A review by starryybella
The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
"All of us here are condemned to a dream of romantic love, even though no one I know loves that way, or lives that kind of a life. Yet these are the dreams you've given us."
STATEMENT 011
"The Employees" was more of an experience than a story - I finished it in under an hour, given how relatively short some of the "statements" were. Some of them were only half a page.
Typically, I'm not someone who enjoys sci-fi, but when I picked this up in a bookstore while visiting my university for next year after knowing it was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, I had to read it.
It did not disappoint and it's worthy of being more popular.
I would describe as, well... "No plot, just vibes", except that, in my opinion, it's very character and conflict driven when they meet the objects they discover on the planet New Discovery.
But that gave to both the mystery of the book and empowered a LOT of the very memorable passages.
Even though not all of the characters in the book were "human", I could sympathize with them. I ultimately did view them as human.
From the holograms of the human crew members' missing children to the humanoids wanting to keep any emotion or pain they felt because it made them more like their peers they wanted to understand, this was one of the first books in a long time that made me feel something.
I had very mixed emotions about the ending, but the addendum in the book after what happens to the members on the ship, I still go back and reread.
Remarkably strange but beautiful and human at the same time. This book makes you see the grass differently, breathe in the fresh air differently, and makes the sky a little bluer - Something I've been needing lately.
This is one of the most brilliant reads I've sat down with in a while.
Typically, I'm not someone who enjoys sci-fi, but when I picked this up in a bookstore while visiting my university for next year after knowing it was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, I had to read it.
It did not disappoint and it's worthy of being more popular.
I would describe as, well... "No plot, just vibes", except that, in my opinion, it's very character and conflict driven when they meet the objects they discover on the planet New Discovery.
But that gave to both the mystery of the book and empowered a LOT of the very memorable passages.
Even though not all of the characters in the book were "human", I could sympathize with them. I ultimately did view them as human.
From the holograms of the human crew members' missing children to the humanoids wanting to keep any emotion or pain they felt because it made them more like their peers they wanted to understand, this was one of the first books in a long time that made me feel something.
I had very mixed emotions about the ending, but the addendum in the book after what happens to the members on the ship, I still go back and reread.
Remarkably strange but beautiful and human at the same time. This book makes you see the grass differently, breathe in the fresh air differently, and makes the sky a little bluer - Something I've been needing lately.
This is one of the most brilliant reads I've sat down with in a while.