Robert Corbet's "Shelf Life" tells the disconnected stories of various characters who work for - or in - a grocery store. The story gravitates towards two in particular, Louisa and Adam, but others are given short vignettes that are little more than looks into their minds as everyday life happens around them.

It reminded me more of a movie, actually, particularly the type that were so popular during the 90s - the inane conversation in a boring, dead-end job was reminiscent of "Clerks". A common complaint I read in the reviews is that none of the characters are given closure, which in a way, I enjoyed. It gave it a sense of realism. Especially at a dead-end job one takes as a teenager, you get to know very little of your coworkers other than a few quirks. You might know that they live with their uncle, or that they deal drugs out the back (more common than you might think) during business hours, but know little else. And chances are, you never will. It's a slice of life piece, where each character is given a story for that day, not an arc.

As someone who worked her own dead-end job at a McDonald's in the middle of nowhere, I could relate to the customers who came in with outrageous demands, the managers who clearly did not care about anything beyond their next vacation, the weird coworkers and the ones you avoided and the ones you tolerated and the ones who were best friends in high school, and the casual insults people throw at you for working at a dead-end job. All of it rang true, to the point that I was laughing both at the stories, and my own experiences.

It wasn't especially moving, but as a slice of life, it was very well done, and I enjoyed its mundanity; this is not a novel that seeks to say something profound, or tell an epic story. It's the story of a bunch of people who work in a grocery store, with their own lives, their own problems, and their own dreams. And that is more than okay. ( )