Some of the material in The Copywriter is banal ... Some of it is goofy ... Looming over the novel is a question: can this existence—this openhearted, roguish, aimless scavenging—yield anything of value, or is it just a waste? ... One of The Copywriter’s most moving aspects is its expansive definition of poetry ... The gentle, self-effacing tone of a novel whose sympathies lie with the minor and the easily overlooked ... Poppick’s point isn’t that everything matters; it’s that anything might.
This is one of a growing number of novels featuring a version of the author, a poet who almost begrudgingly produces a fine novel. Caustic and insightful about the pointlessness of contemporary labor, Poppick offers moments of profound comedy and wonderful turns of phrase throughout. A fascinating perspective on a specific period of recent history, this is a meditative and beautifully written debut.
Never trite ... A linear, moving, and accessible story. Comic and profound, an intricate collage of a novel that plants itself in exhausted earth and, somehow, flourishes.
