Work Sucks, I Know– But you Should Still Read These Workplace Novels
Also name that tune!!!
Work sucks, I know. I recognize that this is a tough sell for a topic, but I really, truly believe it is worth it, which is why I am here making this effort to write about it. Work is tricky. People have a lot of feelings about work, broadly and specifically. Workplace etiquette, engagement, and participation patterns have come to define generations (or at least, this infographic seems to think they’ve nailed it).
Most of us have to work for a living, meaning work takes up the better part of our days, weeks, and years. For the average person working 8 hours a day and 50ish weeks a year, that’s about 2000 hours annually spent at work. Gross. Work also has a way of consuming us. Try as we might to compartmentalize, it can be difficult to keep work from bleeding into other parts of our lives and identities.
Since so much of our time on this precious earth is spent at work, it stands to reason that we might spend some time examining our relationship with this thing which we are somewhat beholden to. What does it mean to have a job? Should your job be meaningful to you personally, aligning with your innermost hopes and dreams? Or should your work be totally divorced from the self, an entity separated as much as possible from your private life? Is work a reflection of who you are, and does doing good work make you a good person? Late-stage capitalism would tell you absolutely it does… but lately, I am beginning to wonder…
Now, a lot of this should probably be unpacked with a therapist. But I have another supplemental material that might be of use in soothing our collective anxieties: the workplace novel. What is a workplace novel? A novel that centers its characters in the workplace, of course. The workplace is the main setting and in a way, the main character.
The workplace novel is not a new phenomenon; after all, we’ve established that work is similar to death in that it is one of the great equalizers of this lifetime— people have been working forever, and have been writing about it just as long. But the workplace novel seems to have enjoyed a bit of a renaissance. In the post-pandemic era specifically, our sentiments and expectations regarding work have been upended, held up to the light for critical inspection, and found to be lacking in some essential way.
The workplace novel, with all its humor and tragedy, rote horror, and relatability, can show us something about ourselves. It can help us better understand our relationship with work and, in doing so, just maybe help us better understand ourselves.
Here are some of my favorite workplace novels. Enjoy.
The Employees by Olga Ravn
This book is worth the purchase for the cover alone. I mean how fucking good is that? The good news is, this book is incredible. Out of the 25 books I’ve read so far this year, this is easily one of my favorites. It is so strange and brilliant and impactful; it’s the first book that jumps to mind when someone asks me what I’ve read lately that’s left a mark.
It’s a featherweight novel, weighing in at around 120 pages– more of a novella, really. You could read it in an evening, but you wouldn’t want to because the sentences are razor-sharp, each carrying a breathtaking combination of precision and intention. Each word feels essential. I am not one to highlight or underline in my books, but if I were, this book would be marked TF up.
The story is delivered in memos from unnamed employees of the Six-Thousand Ship, a spaceship that contains human and humanoid workers. These memos, which are like one-sided interviews, unspool the plot as we discover that something has begun to cast a shadow on the ship's work culture, and tensions between the humans and humanoids begin to rise.
This is sci-fi, yes, but if you’re expecting an interstellar epic a la Dune, this is not the book for you. It’s much more subtle in its delivery, but searing in effect. The memos from these anonymous employees reveal colleague relationships, reasons for joining the company, and personal feelings of failure, success, fear, loneliness, connection and heartbreak as they occur in the work context. As we see how these feelings that are stirred up in the workplace affect the lives of these people, we’re forced to consider our own emotional intelligence and relationships and their place in our work and personal lives.
Severance by Ling Ma
This one has gained some popularity since its publication in 2018, probably because it so eerily foreshadowed the impending COVID-19 pandemic. The book is about an illness (from China!!!) that sweeps across the US, turning people into zombies, though not of the brain-eating variety. Instead, these undead are sort of like drones of capitalism. They get caught in loops of quotidian workday tasks, continually making copies, filling the coffee, and stuffing envelopes. Those who fall ill at home repeatedly set the table, make the bed– forever stuck in the mundanity of the daily to-do list.
The main character, Candace, is one of the few people who doesn’t get sick—and yet, she still goes into the office, where only a very small number of her colleagues show up, encouraged by promises from their boss of receiving a massive payout for being such loyal employees once this all passes. But really, how different is her life from the zombies she sees as she makes her way to and from her office job in an empty city day after day?
Eventually, Candace finds herself as one of the last people left in the city with a motley crew of survivors who are trying to make it out of the city and to a safe haven promised by one of its members. There’s a lot more to this plot, and I don’t want to spoil it– but it is very much worth the read for its humor, horror, and examination of the workplace.
Severance asks difficult questions about how disaster affects our relationship with work, and just how bad things have to get before we recognize that the status quo can no longer save us.
The New Me by Halle Butler
The darkest of dark comedies. This book is SO funny and appalling for its accuracy. I will be candid, though, and say that while I loved it, another friend I recommended it to hated it. It requires a specific taste, I guess.
Our main character, Millie, is working as a temp at various shitty office jobs, dreaming of a full-time position. She believes that her life will be better once she has said a full-time role, completely transforming her into the woman she’s always dreamed of being– one who dresses well, has tons of friends, financial security, etc.
Millie is not a likable character with her shrewd observations, vile habits, and self-loathing. But she’s no dummy. Millie knows that the monotonous cycle of her days is not getting her anywhere and that, on some level, she is failing. Yet that knowledge doesn’t help her escape the cycle; it only causes her to sink further into her depression and vitriol.
This book satirizes the workplace and the climbing of the corporate ladder. It’s mean and it's gross and it made me laugh out loud. If you’ve ever felt trapped in the rat race or felt even for a second like the weight of your miserable little life might crush your chest and take you out of this nightmare– this is the book for you.
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
What if you liked your job exactly as it is? You had no interest in climbing the ladder, getting promoted, or earning that year-end bonus. Instead, you just went to work, enjoyed moments of joy throughout the day, and went home at closing time– and that was enough.
Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman imagines exactly this. The main character, Keiko, has been working at the convenience store since she was 18. She is comfortable there and feels she’s found a purpose in her life that she didn’t previously have. She is happy with her work, and yet, everyone else in her life seems disappointed in her. They lament her underachieving, try to push her toward other jobs, and worry about how her life will turn out, increasingly urging her towards more drastic measures to “escape” her fate as a convenience store worker.
This is a delightfully strange little novel about a woman who opts out of the established social norms of what people should aspire to professionally and how jobs should shape our lives. It’s a read that will give you a fresh perspective; perhaps one that will help you find deeper meaning in your work in a way you’ve not before considered.
If you’ve read any of these, I’d love to k now what you think! Got any workplace novels you love that I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading!
Books of the moment:
✨Heads up! I’m using my Bookshop affiliate link for all titles recommended in this newsletter. If you buy them through these links, I might earn a commission.✨
📖 Currently reading:
Do Everything in the Dark, by Gary Indiana
📚Recently finished:
Ordinary Human Failings, by Meg Nolan, 4/5 stars
Hot Springs Drive, by Lindsay Hunter, 5/5 stars
👉🏼You should read: 7 Biohacks to Master Before Worrying About Other Biohacks
I’d like to throw out Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter it’s fantastic!
I have not read any of these yet but two of them were on my long list for my May list of short works: The Employees and Convenience Store Woman. So I may get to them this month! Another workplace novel that I enjoyed was The Circle by Dave Eggers.