Odile, one of the main characters in Chicago author JoeMeno’s new novel Office Girl, is the
type of free-spirited, quirky, twenty-something female character people might
be familiar with from movies such as Garden
State, Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind, and 500 Days of Summer.
As quirky if not quirkier than the female leads in those movies, Odile rides
around Chicago on her bicycle even though it is winter. An art school dropout,
she uses a silver marker to draw on—or deface, depending on your view— various
signs and advertisements around the city. She also goes to art gallery openings
mostly to express her distaste for the work on display. And, like the female
leads in the aforementioned movies, she is beautiful.
The other main character in the book, Jack, also rides his
bike around the city regardless of the season. Where Odile scribbles on signs,
he rides around with a tape recorder. Sometimes he tapes actual sounds of the
city, sometimes he turns on the tape player to record odd, and often silent,
things such as a pink balloon rising up into the sky. He is a few years older
than Odile and has recently split up with his wife. He is still reeling from
this blow when Odile crosses paths with him.
Once the two cross paths while they are both working at an
elevator music company called Muzak Situations, Office Girl could easily become a Wes Anderson movie on steroids.
However, Meno makes the wise decision to fully develop both characters. The
third section of the novel, simply titled “Odile and Jack,” is more from Jack’s
point of view. He is entranced by Odile and follows her around hoping they
might have some sort of relationship. He assists her with an art movement she
has been planning for some time. This movement does not consist of them painting
or sculpting. Instead, it revolves around them doing odd things in public like
reenacting a scene from Jaws on the L
or dressing up as ghosts on a crowded city bus. This is not a movement that
will rival the surrealists as much as it is Odile’s effort to do something
creative that will wake people up. The book also includes renderings of some of
Odile’s drawings and pictures of scenes referred to in the book. This gives it
the random feel of a zine and helps to further establish the feeling of the
late nineties in which the book is set, a time when Facebook and Twitter did
not exist.
Office Girl can’t
be considered an action packed novel, but it is obvious from the get go that
huge revelations and shocking plot twists were not Meno’s goals here. Despite
the low key vibe, I did care about what became of Odile and Jack’s relationship
as well as the struggles both of them went through in balancing rapidly
approaching adult responsibilities with the freedom of youth.
JW
