The Copywriter
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.
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Refreshingly understated ... Rather than build toward a dramatic conclusion, the events of the story occur much as they would in real life — that is, with little conventional narrative momentum. They just happen. This approach is mirrored in the novel’s structure: The Copywriter is formatted as a journal being kept by D__. That playful form is one of the novel’s delights.
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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.
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