The New Me, Halle Butler

NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2019 BY VULTURE, THE HUFFINGTON POST, BUSTLE, LITHUB, AND THE MILLIONS

 "I'm still trying to make the dream possible: still might finish my cleaning project, still might sign up for that yoga class, still might, still might. I step into the shower and almost faint, an image of taking the day by the throat and bashing its head against the wall floating in my mind."

 Thirty-year-old Millie just can't pull it together. She spends her days working a thankless temp job and her nights alone in her apartment, fixating on all the ways she might change her situation--her job, her attitude, her appearance, her life. Then she watches TV until she falls asleep, and the cycle begins again.

 When the possibility of a full-time job offer arises, it seems to bring the better life she's envisioning within reach. But with it also comes the paralyzing realization, lurking just beneath the surface, of how hollow that vision has become.

"A skewering of the 21st-century American dream of self-betterment. Butler [is] a master of writing about work and its discontents." -- The Millions

March 5, 2019