A knockout debut novel that tackles a haunting question:
What do our jobs do to our souls?

"The 2020's version of Mad Men..."
— NPR

“Blistering… Mad Men ambition meets an epic, existential meltdown.”
— Vanity Fair, 20 Best Books of 2023

“[Purkert is] a sharply funny observer of male foibles, 20-something angst, and the modern workplace.”
— Washington Post

“Purkert immerses his reader in the colorful advertising industry.”
— Boston Globe

“A 21st-Century Catcher in the Rye…. startingly funny thanks to an unforgettable narrator [with a] Jupiter-sized ego.”
— Esquire

“The flash and sizzle of [Purkert’s] wit really deliver”
— Kirkus Reviews

“This is great fun.”
— Publishers Weekly

About the novel

Seth is a junior copywriter whose latest tagline just went viral. He’s the agency’s hottest new star, or at least he wants his coworker crush to think so. But while he’s busy drooling over his future corner office, the walls crumble around him. 
    
When his job lets him go, he can’t let go of his job. Thankfully, one former colleague can’t let him go either: Robert “Moon” McCloone, a skeezy on-the-rise exec better suited to a frat house than a boardroom. Seth tries to forget Moon and rediscover his spiritual self; he studies Kabbalah with an Orthodox rabbi by day while popping illegal prescription pills by night. But with each misstep, Seth strays farther from salvation—though he might get there, if he could only get out of his own way.  
      
In his debut novel, Purkert incisively peels back the layers of the male ego, revealing what’s rotten and what might be redeemed. Brimming with wit, irreverence, and soul-searching, The Men Can’t Be Saved is a startlingly original examination of work, sex, addiction, religion, branding, and ourselves.

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Download free discussion guide for book clubs and individual readers here.