Noel Hammersmith is as dull as a serial killer as he is in his "normal" life as a book editor. The entire book reads like the introduction to a book that should have been longer and better. The "twist" ending would have been better served as the beginning of a truly biting and devastating satirical novel. Fans of dark humor are better off sticking with masters like Evelyn Waugh.

Combines the blackest of black humor with the Mittyesque quality of Thurber, all decked out in an S. J. Perelman suit. One will never read better.

Ben Cheever (and how many has he heaved?) must be a funny, funny man. I imagine him cocking his head like a bird listening for a worm as he encounters the silliness of this world. Famous After Death seems to have been written by a man fascinated by the mores of this country, day and time, but not too reverently. His hero, named Noah and called "No-man" is the perfect observer: largely disengaged from life, he finds it chases him. The book is a romp.

Having read all of Ben Cheever's works (yes, he is the son of famed short story writer John Cheever), I can say with authority that "Selling Ben Cheever" is his best. The book follows Cheever's exploits as a voluntarily underemployed person from one low paying job to the next including security guard, Cosi sandwich maker and car salesman. This is a very entertaining book, however it is best read in under a week while you have momentum. Occasionally, Cheever steps out of his comic voice and tone to moralize about the state of the economy and how tough it is to be over forty and starting at the bottom again. These are the low points in the book, however luckily there are few of them. I would wait for this to come out in paperback (hopefully it will) and purchase it then. It's good, but if I could do it over again, I wouldn't have paid [so much] for it.

I laughed so hard and was then scared to death. What if me (a juvenile court attorney) had to work as hard as my client who works at "Mini-Mart?" She labors under difficult physical circumstances and will never approach my income level. It's not as if my income is all that spectacular anyway. My work is my life. I have time for my books, studying and writing reviews. What about "Mini-Mart" client? Mr. Cheerver captures that escence as an effective cultural broker.

Mr. Cheever raises these issues and provokes many more questions about minimum wage work. What is the nature of our economy? Will we all be employed selling trinkets made in slave wage non-industrial countries? How does one maintain personal dignity and personal fulfillment in a low end job? Mr. Cheever, an intellectual, after selling Pontiac Astres and T-1000s, derives great personal satisfaction after a manager told him that he "done phenomenal." How demeaning. How many liters in a Bonneville?

This book is a stunning read; the imagery, details and biting humor. The Diet Coke/Wiz line was hilarious. I have told at least 20 people about this book. Lastly, if you enjoyed "Rivethead" by Ben Hamper, this is your book.

The story of Ben Cheever's changing occupations is a tour-de-force of how we live today, whether we are selling cars, computers, sandwiches or ourselves. Often hilarious, always touching, Selling Ben Cheever is the book we need to get through our increasingly complex days. be he "Santa Claus" on the street or a security guard on the beat, he is the man to meet. There is not a page of this book that is not illuminated by his compassion for the people who work beside him. Grab this book for dear life!