Overqualified

by Comeau, Joey

• ISBN13: 9781550228588
• ISBN10: 1550228587
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-01
• Publisher: Ecw Press

Summary

Told entirely through job application letters, this starkly humorous story follows Joey as he halfheartedly looks for a job. With his younger brother Adrian in the hospital after being hit by a drunk driver, Joey can't seem to muster up the energy or focus to properly market his prior work experience. While writing cover letter after cover letter, using all of the right marketing buzzwords, something in Joey snapsthe letters become less about gaining employment and more about emotional release. Anecdotes about his childhood, his hopes and fears, his girlfriend, and his family's response to Adrian's hospitalization fill the space meant for education, references, and applicable skills.

Author Biography

Joey Comeau is the author of Lockpick Pornography and Too Late to Say I'm Sorry, as well as the popular web comic A Softer World. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Excerpts

Dear Paramount Pictures,

I want to write horror movies. When I was a kid, I was terrified of horror movies. I remember watchingPet Semataryfour times before I ever saw more than a flash of the dead guy. I hid underneath a blanket every time anything happened, every time the music came up. I covered my ears.

I liked being scared, though. My grandparents owned a farm, and my brother Adrian and I used to sneak out to the barn in the middle of the night. My grandfather used that barn to store the tractor. It used to be a real barn, though. It was left over from when there had been a farm, not just a vineyard back there. It was old and broken down and perfect for us.

Adrian and I went in there with our flashlights, and there was a room underneath the hayloft. It was small and dark and slick and there were no windows. It was a room where your imagination became full of snorting stomping animals all wet with sweat. Even in the middle of the day, that room was black like horse eyes.

One of us would sit outside and the other would go in, without his flashlight, and see how long he could stand to be alone in that black room. It wasn’t the sort of game that anybody won or lost.

I’ve thought about this a lot, Paramount. I want to write horror movies that scare you, but leave you with the feeling that your brother is right outside the door, waiting, flashlight in hand.

Only, when you call out, there’s no answer. And the barn is empty, like your stomach.

Joey Comeau