Discontent by Beatriz Serrano Book Review
Discontent by Beatriz Serrano was one of my Book of the Month selections for September, and I’m so glad I read it. I don’t know why, but I just had a really good feeling when I read the book description. There’s just something relatable about the dread of going to work everyday, you know? So keep reading for my full book review of Discontent by Beatriz Serrano.
What is Discontent by Beatriz Serrano About?
On the surface, Marisa’s life looks enviable. She lives in a beautiful apartment in the center of Madrid, she has a hot neighbor who is always around to sleep with her, and she’s quickly risen through the ranks at a successful advertising agency. And yet she’s drowning in a dark hole of existential dread induced by the banality of corporate life. Marisa hates her job and everyone at it. She spends her working hours locked in her office hiding from her coworkers, bingeing YouTube videos, and getting high on tranquilizers. When she has the time, she escapes to her favorite museum where she contemplates the meaning of life while staring at Hieronymus Bosch paintings, or trying to get hit by a car so she can go on disability.
But Marisa’s dubious success, which is largely built on lies and work she’s stolen from other people, is in danger of being exposed when she’s forced to go on her company’s team-building retreat. Isolated in the Segovia forests, haunted by the deeply buried memory of a former coworker, and surrounded by psychopathic bosses, overzealous coworkers, flirty retreat staff, and an excess of drugs, Marisa finds herself acting on her wildest impulses and is pushed to the brink of a complete spiral. (from Amazon.com)
My Initial Thoughts
As I mentioned in my introduction, I was immediately intrigued by the description of this book. It reminded me of some other books I’ve read in the past couple of years: My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Severance.
This is Beatriz Serrano’s debut novel and I felt that it was really well written. The utter hilarity of how Marisa conducts herself at work (and on her own time) really kept me engrossed in the story. Whether she was musing about life in a corporate office or her relationship with her friend and lover Pablo, she always kept me entertained.
This is a Translated Text
I didn’t realize that this book was written in Spanish. Maybe I should have since it is set in Madrid, the capital of Spain. But it’s always eye opening to read stories that take place in cities that you’ve never been to.
This Book Felt Very Millennial
I think part of the reason why I loved this book so much is because of how millennial it felt. It’s like, we all want to make money and live good lives. But the act of working and selling our souls to get there just seems like too much sometime.
Although I’m not a manager or anything, I do work in a corporate setting and I know what office culture is like. All of the trivial conversations that Marisa had were so realistic. It was so interesting to compare Marisa’s two worlds. She puts forth a young woman’s office persona at work and then goes home and takes drugs and disconnects from reality to deal with it all.
I can’t relate on that front. Lol. But it’s funny. If Marisa were a real person I would say she had a lot of issues to deal with. But as a character with a carefully crafted office persona, I found her to be pretty hilarious. Some might say this novel of workplace ennui had a lot of similarities to the movie Office Space.
Part of What Makes This Book So Funny…
Is the inane conversations that Marisa gets into at work. And the scathing observations that she makes afterward. At her Madrid ad agency, Marisa has this method of getting by. She takes a lot of inspiration from others (meaning stealing work) and somehow manages to impress her boss anyway.
And dealing with her coworkers? She’s got small talk down to an art form.
This Book Went in a Direction I Didn’t Expect
And I loved it. Things got dark. But also funny? It was a very punk ending. I don’t want to spoil anything so I’m just going to leave it there! If you read this book make sure you come back to this blog post and leave me a comments. I’m dying to hear what other readers thought. Haha.
In Conclusion
Work. It’s caused the existential crisis of a generation. And Discontent is an insightful and humorous look into what happens when a corporate worker takes things too far. What happens to Marisa isn’t completely realistic but it does feel like how a lot of people in corporate jobs might feel.
Idk. If Marisa was a real person I would probably be like hey… why don’t you find a job that you actually like? No job is perfect but if you like what you do it makes it a little bit better.
Thank you for checking out my Discontent by Beatriz Serrano book review.
