Author: Jonas Karlsson
Publication House: Hogarth
Publication Date in US: February 17, 2015
Date Started: March 14, 2015
Date Finished: March 15, 2015
Format: Hard Copy
Medium: Paperback
Review:
(Recieved this copy of "The Room" from Blogging with Books for a review)
Well, well, well. This book actually took me by surprise. At first glance, I fell in love with the cover art. Minimalistic has always, and will always, be one of my favorite types of art work for just about anything that includes art. The cover art is what drew me to getting the book from Blogging with Books and the story is what will have me cataloging this book in my library.
While reading this book, I never once was confused about what was going on. Which is odd for me seeing as I get confused very easily when it comes to reading, seeing, listening...or anything that involves my attention for a long time (I normally fall asleep doing anything that's not walking or working).
I enjoyed learning about Bjorn even if he is a little self-centered and conceited and thinks that he is above anyone else in his workplace. I even felt a little bad for him at a point in time because it did seem like this colleagues were ganging up on him before they even knew about him. I would consider Bjorn to be a work-a-holic and not someone who has much time for humor in his life. I guess I find this book interesting because I am neither of those people described above so it is interesting to me to be in someone's head who thinks completely opposite of myself.
The book mainly takes place at Bjorn's work which is called "The Authority". The Authority is almost an Orwellian type of government that doesn't really get any kind of explanation of what they actually do except something with numbers and transcribing those numbers out of case files into something that can be presented to the company. The Authority head is called DG (which I read as Dollar General...hello America) Director General who is never seen in the book, almost like Big Brother, but has a big hand in the way the story ends.
The story is about Bjorn's time at his work where he drinks coffee, works for 55 minute intervals and then breaks for 5 minutes, and kisses a colleague in a room at the Christmas party. Basically, any office you walk into is what this book is describing. I read it as a generalization of any office space and almost a parable of what goes on in office life. While this may seem boring, it is most definitely not. The Room is a part psychological thriller.
Bjorn finds this pretty plain room that has a desk, filing cabinet, a little desk fan, and a chair. Pretty much what you would expect to find in an office but no one else can see it...or they pretend not to. Throughout the entire book, Bjorn's colleagues are trying to get him fired. Whether it be because of his attitude towards them or because he is just better at his job, we don't actually find out. What we do find out is that everyone but Bjorn cannot see the room. When he points it out to them, they say they only see a wall. When he brings them into the room, they claim to follow him to the wall where Bjork proceeds to stand as still as a statue staring at the wall in question.
The end of the story is not surprising but very satisfying. I won't go into detail, you'll just have to read it but it is very satisfying indeed.
As far as the writing, it was to my taste. The writing and the cover art go hand in hand; concise, beautiful, and a little harsh. I enjoyed the slow pace of the storytelling, even though this was a novella, and I enjoyed how not jam-packed the story was. It was a refreshing story to read compared to the romance and 50-books-long mysteries that are taking over my bookshelves now a days. I will be proud to shelve this little novella into my stacks and recommend this book to anyone who wants a refresher in what it means to be a writer.
 |
| Picture courtesy of Goodreads |
(Recieved this copy of "The Room" from Blogging with Books for a review)
Well, well, well. This book actually took me by surprise. At first glance, I fell in love with the cover art. Minimalistic has always, and will always, be one of my favorite types of art work for just about anything that includes art. The cover art is what drew me to getting the book from Blogging with Books and the story is what will have me cataloging this book in my library.
While reading this book, I never once was confused about what was going on. Which is odd for me seeing as I get confused very easily when it comes to reading, seeing, listening...or anything that involves my attention for a long time (I normally fall asleep doing anything that's not walking or working).
I enjoyed learning about Bjorn even if he is a little self-centered and conceited and thinks that he is above anyone else in his workplace. I even felt a little bad for him at a point in time because it did seem like this colleagues were ganging up on him before they even knew about him. I would consider Bjorn to be a work-a-holic and not someone who has much time for humor in his life. I guess I find this book interesting because I am neither of those people described above so it is interesting to me to be in someone's head who thinks completely opposite of myself.
The book mainly takes place at Bjorn's work which is called "The Authority". The Authority is almost an Orwellian type of government that doesn't really get any kind of explanation of what they actually do except something with numbers and transcribing those numbers out of case files into something that can be presented to the company. The Authority head is called DG (which I read as Dollar General...hello America) Director General who is never seen in the book, almost like Big Brother, but has a big hand in the way the story ends.
The story is about Bjorn's time at his work where he drinks coffee, works for 55 minute intervals and then breaks for 5 minutes, and kisses a colleague in a room at the Christmas party. Basically, any office you walk into is what this book is describing. I read it as a generalization of any office space and almost a parable of what goes on in office life. While this may seem boring, it is most definitely not. The Room is a part psychological thriller.
Bjorn finds this pretty plain room that has a desk, filing cabinet, a little desk fan, and a chair. Pretty much what you would expect to find in an office but no one else can see it...or they pretend not to. Throughout the entire book, Bjorn's colleagues are trying to get him fired. Whether it be because of his attitude towards them or because he is just better at his job, we don't actually find out. What we do find out is that everyone but Bjorn cannot see the room. When he points it out to them, they say they only see a wall. When he brings them into the room, they claim to follow him to the wall where Bjork proceeds to stand as still as a statue staring at the wall in question.
The end of the story is not surprising but very satisfying. I won't go into detail, you'll just have to read it but it is very satisfying indeed.
As far as the writing, it was to my taste. The writing and the cover art go hand in hand; concise, beautiful, and a little harsh. I enjoyed the slow pace of the storytelling, even though this was a novella, and I enjoyed how not jam-packed the story was. It was a refreshing story to read compared to the romance and 50-books-long mysteries that are taking over my bookshelves now a days. I will be proud to shelve this little novella into my stacks and recommend this book to anyone who wants a refresher in what it means to be a writer.
No comments:
Post a Comment