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The Employees
The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century | Olga Ravn
7 posts | 7 read | 28 to read
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review
Mogoeg
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Pickpick

Fragmented & enigmatic but cumulative in its critique of capitalism & its propensity to turn human(iod)s into 'resources.' Reads almost like poetry & asks the reader to get comfortable with uncertainty & information gaps. I liked it.

64 likes2 stack adds
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rachelsbrittain
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Book mail! Two galleys and a Bookshop.org order

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AnneCecilie
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Mehso-so

I have absolutely no idea of what I just read. A story told in vignettes over 130p and the slim novel was one of the reasons I finished.

Humans and human lookalikes work together on a ship and are being interviewed by someone about what is happening on the ship.

66 likes2 stack adds
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vivastory
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I just received your package @Simona Thanks again for sending it my way! I'm really looking forward to reading this unusual book.

batsy How wonderful! Looking forward to your take on it. 3y
Simona I‘m very glad that it‘s finally in your hands. Hoping that you will like it 🤞 3y
65 likes2 comments
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batsy
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Pickpick

Strange, chilling, & beautiful. This book is structured as a workplace commission of the Six-Thousand Ship's crew witness statements. Far away from the Earth, the human & humanoid crew give cryptic but increasingly revealing, disturbing statements. It's a critique of capitalist wage & reproductive labour, but it's also a speculative dystopia, if that makes sense. The existence of the "objects" from the planet New Discovery gave it a surreal feel.

batsy It reminded me a lot of Tarkovsky's Solaris. The questions it raises are those of ethics & existence, & underlying the novel is the destabilising sense of these alien objects. I could not stop thinking about them, but maybe it's because that's not much to differentiate a human from an object. Once you're unmoored from earthly categories, what makes a human human? I really admire the vision & construction of this book. 3y
vivastory Fantastic review! Out of the 3 unread books on the MBI shortlist this was easily the one I wanted to read the most, but it's been impossible to get here 3y
batsy @vivastory Thank you! I think it's a book you'll find quite intriguing. I have a friend in publishing who did me a favour with a digital copy because I couldn't access a copy either, but now I see it's back in stock in Book Depository. Definitely one I'd like to get soon to keep and reread. 3y
See All 19 Comments
Simona Nice review @batsy and for sure it's a book that makes you 🤔 @vivastory I would be glad to send you my copy. (edited) 3y
Twainy Nice 3y
BarbaraBB Ooh this sounds good. Great review. 3y
vivastory @Simona That's incredibly generous of you! Thank you so much! 3y
Ruthiella This is the title of the Man International that I am most interested in checking out! The premise is so intriguing! 3y
nathandrake1997 I know this might sound like hyperbole, but honestly your account on litsy is easily my favourite ❤️ The way you convey the tone and essence of a book through brilliant review after brilliant review is one of the main reasons for my ever growing tbr 😄 While this was one of my more anticipated titles from this year's shortlist, your review made me want to read it immediately! I know I sound almost like a fanboy, but yes, I am a fan 😄❤️ 3y
Suet624 What @nathandrake1997 said. 💕💕💕 3y
batsy @Ruthiella It is the kind of book to subtly get under your skin. There's not a lot of words, & each page has a lot of white space, but I still find myself thinking about it days later. 3y
batsy @nathandrake1997 Thank you so much for your kind words! You've really made my day ❤️ Thank you for taking the time to read my reviews where I tend to ramble on 😅 And I love reading your reviews, so I'm glad to hear this ☺️ 3y
batsy @Suet624 Thank you, Sue and right back at you ♥️ 3y
Simona I just deleted my e address, because I don‘t feel comfortable for everyone to see it🤗 3y
Centique @nathandrake1997 @batsy I love these reviews too - S you are a Litsy Boss 🙌🙌 3y
batsy @Centique Thank you for reading, lovely ❤️ 3y
BiblioLitten @nathandrake1997 I completely agree with you💕 3y
84 likes10 stack adds19 comments
review
Simona
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Pickpick

The story takes place in the future on a spaceship, and the crew are humans and humanoids. Their work is collecting objects which are then stored on the ship. And this is where the problems begin. The purpose of their work is not explained and the whole interpretation of the events is left to the reader. The eeriness, of this story without a story, slowly grows through short testimonies/statements of employees. 👇

Simona ... A very interesting base of ideas for pondering about what makes us human, and whether we are changing because of the workplaces into humanoids ... #InternationalBookerPrize2021 3y
Simona @TheAromaofBooks This book is my #doublespin for April 😁 3y
Simona And if you interested, link to the interview with author https://www.lollieditions.com/lolli-in-conversation/reading-with-the-mouth 3y
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Tanisha_A I was reading the synopsis of this one a few days back, and it did intrigue me quite a bit. Nice review! 😃 3y
Simona Thank you 😊 It‘s very fragmented ‘story‘, and because of that it‘s hard to summarising it, but definitely it is a thought provoking book. @Tanisha_A (edited) 3y
bookseller_cate Sounds intriguing! Stacked. 😊 3y
rockpools Great review! Glad you got there eventually 😊 3y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 3y
Reggie Sounds great, stacked! 3y
Simona @bookseller_cate @Reggie Looking forward to seeing your review 😘 3y
Simona @rockpools I have the feeling that this is a winning book 🙄 3y
rockpools @Simona I‘d be happy if it was! 3y
42 likes3 stack adds12 comments
review
rockpools
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Not my usual! On the Six-Thousand Ship, human and humanoid employees are invited to contribute interviews to a workplace study - interviews that show how similar the categories are becoming, and the increasing levels of dissatisfaction and division on the ship. The final report from The Committee is both chilling and familiar in its view of what constitutes success.

This was an interesting, original, disturbing read, with lots to ponder.

charl08 Sounds good! 3y
squirrelbrain Another good one! 3y
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rockpools Oh, and this was this month‘s #DoubleSpin - think that‘s the first time I‘ve actually read both @TheAromaofBooks 3y
rockpools @charl08 Just in case - don‘t buy the kindle version- the formatting‘s rubbish! It was readable on iPad but not on kindle or phone. 3y
rockpools @squirrelbrain Yes, I‘m quite enjoying these. But I‘m also looking forward to sinking into some big slow historical fiction now! 3y
TheAromaofBooks Great review!!! 3y
Simona I‘m envying you for your doublespin😘 3y
rockpools @Simona Gah! Sorry! Fingers crossed yours gets to you weeks quicker than expected! 3y
62 likes6 stack adds9 comments