The Odyssey

Product Information

Set on the Microsoft campus in Washington state, Microserfs explores the feudal-like work culture at the company: the employees the novel follows are the serfs presided over by Bill Gates. It was one of the first novels to anticipate a dystopian culture in the tech industry that would soon become the norm, and one particular scene in which an employee slips “flat foods” (such as slices of processed cheese) beneath the office door of another employee, to ensure that they actually eat while working, has haunted me for 20 years. Things start getting weird, Ingrid’s personal and professional life falls apart and the days she gets to disembark from the ship become less exciting to her. Much like Odysseus from Homer’s The Odyssey, Ingrid is wandering at sea trying to find her way home, or more specifically, trying to find her way to herself.

A Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by The Millions * A Best Book to Read in April by Town & Country and The AV Club * One of 2022's Best Beach Reads by Southern Living Read if you like: Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation, artificial flavors, avoidant behavior, wondering what a ‘lifestyle’ is and whether you have one.” - Molly Young, The New York Times Ingrid works on a gargantuan luxury cruise liner where she spends her days reorganizing the gift shop shelves and waiting for long-term guests to drop dead in the aisles. On her days off, she disembarks from the ship, wasting the hours aimlessly following tourists around, drinking the local alcohol, and buying clothes she never intends to wear again. It’s not a bad life. At least, it distracts her from thinking about the other life—the other person—she left behind five years ago. That is, until the day she is selected by the ship’s enigmatic captain and (ill-informed) wabi sabi devotee, Keith, for his mentorship program. Encouraging her to reflect on past mistakes and her desperation to remain lost at sea, Keith pushes Ingrid further than she ever thought possible. But as her friendships and professional life onboard steadily fall apart, Ingrid must ask herself: how do you know when you have gone too far?Ingrid works on a gargantuan luxury cruise liner where she spends her days reorganizing the gift shop shelves and waiting for long-term guests to drop dead in the aisles. On her days off, she disembarks from the ship, wasting the hours aimlessly following tourists around, drinking the local alcohol, and buying clothes she never intends to wear again. It's not a bad life. At least, it distracts her from thinking about the other life--the other person--she left behind five years ago. Or, to go in more detail, this is a story of a woman of an uncertain age, an alcoholic who left her adoring spouse to go work on a luxury cruise ship. The ship is a grand and self-contained affair featuring every amenity, including your friendly neighborhood cult the woman ends up in. The cult follows a Japanese idea that all things come from and go into nothingness and, to this end, the woman has to submit to a variety of trials, from intense talk therapy to having her finger cut off. Yes, you read that right, her finger. And once she mastered herself, she can advance to becoming a master.

In New York City during the Great Depression, an unnamed male narrator responds to letters for his advice column, which he writes under the pen name “Miss Lonelyhearts”, in perhaps the ultimate book about a terrible job. Growing increasingly despondent and burdened by the miserable New Yorkers seeking his advice, Miss Lonelyhearts searches for ways to escape – through alcohol and religion to name a couple – as he barrels towards a full-blown existential crisis. A gorgeously written and pleasingly short and sharp satire. A Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by The Millions • A Best Book to Read in April by Town & Country and The AV Club • One of 2022’s Best Beach Reads by Southern Living If you haven’t read Williams before, go for Supper Club instead of this; if you think the premise of The Odyssey sounds promising, read Sam Byers’ Come Join Our Disease. Tantalizing . . . Readers who enjoy Melissa Broder and Ottessa Moshfegh will appreciate this surreal trip through a troubled woman’s psyche.” - BooklistAs its title suggests, Lara Williams’s The Odyssey is about a journey. Ingrid works on a cruise ship that crisscrosses the globe. The ship, the WA, is as large as some towns and comes complete with acres of swimming pools, restaurants and gift shops where long-term guests have an inconvenient habit of dying. Discussing ones self and the extents in which we can go to to not only feel accepted, wanted and seen but to also mend and forgive our past tribulations. What I particularly loved about this theme was how as a reader it was blatantly obvious and appalling when Ingrid would do certain acts just to feel accepted and part of a group, though she never saw how horrific these requests were. It really made me contemplate in our everyday life, what we may do as individuals to feel accepted and seen even when we inherently know they're wrong; a conversation I had never read about before, but one that was done in such a unique and somber way.

The only elements that I unfortunately didn't like were at times, I felt completely out of the story due to the repetitiveness of Ingrid's everyday activities. Though I am very aware that this was another commentary within the book - how we can enjoy yet equally tire from the tediousness of an average, everyday routine. People could argue then, that Lara Williams perfectly executed that within her writing, and I whole heartedly agree though at times I didn't particularly enjoy it. As well as this, the blurb mentions that the book is 'hilariously funny' but I personally thought it was everything but. There were moments throughout the story that undoubtedly made me laugh but the tone of the novel was so melancholic and so satirically ironic that no moment for me seemed hilarious.A few years ago I came across a Grace Paley interview in which she stated she cannot write a character until she knows who their family are and where they get their money: a writing practice I fully endorse. And so all fictional characters generally need a terrible job. Here are my top 10 … Perceptive, enigmatic and thought-provoking—I couldn’t put it down. Wonderful!” - Amelia Horgan, author of Lost in Work Written by two brothers, this 19th-century comic novel and class satire gives us the diary of George Pooter, a bumbling and generally easily pleased clerk at a vaguely referenced bank or accountancy firm. It recounts the daily tribulations and minor triumphs of his life and mundane job. A successful joke, a moderately interesting anecdote or a bit of gossip provide many a reason to not just get out of bed and into the office, but a reason to live, in this peculiarly uplifting novel. It's difficult to say much about this book without veering into interpretation that gives away more than I'd have wanted to know before reading this, and I'm actually still unsure about how secure my reading of the book is. So I'll just say that this is weirdly compulsive and enigmatic and yet a bit ploddy at the same time.