Discontent by Beatriz Serrano (translated from Spanish) is a darkly funny condemnation of the modern workplace. Marisa lives in lovely apartment in Madrid, having worked her way up to a senior creative strategy role at an marketing agency. Despite her success, she dreads going to work, loathes her coworkers and spends her days holed up in her office watching YouTube videos and farming her work off onto junior employees and students in a marketing class she teaches. She’s deeply unhappy, reliant on anti-anxiety medication and empty hookups to get through the days. When her company schedules an offsite retreat and asks Marisa to give a presentation about creativity, her feelings about her work and her physical aversion to being around her colleagues threaten the facade she has built.
Discontent is a biting, acerbic book, but also quite entertaining – and true. Marisa may be somewhat loathsome, yet at the same time I could relate to her feelings about her job and the vacuity of much of corporate life. The end goes a little bit over the top, but it is memorable, for sure. I recommend this book to fans of Halle Butler, Ling Ma, and other absurdist books about modern times. I listened to this on audio – loved the narration.