Think of Nick Hornby's 'High Fidelity', take out a record shop and add in a book store and you have an idea of what 'Service' will be like. The story ( what there is , and that's not meant disparagingly) follows the character of John through his struggle to finally finish his long gestating novel while dealing with customers who ruin his evening working part time in a local book store, and that is it basically. The author manages to keep you engaged with John and his daily struggles and there is enough wit and situations to have you laughing every few pages - especially from the point of view of a bookseller- but I did find it started to repeat itself towards the end. Many thanks to the publisher for an advance copy.

I loved so much of this book. Our curmudgeonly bookseller and his (sometimes) relatable misanthropy had me earmarking more pages in a book than I ever have. The character's (...author's?) struggles with writing paired with the unending spark of desire to write were brilliantly rendered, as were the meta-writing tricks Tottenham employed very successfully and cleverly. 'Service' stops just short of reading like one big wink, as the stakes affecting the character becoming increasingly severe. Repetition of ideas works in this novel; his cynicism; jealousy; the drudgery of his work; his growing addiction; the way life happens to you and slips by - all so familiar until you suddenly find the character has slipped from likable misanthrope to dangerously close to losing everything he doesn't realise he has. Thank you very much to the publishers for my proof!

One of those strange books that executes it's idea completely, however in order to execute it's idea it has to be a profoundly tedious slog. It's a book about a writer with nothing to say, writing a book about writing a book when they have nothing to say. Because it's clever you see. Inbetween writing a book, the writer has inane encounters with random one dimensional characters at the bookshop he works. It made me laugh a few times so worth the one star but it's the literary equivalent of a five minute comedy sketch stretched to two hours. You still get the same amount of laughs but they only punctuate the endless boredom. Easily one of the worst reading experiences of my life.