precision, painting the scenes with minimal strokes and allowing the characters to come alive with vivid, page-turning conversations. His script-style, satirical novel drips with humour and analyses flawlessly the virtues and sins of completely different people brought together by a job in the same store.

The Retail will give you a glimpse into a world where the boredom of long work shifts and life in general is somehow made bearable by hilarious personages such as Drimacus the Eviscerator, the Rapture Babies, and James Earl Jones with a Perm. Be prepared to be seriously entertained because the grim reality of American retail can be funnier than fiction. A must-read, perfect for a sit-com.