Episode 733: Ben Purkert - The Men Can't Be Saved
A knockout debut novel that tackles a haunting question: What do our jobs do to our souls?
Seth is a junior copywriter whose latest tagline just went viral. He\u2019s the agency\u2019s hottest new star, or at least he wants his coworker crush to think so. But while he\u2019s busy drooling over his future corner office, the walls crumble around him.
When his job lets him go, he can\u2019t let go of his job. Unfortunately, one former colleague can\u2019t let him go either: Robert \u201cMoon\u201d McCloone, a skeezy on-the-rise exec better suited to a frat house than a boardroom. Seth tries to forget Moon and rediscover his spiritual self; he studies Kabbalah with an Orthodox rabbi by day while popping illegal prescription pills by night. But with each misstep, Seth strays farther from salvation\u2014though he might get there, if he could only get out of his own way.
In his debut novel, Purkert incisively peels back the layers of the male ego, revealing what\u2019s rotten and what might be redeemed. Brimming with wit, irreverence, and soul-searching, The Men Can\u2019t Be Saved is a startlingly original examination of work, sex, addiction, religion, branding, and ourselves.
Ben Purkert is the author of the poetry collection For the Love of Endings. His work appears in The New Yorker, the Nation, and the Kenyon Review, among others. He is the founder of Back Draft, a Guernica interview series focused on revision and the creative process. He holds degrees from Harvard and New York University, and he currently teaches at Rutgers. Men Can\u2019t Be Saved is his first novel.
Buy the book from Wellington Square Bookshop - \u200b
https://wellingtonsquarebooks.indiecommerce.com/book/9781419767135