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Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

"Molly McGhee reminds me of absolutely no one. Here's an original mind brimming over with invention and comic ferocity . . . [a] mad, hilarious writer."

—Ben Marcus, author of The Flame Alphabet


✓ Jonathan Abernathy you are kind. 

✓ You are competent. 

✓ You are well respected and valued by your community.

✓ People, including your family, love you.


Jonathan Abernathy is a self-proclaimed loser . . . he's behind on his debts, has no prospects, no friends, and no ambitions. But when a government loan forgiveness program offers him a literal dream job, he thinks he's found his big break. If he can appear to be competent at his new job, entering the minds of middle-class workers while they sleep and removing the unsavory detritus of their waking lives from their unconscious, he might have a chance at a new life. As Abernathy finds his footing in this new role, reality and morality begin to warp around him. Soon, the lines between life and work, love and hate, right and wrong, even sleep and consciousness, begin to blur. 


Molly McGhee touches on a theme most people know all too well—the relentlessly crushing weight of debt. A workplace novel, at once tender, startling, and deeply funny, Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind is a stunning, critical work of surrealist fiction, a piercing critique of late-stage capitalism, and a reckoning with its true cost.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 4, 2023
      In McGee’s darkly comic fantastical debut, an everyman hero attempts to crawl out of debt with a job as a Dream Auditor, which requires him to enter and alter other people’s dreams. Jonathan Abernathy, obliviously handsome, downtrodden, and inept, finds employment with the mysterious Archival Office, a government contractor that provides a productivity enhancement service to employers. Jonathan spends his REM sleep cycle entering peoples’ dreams, where he identifies and scrubs traumatic memories and other stress triggers—any “inner turmoil” that might surface in the workplace. In exchange, Abernathy receives a meager nightly payment and a fraction of loan forgiveness. Despite a growing sense of unease, he convinces himself that he’s doing respectable, important work—even performing a kindness. That is, until the Archival Office’s preoccupation with success sends him sliding back into existential dread. Things become even more complicated after he begins auditing the dreams of his neighbor and love interest, Rhoda. McGhee anchors the zany narrative with biting depictions of financial instability. Fans of Ling Ma’s Severance will soak this up. Agent: Angeline Rodriguez, WME.

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

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  • English

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