The Right Man for the Job

by Mike Magnuson

Book Overview

Gunnar and Dewy are repo men -- one white, one black -- who work for a furniture and appliance rental company in a tough, inner-city neighborhood. Dewy, a foul-mouthed realist, happily takes Gunnar under his wing and tries to teach him how to maneuver safely through the dangers of the Columbus, Ohio, streets. Together they devise increasingly ingenious ways to reclaim properly from their most recalicitrant customers. They become fixated in particular...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060928956
• ISBN13: 9780060928957
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

This Obtains.

Magnuson's first effort is an incredibly fine look at racism and transplantation. The premise for it, a red-headed white guy from northern Wisconsin moves to inner Cleveland and becomes a repo man, sounds rather like the pitch for a bad sitcom, but let me tell you, buddy, sitcom this ain't.Magnuson's writing is damn fine. It opens the reader's eyes and puts them in a world they would never expect, in the mind of a character who, while not always likable, ultimately leads the reader to a higher understanding of what redemption means.Read it, love it, it is MAGnificent.

Good portrait of Columbus

Magnuson captures the essence of the streets of many crumbling Midwest cities well. He also presents the main character as a man who trancends poverty and unhappy relationships. Overall, this is worth reading, if not for an example of really quality modern literature, then for a good narrative on the plight of being poor, lonely and trapped in somewhere like Columbus (which, to be fair, has one or two nice parts). Now a book about Dayton, that would be really depressing. Note: Only saying this because I lived there for five years.

Great Book, Great Writer

Mike Magnuson possesses a powerful command of language. "The Right Man for the Job" grabs the reader with its stark realism and dark, gusty prose. Gunnar Lund is decidedly an anti-hero, but the reader empathizes with him as he drags along through the sewers of life. The boldness with which racial tensions are explored as this white narrator prowls about through a mostly African-American world rates special praise. Magnuson never falters from his task of bringing us a cruel, intensely real landscape, and he never slows his pace or loses his edge. This book is a fine example of a superbly fresh writer for the new millenium.

A wonderful first book by a very talented author

Mike Magnuson does a wonderful job with this book. The insight he provides us in to the life of the main character, Gunnar Lund, is wonderful and vivid. Gunnar is a simple man, from a simple background, who has followed what he believes to be love to the big city. Having left his job of many years as a factory worker, the only job he is able to obtain in his new life is that of a collector and repo man for a furniture rental business. Buried by the emotional baggage of a job he hates and a somewhat mentally abusive relationship, Gunnar dreams daily of returning home to Wisconsin and the simple, comfortable life he left behind. Mr. Magnuson is a powerful writer, and does a wonderful job capturing the horrible emotional aspects of the job of a repo man, and the affects of the job on Gunnar's life. From page one to the end, when a surprising turn of events allows Gunnar the opportunity he has been hoping for, you will be riveted. Gunnar Lund is a character you will understand and relate to, and not be able to forget.

SOLID

In today's star-struck society, it's a welcome respite to read a novel about two average guys working an average job. Magnuson does a great job portraying what life can be like in the oft-forgotten blue-collar section of society. This novel's best attribute, with all credit to Magnuson, is its common-folk, everyday, REAL use of language. That rarely happens in today's "form novels." Magnuson is, and will remain, one of my favorite authors.