Claire Baglin's debut novel, On the Clock, explores the theme of intergenerational exploitation within the restaurant industry through the eyes of a young woman at a burger joint. The narrative oscillates between her current job challenges and childhood memories of her father, Jerome, who faced his own struggles. The structure of the book is unique, with sections evoking the inner workings of the eatery, yet it retains a disorienting quality that reflects the protagonist's fragmented perspective on her life and familial history against a political backdrop.
Baglin's focus is intergenerational exploitation in the workplace. She gives an impressionistic portrait of a young woman employed at a burger joint in brisk but unsparing prose.
Although mostly narrated in the first person, Baglin also makes discombobulating leaps into the mind of Jerome. Events and timelines are hazy, as if told from a fragmented child's viewpoint.
Collection
[
|
...
]