Pulpy and Midge

By Jessica Westhead

Brian Lembeck – ‘Pulpy’ – takes life slow and steady. He likes his office job, and he likes his gentle, figurine-collecting boss, Al. He even likes the bitter receptionist, though he’s the only one who does. He likes his wife, Midge, too, and their ice-dancing lessons. Midge works as a candle-party hostess – she quit her office job when Al’s dog ate her pet pigeon and Al promised Pulpy a promotion.

But when Al retires and the tyrannical Dan takes over, the promotion vanishes. And then Dan’s oversexed wife, Beatrice, takes a shine to Pulpy, and Dan starts to think Midge is one hot tamale. Soon, the receptionist is smitten with Pulpy, Midge can’t get rid of Dan and Beatrice, and Pulpy’s job is in jeopardy. For once, Pulpy just might have to take a stand.

‘A hilariously deadpan, wincingly funny take on one office innocent’s workplace coming-of-age. Brian “Pulpy" Lembeck is the new hero of the keyboard-and-cubicle set.’

– Lynn Coady, author of Mean Boy

• Language: English
• Publisher: Coach House Books
• Release date: Oct 1, 2007
• ISBN: 9781770561830

Jessica Westhead

JESSICA WESTHEAD’s fiction has been shortlisted for the CBC Literary Awards, longlisted for CBC Canada Reads, selected for the Journey Prize anthology and nominated for a National Magazine Award. Her short stories have appeared in major literary journals including Hazlitt, Maisonneuve, Indiana Review and Hamish Hamilton’s Five Dials. She is the author of the novel Pulpy and Midge and the critically acclaimed short story collections Things Not to Do and And Also Sharks, which was a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book, a Kobo Best eBook of the Year and a finalist for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. Worry was chosen by CBC Books as a top Canadian fiction book of the year. Westhead is a creative writing instructor at the Chang School of Continuing Education at Ryerson University.

Book preview

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Reviews for Pulpy and Midge

[spuriouscarrie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this. Super simple and short dialogue and sentences: perfect slice of office and home life, painfully realistic characters -- and completely lovely.