Dear Mr. Joey Comeau,
First, I’d like to thank you for allowing me to review your debut novel. A story told through job-application cover letters to an assortment of corporations is a bold, imaginative paradigm shift in today’s challenging publishing climate. I am glad to contribute to this process in any way. You see, book reviewing for me has become increasingly bleak. As one of the few weekly reviewers left in the country, I’m now being smothered in books that, until this year, were never sent to me.
Think Yoga for Cats, mountain-man poets, and Larry Winget tomes, via courier, in volumes that suggest ISBN numbers go sour if not used by a best-before date. I often put a box of these books outside for the poor but, in their infinite good taste, they don’t look twice.
I guess what I’m saying is this: Overqualified caught me at a time when I was seriously wondering when the “headaches” and then the “messages” and, if I can be frank, the “someday-a-real-rain-is-gonna-come speeches” would begin. Would a judge accept Yoga for Cats as a defence? It’s silly to think so.
A cover letter is an odd thing, as you know, Mr. Comeau. It’s raging narcissism and over-sharing wrapped up in pleasant sell language that barely hides the hostility of power imbalances. Your greatest asset is an ability to use the literary nuances hidden in the form in order to tell a coming-of-age story (which is also narcissistic by definition) with wit and black humour. As a book reviewer previously responsible for the creation of 200 reviews, I believe the world should be made more aware of this ability. I can confidently say, “Joey Comeau has made the unreadable not just readable, but beguiling in its digressions and personal revelations.”
Of course, Overqualified is not without its areas in need of improvement. Your chapter “Dear RAND” feels too youthful in its treatment of world catastrophe and, with each cover letter only lasting a few pages, you deny some of your letters almost-there punchlines and rich turns.
Still, I feel like I know you well enough now — albeit in a strange and alienating manner — to recommend you as a valuable addition to any team. I look forward to discussing your future books at the appropriate time.
Best regards,
Brian Joseph Davis