Description:
Wanted: Young, photogenic writer with one year of experience as an assistant to Hollywood power players to pen easy-reading, summer novel about same. If the publisher had run this advertisement to find an author for Robin Lynn Williams' debut novel, The Assistants, they would have gotten all that and an innovator to boot. Rather than content herself with the established axiom of Assistant Lit--one lowly assistant, one mean boss--she presents five attractive young nobodies, each taking turns with the first-person point-of-view. (The book even includes pictures of models portraying the protagonists so go ahead and check your imagination at the front cover!) Do you like the narrative voice to be wise and irreverent? If so, you'll enjoy reading about Griffin, the agent's assistant, who struggles to prove that he--not his employer--is the one who knows how to unearth rare talents. Or maybe you'll prefer the saccharine aftertaste of Rachel, a Texas belle who slaves for a has-been sitcom actress. Or the sex-obsessed Jeb, who craves the love of a good woman--his boss's wife. The team is rounded out by Michaela, the wanna-be actress, who logs plenty of time on the casting couch, and Kecia, an actor's assistant, who is kept busy battling both her weight and the IRS. The Assistants is diverting enough to keep readers entertained, just check your expectations at the door. Writers of Assistant Lit have mastered the art of telling it like it is when it comes to thankless office work, but not when it comes to endings. In real life, the bosses usually win. --Leah Weathersby
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