? UNDER THE LAMPLIGHT-

A depressing tale of a working woman. American author Halle Butler brings us the story of Millie, a 30-year-old stuck in a dead-end temp job that she’s not very good at, with The New Me. (Spoiler alert: We never see the new her as all attempts at reinventing herself prove unfruitful). Millie’s mental health fluctuates greatly over the duration of the novel, flip-flopping between depressive episodes and false hope that she can turn her life around. The story explores Millie’s relationship with herself, her scarce friends, her coworkers, and parents, giving us some chapters from the perspectives of other minor characters, which helps add color to the story and helps bring Millie’s struggles and inner dialogue into perspective. “That place of tension between the expectations of privilege and the colorless reality of life in an advanced service economy is fertile territory for art and comedy,” the Guardianwrote in a review.

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