A graphic novel by Lou Lubie

NOTE: I received a free preliminary, and likely unedited copy of this book from Netgalley for the purposes of providing an honest, unbiased review of the material. Thank you to all involved.

The Man for the Job is hard to review simply because it’s one of those stories that is better served if one has no prior knowledge of the plot. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT read too much about the story before diving in, to hold up my part of this I’ll try to avoid spoiling too much here if I can. What starts out as a heartwarming tale of a man that has fallen on hard times, finding a new purpose in life tutoring kids, takes a few sharp turns as this story moves on. I honestly had no idea where the story was going towards the middle. I was afraid I had gone into some VERY dark territory, and was about to drop the book, but I’m glad I didn’t jump to any conclusions. What unfolds is a very intriguing read, and definitely isn’t what you think it’s going to be.

“Manu always embraced his role as a strong, protective man, until one day his world is turned upside down. In quick succession, his girlfriend walks out on him, and he’s passed over for a position at work in the name of gender parity. In an effort to regain his bearings, he clings to a family of seven troubled children, determined to rescue them from their social misfortunes. Thus begins a long descent into the heart of his fears…”

As I mentioned, there are a few instances where I was worried about where the plot was going. One example, that I will talk about, is that Manu (our protagonist) feels utterly disrespected when he loses out on a job promotion, and blames affirmative action-styled diversity hiring for his misfortune. He goes into a rage, and blames the woman that got the job since everyone sees her as unfit for the job. At this point I was REALLY worried this was going to be a right-wing misogynist story about a man getting trodden on by women, but thankfully that was not the case.

In fact, this insecurity and fear Manu was holding inside him, only briefly appearing as white-hot rage at an inopportune times, is one of the many causes for the drama in the story later on. There are a couple of other blips like racism against Romani, and inappropriate relationships that gave me pause, but they are never pushed, and largely exist as part of overall theme of the second-half.

What ultimately unfolds is a story about what it means to be a man, society forces men to cram their emotions inside of themselves, never to let anything slip out. For some men, this causes issues with accountability. One never looks at themselves when a bad thing happens, perhaps it’s this lady’s fault, or perhaps these people over here. learning to properly deal with emotions is important, and Manu is made that much more strong when he finally realizes this.

I enjoyed this a lot despite my fears of what this book was doing. I feel that, my only major quibble was that the third act flies past at a break-neck speed. Once the entire plot is revealed it’s a race to the finish that I would have loved to see explored more. That said, the book is overall solid, and I definitely recommend it. move past any red flags you get and see the story to the end, its worth it!