Is This Working?: a 'strangely gripping' look at British working life
Author Charlie Colenutt weaves an 'utterly fascinating and thoroughly depressing' history of jobs

In 2021, Charlie Colenutt left his job as a trainee barrister, which had come to feel meaningless during the pandemic, and "set out on an adventure", said Christina Patterson in The Sunday Times.
"For the next two years, in coffee shops, pubs, kitchens and front rooms, he talked to 100 people about their jobs." The result is "Is This Working?", a "strangely gripping" oral history based on his interviews. The book is structured thematically, so a chapter entitled "Bodywork" is made up of interviews with a panel beater, a warehouse worker, a security guard and a sex worker, while "Talkwork" features a call-centre worker, an estate agent and a therapist. They reveal that while a few people love their jobs, the majority find them a grind.
One of the biggest complaints is the "erosion of autonomy": the way many people are now "accountable" for every minute, and have to prove what they've done with endless box-ticking. A midwife must fill in a form every time she gives a back massage; a soldier-turned-teacher finds the bureaucracy so overwhelming that she remembers her time in Afghanistan as "less stressful".
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Colenutt – whose book is inspired by Studs Terkel's 1974 bestseller "Working", based on interviews with US workers – also discovers joy "in unexpected places", said Ian Cobain in The Observer. A food delivery rider, while regularly exhausted, relishes the freedom of not being "strapped to a desk". A cleaner describes the fulfilment she feels when looking back on a room she has cleaned.
As one might expect, this book is both "utterly fascinating and thoroughly depressing", said Ian Sansom in The Telegraph. "By simply listening to people talk about their jobs, Colenutt has created something unique and unexpectedly moving: it's a choral work of frustration, pride and despair."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What are VPNs and how do they work?
The Explainer UK sees surge in use of virtual private networks after age verification comes into effect for online adult content
-
Why is it so hard to find an 'eligible' man?
In the Spotlight The lack of college-educated suitors is forcing women to 'marry down'
-
Quiz of The Week: 26 July – 1 August
Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
-
Gazer: 'paranoid noir chiller' is a gripping watch
The Week Recommends Ryan J. Sloan's debut film is haunted with 'skin-crawling unease'
-
William Kentridge: The Pull of Gravity – a 'bold' exhibition
The Week Recommends The South African artist brings his distinctive works to Yorkshire Sculpture Park
-
Sarah Dunant shares her favourite books
The Week Recommends The British novelist picks works by Sergeanne Golon, Jill Burke and Natalie Zemon
-
Inter Alia: Rosamund Pike is 'electric' in gut-wrenching legal drama
The Week Recommends Australian playwright Suzie Miller is back with a follow up to her critically-acclaimed hit play Prima Facie
-
Unforgivable: harrowing drama about abuse and rehabilitation
The Week Recommends 'Catastrophic impact' of abuse is explored in 'thought-provoking' series
-
The Bad Guys 2: 'kids will lap up' crime caper sequel starring Sam Rockwell and Awkwafina
The Week Recommends 'Wittier and more energetic', this film 'wipes the floor' with the original
-
I Am Giorgia: 'self-serving' yet 'amazing story' of Italy's first female prime minister
The Week Recommends Giorgia Meloni, once a 'short, fat, sullen, bullied girl', explains how she became one of the most powerful people in politics
-
The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869–1939
Feature Wrightwood 659, Chicago, through Aug. 2