pageturner_mb@bookwyrm.de reviewed The Factory by David Boyd
A quietly experimental novel on modern day work life and corporate culture. Less satire than laconic and uncanny meta-fantasy.
The three protagonists, all rather regular people, yet somewhat outcasts in Japanese corporate culture, start at a large factory in distinct jobs. Over the years however, they lose purpose, and any perception or idea of the outside world gets lost. Even the three voices seem to blend with time. The factory, already a closed ecosystem with endemic plant and animal species, seems to be absorbing their identities. Meaning is lost in red tape and quirky routines. An eerie overlay of The Castle, Gormenghast, The Pale King, and Annihilation but without any actual drastic things happening. The otherworldly horror of this setting is purely a product of the dullness of work, the blandness of relations. But at least the food is really good.
