Discontent

Funny! This absurd fantasy take on corporate culture in Spain is spot on as narrated by Marisa. At 32, she's experienced enough to know what's necessary, time-wasting, & that co-workers aren't friends for cubicle workers - enough so that one of them commits suicide & coming up w/a moment-of-silence is difficult for the team. She's also lonely, depressed, & anxious and finds relief in tranquilizers, casual sex w/her neighbor, YouTube, & Bosch's most famous work - The Garden of Earthly Delights - not far from her office. Her description of the triptych is worth the price of the book. The section where her team shares nonsensical emails is hilarious. Marisa hates working & is resentful of those rich enough who don't have to. She studied art & works in a creative field, but it's not the industry she minds; it's the idea that she's expected to be available 8 hrs/day in pointless meetings discussing pointless but money-making topics w/people who seem like sheep overseen by a gullible optimist. She doesn't have any goal other than not to work. I still liked her because she's so accurate about corporate culture. Teams, open work areas, & fun in the workplace have been around since the 90s & workers knew how ridiculous it all was unless maybe one was a person whose friends and fun happened to be in the same place. Office spoofs & satire aren't new (the now-canceled cartoonist creator of "Dilbert" first published a satire of white-collar, cubicle workers micromanaged by a pointy haired clueless boss in 1989). Hurry to read this, because it already seems a bit dated - Marisa relies on YouTube & google to appear creative and hasn't yet discovered AI that most likely will eliminate many jobs. Liked the fantasy ending.

Tore through this book, I loved it so much. Dark humor perfection.

Coming off the high of the short but powerful 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳, I decided to go ahead and follow it with another quick read. I was regretting not adding 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 to my Book of Month box but was lucky enough to snag a review copy!Marisa’s having a midlife crisis. She has no meaningful relationships, despises her 9 to 5, abuses alcohol and drugs, and sincerely wishes to be hit by a motor vehicle as an escape from it all. To make matters worse, there’s an overnight staff retreat, and because her life is of so little consequence, she doesn’t even have an excuse to get out of it!The wit! The observation! The insanity of it all! Gosh I loved this book. I laughed out loud so many times and highlighted a lot of paragraphs I’d like to think about more. It’s giving 𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘤𝘩 vibes but in the workplace.Thanks to NetGalley, Knopf, Pantheon, and Vintage for the review copy!

Honestly, my new favorite book. Relatable, dark, funny and cathartic

I received an advance copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Absolutely loved this book! Marisa is insanely relatable. She tries to maintain (as we all do) a normal work persona. She’s a successful employee at an ad agency, is casually seeing her neighbor, and seems to have an enjoyable life. Of course there is that everyday existential dread that SO many of us know all too well. The way this book shows how mind numbing corporate jobs are is chef’s kiss. I literally related so much I wanted to scream. Hiding from staff, watching videos during the work day - sooooooooo relatable. Her contemplations of how to get out of work on disability from an “accident” made me laugh. There is so much humor throughout this book. When Marisa’s secrets are about to come to light at a company retreat, she starts to spiral like we all wood. Again, for anyone that knows the corporate world, this book shows we aren’t alone and perhaps we can see what would happen if we, like Marisa, try to go off the rails.