Joe the Engineer

By Chuck Wachtel

Book Overview

Joe the Engineer reads meters for Brooklyn/Queens Water Resources and increasingly suspects that his high-school nickname barely sets him apart from the other Joes in his neighbourhood. The structures of Joe's life begin breaking down when his wife drifts away and the beer and TV stop working as anaesthetics.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140153764
• ISBN13: 9780140153767
• Release Date: November 1994
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Real

This is a book for adults of all generations. It is a modern classic. Entertainment filled with real-life drama (without the sap). Shameful that it is out of print. All should read it, I hear there may be a movie soon, believe it or not!

Bring It Back into Print!

It's a damn shame that a novel with this much insight, humor, and emotion is out of print. It's also a shame this was pigeonholed as a "blue-collar" novel; it's an unnecessary narrowing of a work that deserves a wider readership.The story takes place between July and November of 1977. Joe Lazaro, a.k.a. Joe the Engineer, is a guy who reads meters for the water company. He works with Joe Flushing Avenue, and he's married to his wife Rosie, and he's tired of leading this meaningless life of his. The novel is Joe's journey as he tries to figure out just what the hell he's doing on this planet. Of course there are no easy answers.It might sound simple, but it's not. The writing is spectacular; Wachtel tells the story using a close third-person narration, and it works fabulously. By and large we stay with Joe, but sometimes we go into Rosie's head as well, and all of it works flawlessly.Joe the Engineer is not only an important work, but a superbly entertaining read as well. Get it while you can still find a copy.