Michiel Eijsbouts

Michiel Eijsbouts
Funny, larmoyant, bored at work, auto-bio

Michiel Eijsbouts (1979) is a writer and broadcaster. He studied philosophy until he obtained a job in a copy shop. His experiences as a service employee in that shop have become the basis of That's What She Said. Except for the dialogues, this debut novel is almost entirely autobiographical.

Books

- a thrilling and intriguing power play with a human life at stake -

Max, a thirty-year-old poker professional, lives and works according to a tightly coordinated schedule. With his 'ten days on and ten days off'-system, during which he lives almost exclusively on alcohol and drugs, he is planning to become a poker table millionaire as quick as he can.

Unfortunately, his plans are disrupted by an acute case of liver failure. He ends up in the hospital, where it quickly becomes clear that he does not qualify to receive a donor liver because of his outrageous lifestyle. Max fears to lose control over his life, and he tries to save himself with the only thing he knows: poker. But this time he'll use his friends and family as play cards.

Bert and Michiel are the young heroes of central Amsterdam copy shop Toppie Copy. Their biggest fear is to be faced with a customer who wants to have a t-shirt printed, as they forgot that trick a long time ago. But if offending customers were a national sport, they'd be longtime Dutch champions.

These are strange times in the copy industry. Customers stay away, and those who still show up are annoying assholes. The employees of Toppie Copy know this, and struggle constantly to keep their job as simple as possible. They manage to get through their workdays thanks to lots of smoking, drinking and waffling.

Then they suddenly receive an alarming message from their Headquarters: their branch will be submitted to a thorough inspection. Now they really have to get some work done…

That's What She Said is a hilarious novel about work morale, sexual frustration and the wonderful world of today's middle class.

Represented by 2 Seas Agency.