I just finished the book 'Sorry, We're Going to Have to Let You Go' by Graham Lord. In fact, I finished most of it this past night in one sitting, staying up till about 6AM before I turned the last page. That alone should be an indication of how well I think of this book.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sorry-Were-G.../dp/075152011X1 employee over 40 + 1 M.D. under 30 = P45
Meet Peter Hallam, 45.
One moment he's a popular sales manager with a company Cavalier and a suburban semi. He plays tennis at the club, has sex with his wife on Sundays and Wednesdays and looks young for his age. He is completely happy. His only concerns are his angst-ridden adolescent son and batty mother-in-law who shares his house with her pet cacts, Hank, but not, it seems, his unexceptional sense of personal hygiene.
Then Jason Skudder becomes Hallam's new MD and suddenly he's unemployed with cancerous debts and no future. He loses his house, his wife, his car and his friends. He takes aimless walks in the afternoon and attracts suspicious looks from passers-by. The only thing that keeps him sane is his mother-on-law's irrepressible joie de vivre. She refuses to watch him fade away. Suitably inspired, Peter Hallam summons the courage to strike back and take his wonderfully appropriate revenge.
I can start right off the bat by saying that this really is a very good book. Even though the book was released as early as 1999 (some dated elements may be noticable but are hardly distracting) it is still a strikingly topical story about a 45-year-old man trying to get a job after essentially being goaded and bullied into resigning. He suddenly finds that everyone abandons him: even his wife leaves him... for his best friend, no less.
Peter Hallam sinks as low as one can go: no jobs, no friends, nearly no possessions. For months on end he is forced to accept humiliation upon humiliation, until at last his depression makes way for a much more productive state of mind: a thirst for revenge.
Hilarious, Tragic and Sobering
This book can be both very funny and very sad. I remember laughing loudly at some of the apt observations at the start of the book, but later on the sense of despair and desenchantment is conveyed really well. I actually got angry as I was reading, and in my head I was screaming at Peter Hallam to not just put up with all the shit but to strike back and realise that he did not have to accept other people's behaviour. Not to worry: he will.
This is quite obviously a work of black humour and some bits will put a grim smile on your face. On the surface, it may be funny... but at the same time you realise that the world really is like this. Maybe not as exaggerated, but to be honest this book is not that far off reality. Because let's face it: people over 40 will have a hard time getting a job, especially if they come from a well-paid job. Competent but older people will be sacked and replaced by incompetent younger people who happen to be able to 'talk the talk'. This is not a new development, obviously. This book is over a decade old, after all. But that doesn't make it a has-been, or a 'wrinkly', as Peter Hallam's new MD, Jason Skudder, would call it.
Victory
It will not come as a surprise that Peter Hallam will eventually pursue revenge and, in many cases, be successful in doing so. It is what this book hinges upon. I will not delve into the schemes he uses to get this done, but I will say that it feels good When Peter finally realises he can do things on his terms and not be pushed around by others all the time. In that sense, it is empowering to read the closing chapters in this book, and it fills you with hope. Hope that even nice people can find the strength to one-up the mean, bloody-minded little bastards in this world.
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