Shelf Life (novel)

Shelf Life is a 2004 young adult novel by Robert Corbet. The book was first published in Australia on June 1, 2004 through Allen & Unwin and focuses on the workers of an unnamed supermarket. Shelf Life was nominated as one of the CBCA's "Notable Books of 2005" in the "Older Readers" category.

Synopsis

The novel deals with an unnamed supermarket and the various people who work there. Each chapter is named after an aisle of the store, but may only have some minor references to it. There are other smaller chapters that deal with other areas such as Accounts and Service Desk. Each character has one chapter about them, which usually involves their current situation, then goes into a flashback about what had happened beforehand.

Reception

Shelf Life has received reviews from various publications such as the School Library Journal and the Horn Book Guide. Publishers Weekly gave a mostly positive review, saying that "Given their mismatched personalities and interests, it seems unlikely that they could form a team, but some touching moments arise when their loyalties to each other unexpectedly emerge.".