Still Needs Work: A Novel

by Ellen Barker

Overview

Marianne gets the call while attending a conference in San Francisco: laid off, department dissolved. Two days later, she’s back home in the dicey Kansas City neighborhood she moved to after a reversal of fortune two years ago. After all this time rebuilding her life, it’s all collapsed.

The daily grind is just that—a grind. Until it isn’t, until it’s gone and taken health insurance, retirement contributions, and the currency to buy food and shelter, never mind the free coffee at the office, along with it. In the aftermath of her layoff, Marianne tries all the usual routes to re-employment, but a middle-aged woman, regardless of experience, has little job cred in the tech world, especially with an address in the heartland. A contract job at a Chicago startup morphs through two acquisitions in eight weeks. And then she’s mugged in her own neighborhood, which frightens her enough to consider a permanent move away.

An irreverent look at the alien denizens of the tech world, the fraught business of mergers and acquisitions, and the parallel universe of job openings, Still Needs Work is a contemporary story of the working world wrapped around a very human story of one person, her dog, and her community.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647426804
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	06/11/2024
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Ellen Barker grew up in Kansas City during a period of demographic upheaval, and she returns there in her novels. She has a bachelor’s degree in urban studies from Washington University in Saint Louis, where she developed a passion for how cities work, and don’t. She began her career as an urban planner, then spent many years working for large consulting firms, first as a writer-editor and later managing large data systems. Her volunteer work involves years of pet-assisted therapy with children in “the system,” both foster care and prison. She is the author of East of Troost, which introduced readers to the neighborhood where The Breaks takes place, and Still Needs Work, which takes place in the same area. She now lives in Los Altos, California, with her husband and their German shepherd, Boris, who is the inspiration for the dog in this novel.

Editorial Reviews

An incisive, warm take on juggling the realities of home, work, and income.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“An insightful, compelling exploration of the challenges and intricacies in the current tech landscape . . . Still Needs Work by Ellen Barker is a relevant, immersive novel that explores the complexities of the corporate world through its true-to-life protagonist.”
—Readers’ Favorite, 5-star review

 “The writing is crisp, perfectly befitting the personality of the protagonist, whose insights into the hidden messages and evasive mind-games of the corporate world are perfectly on target—even if that doesn't always work out in her favor. The character's inner voice is entertaining and insightful.”
—Diane Winger, author of the Ellie Dwyer series

“A realistic portrayal of how isolating, ruthless, and demoralizing the modern tech economy can be.”
—Mike Trigg, author of Bit Flip

“A well-written, satisfying story that will resonate for many readers.”
—Linda Moore, author of Attribution

“Ellen Barker’s wry sense of wit and amazing attention to detail draw the reader into the real-life dilemmas faced by her protagonist.”
—Jude Berman, author of The Healing Zone and The Die

“Barker tells her story with humor and a steadfast pace of overcoming adversity. This is a story of resilience and finding one’s way in life.”
—Nancy Chadwick, author of The Wisdom of the Willow and Under the Birch Tree

From the Publisher

2024-01-05
A widow living in her run-down Kansas City childhood home contemplates her next moves.

Marianne is at a conference in San Francisco when Sharon, her Baltimore-based boss, gives her a heads up: HR will soon inform her of a department-wide layoff, and she’ll lose her telecommuting data job. She recently (and reluctantly) moved back to Kansas City, Missouri, from California following the loss of her husband, who died from “a long and expensive illness that left me able to afford only this wretched little house in this wretched neighborhood.” As Marianne looks for new jobs and collects severance and unemployment, she also works part time at the local hardware store, with its owner and sons helping her fix up her house and her ideas spurring store sales. She continues to work at the store even after Sharon sets her up with a contract position at a Chicago startup, which is partly remote but requires some on-site visits. By the novel’s end, Marianne experiences an incident near her home that forces a decision about whether she should move to Chicago for a full-time position or take a technology support job at the local school system for half the salary. California-based Barker, whose previous book was East of Troost(2022), has once again set a novel in the changing Kansas City region that she hails from with a lead who sometimes feels out of place. While it’s a bit puzzling that Marianne bought this house in this area, given that her parents “moved away in the mid-1970s,” Barker has crafted a relatable, weary modern worker in Marianne, who’s full of wry observances. (“All I’ve done so far is determine that I want to make a living by sitting on my butt at home.”)

An incisive, warm take on juggling the realities of home, work, and income.

Kirkus Reviews