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A review by tigger89
The Employees by Olga Ravn
challenging
mysterious
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
2.5
A lot of people said very good things about this book. And I can see how some people like it. It reminded me of nothing more than a prose book that desperately wanted to be a poem(conceptually, not in terms of poetic description), with transcripts of employee statements taking the place of stanzas. Unfortunately I ran into the same difficulty I have with poetry, which is that I prefer something a bit more narratively concrete to hold onto. The vibes were individually right, but they slipped through my fingers whenever I tried to assemble them into a coherent whole.
I believe I understood what happened, over the course of the several employee statements that contained plot narration. And the promised meditation on the meaning of humanity was certainly delivered. But the rest felt like repetitive filler to me, vibing without plot or character for a dozen pages or more before we got to the next brief nugget of information. A few times this worked out well, but most of the time it just felt like I was getting the same vibes I'd already gotten earlier in the reading experience.
I did like the ending. It was fitting and evoked the perfect emotions. I particularly appreciated that the experimental format of the story had an in-universe explanation. The journey that got us there just didn't do it for me, though. Given the fact that most other reviewers loved it, I'm gonna chalk this one up as Not For Me.
I believe I understood what happened, over the course of the several employee statements that contained plot narration. And the promised meditation on the meaning of humanity was certainly delivered. But the rest felt like repetitive filler to me, vibing without plot or character for a dozen pages or more before we got to the next brief nugget of information. A few times this worked out well, but most of the time it just felt like I was getting the same vibes I'd already gotten earlier in the reading experience.
I did like the ending. It was fitting and evoked the perfect emotions. I particularly appreciated that the experimental format of the story had an in-universe explanation. The journey that got us there just didn't do it for me, though. Given the fact that most other reviewers loved it, I'm gonna chalk this one up as Not For Me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
Minor: Miscarriage