"The Scheme For Full Employment" by Magnus Mills.
A copy of the book was given to Andrew who thought the title should lead to a good read and a good discussion.
The theme of this book related to the nugatory business of driving of “Univans”.
This book turned into a satire on job creation schemes.
This coupled with a flat writing style and 2-dimensional characters and this created some negativity amongst the readers.
Andrew reviewed this in the light of his experience of diverse forms of employment.
The book generated a good discussion within the club meeting, a variety of views being proffered..
However, the writing was generally seen as irritating, with two-dimensional characters, and no character development.
Even so, several members enjoyed the book more than they expected, especially as a quick read.
One Book Club member who couldn’t be at the meeting wrote:
“I feel like I have read very similar stories -
ideas for keeping people feeling they are doing a worthwhile job
but in this one the very name of the 'company' demonstrates what it is all about and I suspect people would last a month driving up and down for no good reason before they kicked off.
I liked that some people had little side lines to earn a bit - such as delivering cakes etc all I could think about was the cost of petrol and the effect on nature !!
The reason I wouldn't recommend this particular book was the number of characters - all named - the mystery of who I should remember and who was just an extra really got on my nerves.”
Doorly score: 3.0
PC. 12 July, 2026.
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