Reviews with content warning for Death - De ansatte

I don’t know that I fully understood it but this book is an experience. It feels kind of like a weird nightmare or dream that leaves you feeling a bit gross and unsettled. I’m not sure if I liked it or not but I think I did? I’ll have to re read this sometime.

It’s very abstract and nothing is explained to the reader. There’s multiple povs but few of them are named and we don’t have any way of knowing how many there are or when exactly it switches to a new person. This is done intentionally. It’s very disorienting, and I was left at the end not fully knowing what I just read. I’m pretty sure the main takeaway is that people, whether human or not in this case, are not meant to spend their lives working and are meant to live for themselves. How we need connections to other people and to nature and the world around us. It’s not natural for any living thing to dedicate their entire life to work. That’s not living. And of course exploring what it means to be human and whether AI can become human, which yes is an overdone theme in sci fi but personally I’m not sick of it yet.

Definitely check content warnings. Body horror, trypophobia, and questioning of reality are the main things I would say to be aware of.

Content Warnings

lilybear3's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced

3.75

I added this book to my TBR so long ago that I forgot what it was about/why I added it. For me, this book is a slow burn at first and then it really ramps up. It's told in Statements, each of those being 1-2 pages long. This translation is captivating and flowed so well. I wrote down so many quotes I thought were incredible. I don't remember if A.I. was becoming more mainstream in 2018, when this was published/translated, but if it wasn't, this book was ahead of the curve. I am very interested in what it means to be human or not, artificial intelligence, technological advancements & morality issues, all that good stuff.

I love that the statements are so short because we only get glimpses of the humans' and humanoids' stories. I also love that not everything is explained, the reader gets to speculate what is happening and what the objects are. It just adds to the mysteriousness.

This is probably because the song just came out and I've been obsessed with it that I'm making this connection, but oh my god does it fit well. V.A.N. by Bad Omens and Poppy is an awesome song that's about A.I. taking over and learning human behavior.

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fromtheyellowchair's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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itsybitsygingie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have literally no idea what I just read. It was weird. I’m confused. I enjoyed every second of it.

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azureumbreon's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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directorpurry's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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pil4r's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Aprecio mucho haberme cruzado con Los empleados.
En principio, su formato resulta una propuesta diferente, refrescante: Ravn nos invita a conocer los sucesos que están teniendo lugar en la nave 6000 a través de los testimonios de sus tripulantes humanos y humanoides. Con muy limitados datos sobre quienes testifican y con información brindada a cuentagotas, esta obra se propone como un interesante trabajo para sus lectores, quienes debemos ir construyendo esta historia. Historia que, a su vez, se configura como una especie de mosaico siendo que son voces diversas -algunas en un estado cuasi febril, otras en instancias de crisis existenciales así como con trazos de ¿protesta?- las que le van dando su forma.
Este trabajo hace un uso de la ciencia ficcion en un formato para mí renovador con el fin de plantear comentarios y debates necesarios en relación a las diferencias de clases, la relación de explotación laboral y lo humano.
En términos de sensaciones, su lectura se asemeja al estar despertando de una ensoñación. Con un lenguaje por momentos etéreo, la autora logra que nos conectemos con esta historia -sobre todo en su segunda mitad- y el trabajo que la misma implica.
Recomiendo, principalmente, para interesadxs por la ciencia ficción y/o ficción especulativa y para quienes les aventure el trabajo y construcción propia propuesta.

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owenwilsonbaby's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

‘He tells me about the bridge and the woods near his childhood home, about the stream that flowed under the bridge, how they used to swim there, and a lot of other things from the place he calls Earth. He's shown me a stream that runs down in the valley. Obviously I can't leave the ship, but he's pointed it out to me from the panorama room. The stream glitters, and it runs like a silvery thought through the landscape. He put his hand on my shoulder. It was warm. A human hand. He said: 'You've lots to learn, my boy.’ An odd thing to say, seeing as how I was made a man from the start.’

I can’t lie, I was almost in tears at the end of this novel. I don’t want to be reductive about a refined and original piece of writing, but the best way I could describe it to my sister without spoilers was like an expanded version of that ‘cells within cells’ scene in Bladerunner 2049, based on Nabokov’s Pale Fire. It has so much to say about people being exploited by capitalism, to the very end, and demonstrates this by stripping characters of names, instead turning their individual narrative passages into witness statements. As such, it might be difficult for some readers to piece together plot and character threads, but I feel like once you adjust to the book’s narrative style, you get swept up in it regardless. There are so many lines of beautiful prose about humanity and the qualities and meanings of being alive, of community, connection, memory, experience and survival. It sort of feels like a novel that is inherently about climate change without ever mentioning that overtly? Or at least collective responses to it. There were so many images in this that made me want to cry. I really loved it.

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