Book Review: In a Daze Work

In a Daze Work
Author: Siobhan Gallagher
Published By:  Tarcherperigee (Penguin)
Publication Date:  July 25, 2017
Page Count:  160 Pages (Kindle)
Buy it at:  Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound
Source:  ARC Kindly Offered by Publisher
Audience:  Adult

As a child, I was a huge fan of choose-your-own-adventure books. It feels like just about every time we got to order from Scholastic, one of those books would end up on my list. I still remember successfully escaping from aliens. (And also dying several times first!) So I was super excited to read In a Daze Work as soon as I heard about it. Seriously, how awesome is it that someone wrote a choose-your-own-adventure book about real adult life?

Siobhan Gallagher hit every note in the new adult symphony. The reader must negotiate the snooze button hazard, the morning commute, squeezing in lunch, goofing off at work, relationship stuff, and what to do in the all-important after work hours. Plus, there are extra adventures if you choose to wake up on a weekend morning rather than a weekday.

Although Gallagher’s writing is sharp and her illustrations amusing, I did not enjoy this book the way I expected to. The tone was unrelievedly disheartening, and no choice led to an actually happy outcome. It reminded me of the comic strip Cathy, but without the funny parts. Given my reading experience with In a Daze Work, I think I must not be part of her target audience. For me, this book was worth two and a half birdies, but I’m bumping it up to three because I think part of the problem may be with me as a reader

Summary

From small-talk to dating to death, In A Daze Work is an exciting, playful new spin on the minute and mundane decisions that make up your daily life.
Each flip of the page puts you in control of the story:
Will you stay in or go out?
Do you wake up or sleep in?
How will you navigate a bad date, or a party full of cookie-cutter couples (available in vanilla flavor only)?
More importantly, where will your decisions take you?


Bringing humor and sly self-reflection to the humdrum details of adulthood with hand-drawn illustrations and sharp wit, this relatable visual journey will help you find the extraordinary (or at least hilarious) moments in any day of the week.