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siria 's review for:
The Very Nice Box
by Eve Gleichman, Laura Blackett
File this one under the heading of one of those books which has enough good parts to it to keep you reading to the end pretty propulsively despite all of the elements to it that don’t work. Ava is an engineer who works at an Ikea parody called STÄDA, where she focuses very hard on designing minimalist boxes, leading a very constrained life, and studiously avoiding her grief. Then new hire Mat—handsome and full of energy—shows up and upends her life in what seems like a good way, but of course All Is Not As It Seems.
Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman clearly set out to write a parody of contemporary corporate culture and marketing speak, and when the satire hits the mark (the self-satisfied, self-justifying misogyny of the men in the Good Guys Group, for instance) it does so well. Ava’s grief is also generally well-observed. But the authors didn’t manage to thread the needle of having both a world that’s more heightened than our own and having characters who felt truly believable as people in their (inter)actions—Severance this ain’t. The twist ending was both pretty predictable and didn’t truly work for me on an emotional level.
Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman clearly set out to write a parody of contemporary corporate culture and marketing speak, and when the satire hits the mark (the self-satisfied, self-justifying misogyny of the men in the Good Guys Group, for instance) it does so well. Ava’s grief is also generally well-observed. But the authors didn’t manage to thread the needle of having both a world that’s more heightened than our own and having characters who felt truly believable as people in their (inter)actions—Severance this ain’t. The twist ending was both pretty predictable and didn’t truly work for me on an emotional level.