Bonnie Garmus’s comic novel champions poetry amid magazine office feuds
Bonnie Garmus’s second novel, *Peck & Peck*, is an offbeat office comedy set at a prestigious but dysfunctional poetry magazine in 1980s New York. The review finds it zany and laugh-out-loud funny, while also making an impassioned case for poetry’s value in a society focused on profit.
The story follows Batter Gray, who loves poetry despite his parents’ hopes that he will choose a lucrative career. After landing a job at the magazine, he is assigned to photocopying and drawn into a bitter feud between its twin editors-in-chief. The magazine has 39 editors, receives thousands of rejected submissions each week, and burns them in its mailroom; the novel’s pace sags somewhat in the middle.
- Garmus follows her blockbuster debut with a comic tale about a poetry magazine.
- Batter Gray is drawn into a feud between the magazine’s twin editors.
- The novel celebrates poetry’s place in a profit-focused society.
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Bonnie Garmus's new novel, Peck & Peck, is set at a prestigious but dysfunctional poetry magazine in 1980s New York. The book is structured as a workplace comedy that explores the inner workings of a struggling literary publication.
The story follows Batter Gray, who takes a job at the magazine despite his parents' wishes that he pursue a more financially rewarding career path. He becomes caught up in conflicts at the magazine, particularly a feud between its two editors-in-chief, whilst working in lower positions such as photocopying. The magazine maintains an unusually large editorial staff and receives vast numbers of poetry submissions each week.
Beyond its workplace plot, the novel makes a case for poetry's value in a society focused on profit and financial gain. It examines why poetry matters to people and to culture, even when it does not generate income.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Peck & Peck by Bonnie Garmus review – the zany follow-up to Lessons in Chemistry”.