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A review by sidekicksam
The Employees by Olga Ravn
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This short, weird book is written in the form of HR statements taken from the crew of the Six Thousand Ship, after some major event has disrupted the ship's regular workflow. The crew consists of both human and humanoid workers, who care for the ship and the objects they have retrieved from the planet New Discovery.
Delightfully weird in a non-absurdistic sense, and coming together nicely in the end, this short book is packed with criticism, exploration of what it is to be human, and vagueness to keep you at the edge of your seat. Some things did go a bit over my head as the writing style is quite sophisticated, but short but powerful as we say in Dutch (sweet doesn't really work in this case).
I felt the book resembled a documentary style film, both reminiscent of Wall-E and I, Robot, as well as other help-we-made-a-robot-with-feelings-but-it-didnt't-pan-out-as-we-thought-it-would sci-fi stories. But it could also really work as an art installation of the objects in a white room, surrounded by these statements on the wall (I actually saw something like this in Melly the other day so that might be why).
Delightfully weird in a non-absurdistic sense, and coming together nicely in the end, this short book is packed with criticism, exploration of what it is to be human, and vagueness to keep you at the edge of your seat. Some things did go a bit over my head as the writing style is quite sophisticated, but short but powerful as we say in Dutch (sweet doesn't really work in this case).
I felt the book resembled a documentary style film, both reminiscent of Wall-E and I, Robot, as well as other help-we-made-a-robot-with-feelings-but-it-didnt't-pan-out-as-we-thought-it-would sci-fi stories. But it could also really work as an art installation of the objects in a white room, surrounded by these statements on the wall (I actually saw something like this in Melly the other day so that might be why).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Death