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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
some really interesting prose but a little too disorientating for me to say that i enjoyed it
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
The Factory follows three new employees as they start their working lives in this sprawling city-sized factory compound. The factory is a world of its own, big and unknowable, and the characters seem to slowly lose their hold on the world outside. Yoshiko Ushiyama's job is shredding paper all day long. A job that requires no thinking at all, apart from her wondering what her purpose in life is... Yoshio Furufue is (reluctantly) recruited to study moss in the factory and given an ill-defined role with no deadline or instruction or help and left to get on with it. Running an annual moss hunt for children seems to be the only concrete output of his job. And Yoshiko Ushiyama's brother gets a job a proof-reader after he's laid off from his previous job. There is no real indication why they are doing the proof-reading and if anyone ever uses the work. The cupboard of documents they have to work on has documents from yesterday and ten-years ago.
The novella switches between the three character's perspectives, sometimes mid-chapter, and you have to work from clues to figure out whose view it is. Scenes jump in time and loop around and are confusing. The sense of powerlessness is prominent as no one really knows what is going on or why and more and more surreal events keep happening. The unease keeps growing as the characters try and fail to find meaning in the work they are doing. It's been awhile since I read something like this, but I think the experimental structure really works with the themes. It is odd and unsettling and I was caught off guard by the ending!
Apparently Hiroko Oyamada started to write this when she was a temp in a massive factory with nothing to do. Quite the debut novel.
Translated from the Japanese by David Boyd.
The novella switches between the three character's perspectives, sometimes mid-chapter, and you have to work from clues to figure out whose view it is. Scenes jump in time and loop around and are confusing. The sense of powerlessness is prominent as no one really knows what is going on or why and more and more surreal events keep happening. The unease keeps growing as the characters try and fail to find meaning in the work they are doing. It's been awhile since I read something like this, but I think the experimental structure really works with the themes. It is odd and unsettling and I was caught off guard by the ending!
Apparently Hiroko Oyamada started to write this when she was a temp in a massive factory with nothing to do. Quite the debut novel.
Translated from the Japanese by David Boyd.
medium-paced
It's an interesting, experimental piece of work, that I personally found, was focused on trying to communicate the hellscape that is working in an [insert corporation here]. The monotony, the alienation, the pointlessness, and the frustration that comes from being stuck in it resonated with me well.
The characters are all quite frustrating in an extraordinarily relatable sense as the alienated capitalistic society we live in nowadays breeds animosity.
The characters are all quite frustrating in an extraordinarily relatable sense as the alienated capitalistic society we live in nowadays breeds animosity.
i think i’m coming to the conclusion that i just don’t get these books, maybe it’s because of the translation or maybe i’m an inadequate reader but …
fast-paced