A Living Cliche in the Bookshop Aisles
John Tottenham's debut novel Service introduces readers to Sean Hangland, a 48-year-old aspiring writer who has become what he himself describes as "a living cliche: the cantankerous bookseller." Working in an independent bookshop in a gentrifying Los Angeles neighbourhood, Sean embodies the stock character he recognises from countless books and films - embittered, rude, and intellectually snobbish.
The Monologue of Resentment
Across more than 300 pages, Tottenham presents a long, repetitive monologue that knowingly mirrors the tedious stasis of which its narrator complains. Sean worries about approaching fifty having accomplished nothing with his life, barely manages to write anything substantial, and acknowledges that any novel he produces would likely be terrible anyway, given what he perceives as his lack of talent for plot, characterisation or prose.
His bitterness extends to every aspect of his existence. He resents old friends whose books are being published by hip independent presses, rages against the gentrification of his neighbourhood by large corporations and "sheeplike hipsters," and saves his most vitriolic contempt for the bookshop customers. They ask stupid questions, buy trendy books he considers bad, request directions to the toilets, and attempt friendly conversation - all offences for which he punishes them with rudeness.
Meta-Fictional Layers and Contemporary Satire
The novel contains clever meta-fictional elements that blur the lines between author and character. The book Sean is writing turns out to be the very novel we're reading, a twist revealed when a coffee shop colleague known only as "the Boy" persuades him to share his manuscript. Tottenham, an LA-dwelling Brit who has previously published poetry and exhibited as an artist, plays with this reflexivity throughout.
At one point, Sean discusses naming his narrator, considering using "Sean" but worrying it's "too phonetically close to my own name." This creates an amusing contradiction since the character is indeed called Sean in the book. The novel also includes barely-disguised satirical versions of contemporary cultural figures including Ben Lerner, Miranda July, Kim Gordon and Michelle Tea, appearing as "Len Berner," "Samantha August," "Gordon Kim" and "Michelle Coffee."
Critical Reception and Reader Experience
Despite its repetitive nature and the narrator's relentless negativity, Service has impressed some distinguished literary figures. Colm Tóibín praises its "rare comic intensity" while Rachel Kushner calls it "my favourite nihilistic romantic" work. The novel contains moments of sharp wit, such as a sour footnote where Sean declares that readers should simply assume the word "unfortunately" precedes every statement without him having to write it.
However, the reading experience proves challenging over the full length. The annoying customers remain largely interchangeable, the riffs on addiction memoirs and other irritations repeat multiple times, and Tottenham's prose occasionally strains for effect with sentences that contrast sharply with the narrator's claimed apathy. The book lacks the wacky charm of Black Books or the volcanic wit of A Confederacy of Dunces, instead offering a consistent tone of cultivated disappointment.
Service by John Tottenham is published by Tuskar Rock at £14.99 and presents a unique, if demanding, comic vision of creative failure and professional resentment in the unlikely setting of an independent bookshop.
