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The Factory

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( 11,099 ratings, 1,886 reviews)
Brief Description
Beyond the town, there is the factory. Beyond the factory, there is nothing. Within the sprawling industrial complex, three employees are assigned to different departments. There, each must focus on a specific task: one shreds paper, one proofreads documents, and another studies the moss growing all... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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From the author of Weasels in the Attic, here is a modern fable about the all-consuming world of work.

From the author of Weasels in the Attic, here is a modern fable about the all-consuming world of work.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Beyond the town, there is the factory. Beyond the factory, there is nothing.

Within the sprawling industrial complex, three employees are assigned to different departments. There, each must focus 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.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781803510590

Publisher: Granta Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 10 October 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Granta Books

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 128

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.

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