The Factory

From the award-winning author of Weasels in the Attic, a modern fable about the world of work Beyond the town, there is the factory. Beyond the factory, there is nothing. Within the sprawling industrial complex, three new employees are each assigned a department. There, each must focuses on a specific task: one shreds paper, one proofreads documents, and another studies the moss growing all over the expansive grounds. As they grow accustomed to the routine and co-workers, their lives become governed by their work--days take on a strange logic and momentum, and little by little, the margins of reality seem to be dissolving: Where does the factory end and the rest of the world begin? What's going on with the strange animals here? And after a while--it could be weeks or years--the three workers struggle to answer the most basic question: What am I doing here? With hints of Kafka and Beckett and unexpected moments of creeping humour, The Factory is a vivid, and sometimes surreal, portrait of the absurdity and meaninglessness of the modern workplace.

About the Author :
Born in Hiroshima in 1983, HIROKO OYAMADA is the author of The Factory - winner of the Shincho Prize for New Writers - and The Hole, for which she won Japan's prestigious Akutagawa Prize, and Weasels in the Attic. DAVID BOYD is an award-winning translator, and Assistant Professor of Japanese at the University of North Carolina. He has translated fiction by Izumi Suzuki, Tatsuhiko Shibusawa and Kanoko Okamoto, among others, and is translating the novels of Mieko Kawkami alongside Sam Bett.

Review :
Brilliantly strange... As the workers toil and their voices blur, it all leads to a question simultaneously outraged and amused: "What the hell is wrong with the world?" This is captivating, disquieting prose... Into this relentless tension, Oyamada weaves flashes of dark humour... Dreamlike and dizzying... this short, powerful book poses important questions about the terrifying futility of corporate jobs and our role in the world Strangely chilling A stirring portrait of modern work-life culture [A] stellar, mind-bending debut A very smart commentary on working life An elegant and often funny sketch of 21stcentury corporate life... Oyamada casts an unflinching eye on climate catastrophe and the failure of humans to avert it... Yet for all its dark undercurrents, The Factory is not bleak Ideal for those seeking a retreat into Kafka/Beckett-type absurdism By the time we reach the suitably bizarre ending, the author has effectively portrayed the confounding maze of modern capitalism to which there is a clearly marked entry point but no exit One of the mysteries that keeps the reader hooked is that of the factory itself: a nameless, giant industrial complex set somewhere in modern-day provincial Japan... The final twist might not come as a surprise, but it is surprisingly eerie, and stays with you long after you finish reading Oyamada takes the reader on the same absurd, confusing journey as the workers... This way, the author mirrors how surreal, monotonous, and soul crushing the modern workplace seems to many of us