First published 2007
The employees at an unnamed advertising agency navigate their days through meetings, water cooler conversations, and the peculiar rhythms of corporate life. They arrive each morning, settle into their cubicles, and perform tasks that blend together in an unbroken stream of professional obligation. The narrator observes his colleagues as they form alliances, gossip about management decisions, and wonder about their futures within the company. When layoffs begin to reshape their workplace, the remaining staff members must confront what their jobs actually mean to them. Some disappear without warning, others cling more tightly to their positions, and a few question whether this life of fluorescent lights and performance reviews represents the immortality they once imagined for themselves. The story captures how work becomes identity, how colleagues become family, and how the fear of being expendable shadows every interaction in the modern office.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: ensemble-cast, found-family
Perfect Paperback · Rowohlt Verlag