Take a photo of a barcode or cover
alisarae 's review for:
The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century
by Olga Ravn
"I may have been made, but now I'm making myself."
Based on the description of the book, I imagined that I was going to read a more straightforward sci-fi narrative of a dystopian workplace, like a Jeff Bezos engineered version of Nineteen Eighty-Four. The book does have a timeline and a narrative eventually emerges, but it is quite experimental: each short chapter is an excerpt from interviews with employees aboard a space ship. The employees treat the interviews as an opportunity to confess their sins and preserve their memories as a recognition that they existed, so they eagerly line up to talk. They describe the ship, how they feel about their job and colleagues, deviant thoughts, and most peculiarly, the onset of symptoms like dreams and itchy skin (those descriptions gave me the heebie-jeebies, so be ye warned).
There are strange objects aboard the ship that emit hums, warmth, and smells, and appear to be awakening the symptoms of dreams and memories, hallucinations, strong emotions, and the *gag* skin thing. Employees frequently talk about primordial concepts of birth/eggs, skin, consumption, and the desire to touch or put the objects in their mouth. The author notes at the beginning of the book that the idea for the story came from the artist Lea Gulditte Hestelund -- and indeed you can see the objects (sculptures with cords, smooth eggs) and the description of the ship (white walls with orange or grey floors, hanging draperies, hides, color baths) in her work: http://leagulddittehestelund.dk/ and https://www.instagram.com/leaguldditte/ Check out "Consumed Future Spewed Up as Present" in particular.
In the second half of the book, a conflict forms as existential questions arise about what it means to be a human, apparently sparked after the employees started experiencing symptoms from contact with the objects.
Honestly the story is much richer than it appears on the surface and there are a lot more concepts that I could talk about here, but I don't want to give away spoilers. If you like esoteric artsy-fartsy stuff with strong vibes of [b:Annihilation|17934530|Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)|Jeff VanderMeer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403941587l/17934530._SX50_.jpg|24946895] and the show Severance, read this and then hit me up to discuss.
Based on the description of the book, I imagined that I was going to read a more straightforward sci-fi narrative of a dystopian workplace, like a Jeff Bezos engineered version of Nineteen Eighty-Four. The book does have a timeline and a narrative eventually emerges, but it is quite experimental: each short chapter is an excerpt from interviews with employees aboard a space ship. The employees treat the interviews as an opportunity to confess their sins and preserve their memories as a recognition that they existed, so they eagerly line up to talk. They describe the ship, how they feel about their job and colleagues, deviant thoughts, and most peculiarly, the onset of symptoms like dreams and itchy skin (those descriptions gave me the heebie-jeebies, so be ye warned).
There are strange objects aboard the ship that emit hums, warmth, and smells, and appear to be awakening the symptoms of dreams and memories, hallucinations, strong emotions, and the *gag* skin thing. Employees frequently talk about primordial concepts of birth/eggs, skin, consumption, and the desire to touch or put the objects in their mouth. The author notes at the beginning of the book that the idea for the story came from the artist Lea Gulditte Hestelund -- and indeed you can see the objects (sculptures with cords, smooth eggs) and the description of the ship (white walls with orange or grey floors, hanging draperies, hides, color baths) in her work: http://leagulddittehestelund.dk/ and https://www.instagram.com/leaguldditte/ Check out "Consumed Future Spewed Up as Present" in particular.
In the second half of the book, a conflict forms as existential questions arise about what it means to be a human, apparently sparked after the employees started experiencing symptoms from contact with the objects.
Honestly the story is much richer than it appears on the surface and there are a lot more concepts that I could talk about here, but I don't want to give away spoilers. If you like esoteric artsy-fartsy stuff with strong vibes of [b:Annihilation|17934530|Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)|Jeff VanderMeer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403941587l/17934530._SX50_.jpg|24946895] and the show Severance, read this and then hit me up to discuss.