Want not, by Jonathan Miles

“Waste not, want not,” says the old adage.   “Stuff,” we all have too much of it.  This novel alternates the stories of a freegan couple, living in an abandoned building and living out of dumpsters; a lonely linguist whose wife has abandoned him and whose scholarly father is descending into dementia; a hapless young man whose family has thrown him out; and a man whose wealth is based on hounding people to pay long-forgiven debts and supports a lavish life and trophy wife on the profits.  It is clever, thoughtful and well-written, but I felt that the alternating stories were confusing.   The individual stories brim with detail and their characters are complex.  It always took me a couple pages to get back into the characters in each section.   It might have, for me, worked better as a collection of inter-related novellen.  Nonetheless, I recommend it, and his earlier Dear American Airlines, highly.  390 pp.