Changes

|title=Lightning Rods

|author=Helen DeWitt

|reviewer=Ani Johnson

|borrow=Yes

|isbn=978-0811220347

|pages=273

|publisher=And Other Stories

|date=September 2012

|website=http://www.helendewitt.com

|summary=This funny, well-observed satire on the American Dream isn't for those expecting another ''The Last Samurai'' or the easily shocked. A very good read but not one for the kiddies!

}}

Joe is a salesman on the verge of giving up. Having lost all confidence in his ability to sell vacuum cleaners to Middle America, he creates and elaborates on a fantasy just for fun. It includes a woman being 'serviced' from behind, her partner obscured by a waist high wall. The only thing any over-the-wall voyeur sees is an innocent activity e.g. she may manicure her nails.

So if it's not about the nookie, what ''is'' it about? ''Lightning Rods'' is a witty, clever, almost cruelly insightful suggestion that Americans will buy any concept that protects them from corporate litigation. In this case Steve (the director of the company that signs the lightning ladies up) is more scared of a harassment suit than he is about, effectively, installing a form of prostitution in the office. Although Joe's argument is that this isn't prostitution; the women are employed for their secretarial skills, you see. The logic is indeed impeccable as, step by step, Joe sells a concept that could seem like ''The Emperor's New Clothes'', as it does for poor Roy from HR. Another example of the logic is the idea that Joe's team come up with to ensure that anonymity is ensured once they start employing ladies of colour. It's wonderfully concocted and would definitely prevent Joe falling foul of equality legislation, but in some quarters it may be considered kinky. I greeted this plot twist with a gasp of admiration for ingenuity followed by unsuppressed giggles. Trust me; the shocks do tend to give way to chortles once Joe goes into plan sales mode.

Helen Dewitt's skill and wish not to be pigeon holed definitely shine through as we smile about a business (and, metaphorically, a country) that strays unaware from innocence to enforce a system that's both socially and professionally inappropriate whilst being led incrementally along a pathway of apparent well-argued coherence. We find it amusing because we recognise the allegory and the USA and because we're safe in the knowledge that the same metaphor wouldn't hold up for our country. Well, it wouldn't… Would it?

If you've enjoyed this and would like to stick with the satirically unusual, we heartily recommend [[Albert of Adelaide by Howard L Anderson]]. (There's a lot less jiggy with it too by the way.)

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