Here'a little info on the background of the novel and an excerpt http://rgdinmalaysia.blogspot.com/2011/07/excerpt-from-absent-by-raj-dronamraju.html
The backcover blurb
“I take capitalism personally” In THE ABSENT a nameless and almost faceless narrator’s experience as an employee at a modern medical supply company in transition becomes an everyman’s tale of the disenfranchised American worker. Faces begin to emerge from a crowd of names as the narrator settles into an acceptable job, yet the narrator’s generally nihilistic and hostile attitude towards the so-called American Dream is understandable, as we find the busy hive of his colorful co-workers eliminated one by one in the name of efficiency. Their attitudes emerge between detailed observations of inter-office politics and off-time spent in drunken escapades and extra-marital affairs—and we discover our narrator mostly reflected by his relationships to those around him: an inverted story, as much from the co-workers’ perspectives as the eye of the narrator.
This is a first person account throughout however, and although we find the narrator’s recalled attendance at college more of an education in hilarious alcoholic escapism (an education that comes in handy after work as well), he does seem to learn that other people can be worthwhile companions. These are real human beings, much like the 99% of the Occupy movement, losing their jobs, security, and peace of mind to corporate greed and the financial gain of the few. THE ABSENT is an indictment of employment driven by efficiency over humanity; and here Raj Dronamraju has again nailed his target with deft nihilistic precision.
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