The Beautiful Bureaucrat
by Helen Phillips
Nominations: Center For Fiction Longlist 2015, LA Times Finalist 2015
Date Read: June 3, 2023
From the outset of The Beautiful Bureaucrat, an eerie tone invades every scene and interaction. Having come from a nameless hinterland, Joseph and Josephine still have a newlywed vibe while struggling to make their way in a new city. Being from the country, they feel out of their depth in this urban environment where both are lucky to land jobs almost simultaneously.
As strange as it may be, Joseph and Josephine never discuss work. I don’t think they even know the names of the companies they work for, their titles, where their offices are located or what their jobs consist of. I love talking shop with my husband so that stook out rather stark to me. I did understand, however, just how happy they both were to finally be employed.
Their living situation goes from precarious to even more precarious with every miserable sublet. Not sleeping in their own bed. Subterranean hovels. Gray and dirty sheets. Pictures not their own. Of course, their biggest dream, aside from becoming parents, is to live in a place where they can take their own furniture out of storage. Month after month, there’s no unfurnished home. And month after month, there’s no baby.
Josephine’s job is boring and nightmarish I can imagine. Isolated in a room alone all day, doing the same task over and over. She has no friends or colleagues other than Trishanne. Her boss is the Person with Bad Breath which is described in such nauseating detail that I can almost smell how bad that breath is. When she breaks out one day to find a place to eat lunch or even a vending machine, she’s nearly lashed back into her office.
Joseph’s erratic absences are also eerie. He disappears without warning for an entire night, never quite explaining where he’s been other than he has to work. The vibe is never adultery but she is suspicious nonetheless.
Amidst all of this chaos, Josephine elatedly finds herself pregnant and she couldn’t be more overjoyed. But everything in this new world comes at a price. Almost at the same time, Josephine realizes her job is entering death dates. With this knowledge comes Joseph’s file across her desk with his death date needing entering.
After a suspenseful search for Joseph, all is revealed. He had figured out a way to forge a pregnancy into the system but had botched the form, causing his own death date. All is restored to how it should have been but now Joseph and Josephine are back at square one. But at least they have each other.
Was this some game-changing, super insightful and moving piece of literature? No. Was it a fun and suspenseful romp with heart? Totes.
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