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The Room
The Room
Nov 12, 2024 2:53 PM

Author:Jonas Karlsson,Neil Smith,George Newbern

The Room

The Authority looks favourably upon meticulousness, efficiency and ambition. Bjorn has all of this in spades, but it's only in the Room that he can really shine. Unfortunately, his colleagues see things differently. In fact, they don't even see the Room at all.

The Room is a short, sharp and fiendish fable in the tradition of Franz Kafka, Samuel Beckett and Charlie Kauffman. If you have ever toiled in an office, felt like the world was against you or questioned the nature of reality then this is the novel for you.

Reviews

A gripping, tense, demonic fable in which the unease is precision-tooled and the turns of the screw wholly unexpected.

—— Neel Mukherjee

The Room is the most effective chapbook on workplace comportment since Glengarry Glen Ross. Hats off!

—— Nick Offerman, Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation

Thoroughly enjoyable… If you read only one novel by a famous Swedish actor translated into English this year, make it The Room

—— Ian Sansom , Guardian

Kafka meets The Office in this hilarious and chilling Swedish fable of workplace politics

—— Kate Saunders , The Times

A brief but brilliant tale

—— Stephanie Boland , Financial Times

surreal, funny and unsettling

—— Arifa Akbar , The Independent

The novel works both as a glorious satire of the modern workplace and as a psychological drama played through the eyes of Bjorn, a pedantic and thoroughly unreliable narrator. As entertaining as it is disturbing to be in his mind, I was both intrigued and entertained.

—— Fanny Blake , Daily Mail

This is a very funny book about a magical room, but it is also a familiar, humane story about alienation and intolerance, set during a bleak Swedish winter

—— Jonathan McAloon , The Times Literary Supplement

brilliantly deadpan...often very funny

—— Eileen Battersby , Irish Times

The Room deftly creates an intense mood that remains unbroken for the short, enjoyable period this novella takes to read

—— Jane Graham , Big Issue

Witty, clever, quite possibly brilliant

—— Sunday Sport

Kafkaesque

—— Lady

It’s a brilliant nightmare with a terrific ending

—— Theo Hopper , Big Issue

For all its sinister Kafkaesque traits, Jonas Karlsson’s The Room…packs several hilarious punches.

—— Ann Morgan , i

A Beckettian drama in an open plan office

—— Il Giornale (Italy)

The Room is partly disturbing, partially very funny ... Jonas Karlsson masterfully tells us about his main character's Kafkaesque adventure

—— Panorama (Italy)

Minimalism and surrealism, bundled in a short but powerful novel by Jonas Karlsson, one of Sweden's most successful authors of the moment

—— DeZondag (Netherlands)

The Room is a contemporary version of The Trial by Franz Kafka: the same alienating and disruptive bureaucratic environment and the same hopeless struggle of the individual in the large, historically evolved system

—— DeMorgen (Netherlands)

A flawless novella that you will finish with a smile

—— Knack (Netherlands)

[Hallberg conjures] a pulsing metropolis out of legend, lyrical prose, studious imitation, and the thrilling arrogance of imagination … City on Fire is a novel of connection, forgiveness, and empathy

—— A.O. Scott , GQ

Gunshots ring out in New York’s Central Park. Various colourful characters revolve around this event, their lives interlocking. Don’t be put off by its length. It’s sprawling, brilliant and all-consuming – I couldn’t put it down.

—— Fanny Blake , Woman and Home

Like great American writers before him, he taps into the energy of a moment and makes you wish you had witnessed it … The verdict: believe the hype around City on Fire. Five stars.

—— Stylist

Looks as if it might be the most propulsive New York novel since Bonfire of the Vanities.

—— Jesse Armstrong , Guardian

His New York City is ablaze, with fireworks, trashcan infernos and the burning Bronx.

—— Sarah Begley , Time Magazine

A fantastic achievement; mesmerising, addictive in a way that a book this long really shouldn’t be, and full of intrigue. Hallberg’s writing is clear, insightful, and accessible; for all that it runs to almost 1,000 pages, each sentence has been crafted just so.

—— Running in Heels

An epic of New York…a kind of punk Bleak House.

—— Vogue

This magnificent first novel is full to bursting with plot, character, and emotion, all set within the exquisitely grungy 1970s New York City...Graceful in execution, hugely entertaining, and most concerned with the longing for connection, a theme that reaches full realization during the blackout of 1977, this epic is both a compelling mystery and a literary tour de force.

—— Booklist (starred)

The very-damn-good American novel.

—— Kirkus Reviews (starred)

A vivid immersive novel.

—— Kate Tuttle , Boston Globe Sunday

Clocks in at a cool 944 pages, but we breezed through it in no time. It’s the story of a shooting in Central Park and its effect on ‘70s New York – the city’s scuzzy, punky peak.

—— FHM

Glitzy, gritty storytelling.

—— The Debrief

An outstanding novel… what an accomplishment.

—— James Treltsch , The Skinny

Ambitious and assured – and stunningly good.

—— Good Housekeeping

An American epic…But don’t wait for the movie. There’s writing here that’s too good to miss.

—— Diana Hendry , Spectator

The biggest and boldest novel of this generation

—— CBS

Approach as you would a box set or a Shirley Conran novel - in stages. It's glitzy, gritty storytelling that is worth sticking with.

—— Alexandra Heminsley , Debrief

A fantastic achievement; mesmerising, addictive in a way that a book this long really shouldn't be, and full of intrigue. Hallberg's writing is clear, insightful, and accessible; for all that it runs to almost 1,000 pages, each sentence has been crafted just so.

—— Jennifer Lipman , Running in Heels

This year’s most exciting fiction debut is a wild ride through the grimy, glorious city of the 1970s...a book that is truly that great, rare thing: a wholly inhabitable universe, reflecting back our lives while also offering an exhilarating escape from them

—— Rolling Stone

Expert storytelling, lyricism and authenticity…Fans of Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch: you’re going to love this book

—— The National

The hype is justified: this is the year’s must-read book

—— Shortlist

A gripping, atmospheric and authentic take on the decade when the Big Apple seemed almost rotten to the core

—— Sun

For almost a thousand pages, he swirls around a single tragedy — the shooting of a college student in Central Park — sweeping up tangential characters and making every one of them thrum with real life until the lightning strikes, the electric grid overloads and the city goes mad on that dark summer night in 1977.

—— Ron Charles , Washington Post

The grit of the city provides an equal lure. As garbage blows, graffiti scrawls, and street fashions strut through Vinyl and City on Fire, who wouldn't swoon?

—— Jim Farber , I-D Vice

A vast cast of characters and intricate sub-plots, City on Fire has been compared to everything from Bleak House to the early work of Jonathan Franzen. Not to mention nods to Don DeLillo and Tom Wolfe.

—— Alfie Baldwin , GQ Magazine Uk

Despite being a debut, it shows a technical maturity matched to a playful, sexy wit… A thriller, albeit an extremely clever and stylish one.

—— Melissa Katsoulis , The Times

Imaginative debut… His eyes for the tiny things that make up life suggests better is to come.

—— Daily Telegraph

This is one of those enormous books that might, if you’re luck, grab you and keep hold for days and days.

—— William Leith , Evening Standard

Gripping read.

—— Good Housekeeping

The strength of The Girls lies in Cline’s ability to evoke both the textures and atmosphere of those painful in-between times… [Cline] is a powerful interpreter of ambiguous emotional vectors, and the catastrophic directions in which they can lead.

—— Alex Clark , Observer

Cline’s real achievement is not so much the dread-filled journey to the book’s harrowing climax, however, but her vividly drawn central character and how she stumbles from invisible, impressionable bystander to unwitting accomplice… Cline is excellent at capturing the complex negotiations and compromises of girlhood… The Girls is a horror story for our times, a gripping and richly poetic account… Its ambition and reach are immense.

—— Gary Kaill , Skinny

Vividly reimagines 1960s California… Cline’s portrait of teenage girl-dom is note perfect.

—— Hannah Shaddock , Radio Times

Dubbed fiction’s most exciting new voice… This page-turner is a powerful insight into the culture of gang mentality… The read of the summer.

—— Irish Tatler

Notable for its finely wrought prose, its piercing insight into the teen mind and the gorgeous way it relates terrible things. Read it before the movie is cast…and enjoy Evie for the wonderfully written creation she is’

—— I

Gets off to a quietly thrilling start… Her sentences are often strong and lovely, indicative of voice rather than merely of style.

—— Dwight Garner , New York Times

Mesmerising novel… Impressive book’

—— Charlotte Heathcote , Daily Express

First the heady language and sensuous descriptions will hook you, then the extraordinary story of free love, intoxication and violence… Remarkable debut… The Girls brims with intrigue… It’s the intimacy and intricacy of Cline’s prose and her sharp sense of humanity that makes the book shimmer with life… The Girls is a spectacular story.

—— Culture Whisper

Sun-scorched coming of age chiller… Brutally convincing.

—— Anthony Cummins , Metro

If you’re only going to pack one book next to your swimming trunks this year, this is the one to go for… [Emma Cline] Has hit a home run with her first swing.

—— Joshua Burt , Independent

It’s disturbing…but you keep reading.

—— Stellar

Wonderfully readable, and acutely observed, this is that rare thing: a beach novel of real substance.

—— Dan Brotzel , UK Press Syndication

The big holiday read of summer. Find a sunlounger and get started.

—— Sunday Times

Subtly provoking novel… The strength of The Girls lies in Cline’s ability to evoke both the textures and atmosphere of those painful in-between times; the desperate rush to fill an emotional vacuum… Cline has a talent for capturing that uncanniness, the fault lines in our sense of our stability… she is a powerful interpreter of ambiguous emotional vectors, and the catastrophic directions in which they can lead.

—— Alex Clark , Guardian

Thrilling… Gritty, shocking and ever so readable; more than living up to the hype that greeted its initial sale.

—— Running in Heels

Wonderfully readable, finely written and acutely observed.

—— Dan Brotzel , Irish News

One of the pleasures…is its immediacy… The book is a trancelike accumulation of intense adolescent feelings and myopic impressions… The setting is rendered both vividly and delicately… [A] Slender, absorbing book.

—— Lidija Haas , Daily Telegraph

If you're only going to pack one book this year, make it this one.

—— I

This chilling story of fractured innocence is beautifully written in wonderfully descriptive, sometimes dream-like prose. A stunningly powerful, spellbinding cautionary tale.

—— Deirdre O''Brien , Sunday Mirror

Both in person and on the page Cline is wise beyond her years. I read the book with a biro underlining phrases that I wish I could write. I am no longer jealous, I am just in awe.

—— Marlanne Power , Irish Independent

'I really enjoyed it... A compelling coming-of-age story... Cline focuses not on the murders themselves, but on the landscape of adolescence, accurately portraying the boredom and lassitude, the yearning and insecurities of that awkward transitional stage... Stunningly written, in fresh, youthful prose, expect to see The Girls on deckchairs, beach towels and best-seller lists over the coming months

—— Justine Carbery , Irish Independent

Unnervingly perceptive … Part murderous thriller, part meditation on the vulnerability of teenage girls, it’s an exquisite, insightful and chilling read.

—— Alexandra Heminsley , Pool

Unexpected and brilliant debut novel.

—— Yaa Gyasi , I-D Vice

An intense evocation of adolescence…absorbing debut novel.

—— Lidija Haas , Telegraph

As gripping as a thriller, it’s a powerful exploration of hero worship of all kinds, and the shapes into which girls force themselves as they attempt to grow up.

—— Anna Carey , Irish Times

This year's Miniaturist

—— Sam Baker , Pool

A fantastic writer, her intelligence is extraordinary

—— Linda Grant , Radio 4

Gripping novel… Cline’s debut is a real page-turner.

—— Olivia-Anne Cleary , Reveal

It is the language which elevates the novel to brilliance… Cline takes ordinary words and fits them together in patterns that shouldn’t work but…bring[s] a vibrancy to her prose that captivates.

—— Mature Times

Not the cheeriest summer read of the year, but it is one of the most powerful… Cline masterfully uses the sultriness of the season to explore the complex negotiations of girlhood.

—— Skinny

Highly charged literary debut… Visceral, seductive and delicately seething, Cline articulates the labyrinth anxieties of adolescence and the importance of belonging with a personal, finely tuned prose and a restrained, drip-feed pace that belies her age.

—— Natalie Rigg , Another

A dark, erotically charged story of seduction, coercion and abuse emerges that has deliberate echoes of the Manson Family massacres in 1969… Cline brilliantly conveys the predatory cultural and sexual forces to which teenage girls are so often vulnerable. And her prose is completely to die for.

—— Metro

The Girls stands apart from other treatments of Manson.

—— Scotland on Sunday

Gripping, and highly impressive.

—— Stephanie Cross , Lady

Sumptuous prose… Believe the hype: she’s one to watch.

—— The Big Issue

The narrative is layered and complex, as even the young Evie seems to be an astute observer of human nature, who does not gloss over the less glamorous details, even in those she loves and admires. Throughout the novel, the fragility of the relationships are laid bare… [An] Immersive experience, both for the reader, and a narrator looking to reclaim some of her most vivid memories.

—— Conor O'Donovan , Headstuff

A gripping read.

—— Joannae Finney , Good Housekeeping

Cline brilliantly captures the precise, sultry prose the vulnerable and highly-charged sensibility of adolescence in a hotly-tipped debut inspired by the Manson Family massacre that – for once – justifies the hype.

—— Claire Allfree , Daily Mail

Eloquent, coming-of-age debut… I was quite sure it could never live up to the hype. How wrong I was… Well-crafted prose… This is a perceptive, insightful and beautifully written book on the often harsh realities of the formative teenage years and a telling truth of what some will do to belong and feel loved. It is a must-read.

—— Jennifer McShane , Image

It unsettles and disturbs in unpredictable ways. Above all, Cline is excellent on the female coffee table book adolescent psyche and the ways in which girlhood is so often an act performed for the opposite sex… The end result is gripping, and highly impressive.

—— Stephanie Cross , Lady

An intense evocation of adolescence…set to be the breakout book of summer. Every page throbs with the threat of violence.

—— Daily Telegraph

The writing is lush and surprising.

—— Marisa Meltzer , Vogue

[It is] shockingly assured for a first novel.

—— Mark Haddon , Guardian

Already I’m hooked… The writing style…is totally engaging – shrewd and observant but with a certain softness. I’ll report back when I’ve finished, but I think this will be a great summer read.

—— Ruth Crilly , A Model Recommends

The Girls is compulsively readable… A strikingly accomplished debut. Evie’s voice shimmers with vivid metaphorical language… There are some truly breathtaking passages — lush and lapidary and full of startling imagery… A fierce challenge to our received notion of the 1960s as an era of peace signs, protest marches and free love, and [this] adds a note of profundity to this highly impressive first novel.

—— Alex Preston , Financial Times

Emma Cline's The Girls is so brilliant.

—— Hadley Freeman , Guardian Weekly

A compelling novel… [A] nuanced and deeply drawn character study of teenage ennui and anger… In luminous prose, the novel maps Evie’s obsessive psyche… A compelling and startling new work of fiction. Ms. Cline brilliantly shows how far adolescent loneliness can push a girl in her desire to be loved.

—— The Economist

[A] steamy hit.

—— Metro

[It] is so brilliant… The only thing more perfect about this book than Cline’s woozily dreamy prose is her timing.

—— Hadley Freeman , Guardian

The Summer read for you... Cline’s gorgeous novel is both stunning and shocking. We dare you not to devour in one sitting

—— Amie-Jo Locke , In-Style

[A] literary page-turner.

—— Claire Coughlan , Irish Independent

A startlingly intense, brilliant and brooding debut novel….written with luminous foreboding lyricism.

—— Simon Sebag Montefiore , Evening Standard, Book of the Year

[It is] intelligent and thoughtful.

—— Mumsnet

Cline’s portrayal of the fragile teen years and the power they have in shaping the woman you become will resonate with everyone.

—— Sarah Holmes , Woman's Weekly

Cline’s language…is splendid at conjuring pictures.

—— Kathy Watson , Tablet

Cline - from California, where the novel is set, has crafted a distinct poetic timbre that devises similes galore to augment the imagery and the protagonist’s insight… Inspired, I look forward to reading more from this highly talented author. I will indeed re-Cline.

—— Kettle

Cline’s structure…allows her to apply her acute observations about girlhood to today’s world.

—— Isobel Thompson , Times Literary Supplement

The summer’s standout debut… A tense, febrile imagining… The Girls is a subtle, restrained and beautifully textured telling of one of pop culture history’s most luridly hideous moments, with a heightened, dreamlike quality that tips irrevocably into nightmare.

—— Writing Magazine

I read this in a single sitting a few months back, and it remains my favourite read of 2016. The writing is so beautiful; the sentences perfectly formed, cumulated in a plot that slowly draws you in… Eloquent, perceptive and insightful, you won’t be able to put this one down.

—— Image

This book was sublime. I read it as the last of the sunshine faded into autumn and I felt transported into 1969 California.

—— Max and Mummy

[A] clever debut novel… Gripping.

—— Jan Moir , Daily Mail, Book of the Year

Undeniably the dazzling fiction debut of the year, this brilliant American novel is a vivid evocation of California in 1969… It is the author’s luminous prose style that excels. Exhilarating.

—— Tatler, Book of the Year

A spellbinding, supremely evocative coming-of-age story

—— Deborah Ross , The Times, Book of the Year

[A] compulsively readable debut [which] is a vivid examination of adolescence.

—— Rebecca Rose , Financial Times, Book of the Year

A fluent, engrossing debut novel.

—— A Little Bird, Book of the Year

The Californian setting is intoxicating, as laced with sunlight as filth, and its insight into the teenage girl’s mind is extraordinary.

—— Alexandra Heminsley , Pool, Book of the Year

A book of glistening prose.

—— RTE Guide, Book of the Year

Believe the hype; it is simply brilliant.

—— Jennifer McShane , Image Magazine, Book of the Year

A shimmering tale of adolescence and sexual awakening written in prose that aptly feels almost hallucinatory

—— Claire Allfree , Metro, Book of the Year

A haunting and gripping read.

—— Irish Country Magazine, Book of the Year

Highly recommended if you’re in need of a good read.

—— Jennifer Selway , Daily Express

Both shocking and subtle, its real power lies in the exploration of girlhood itself.

—— Kate Hamer , Big Issue

Brilliantly done… The year is 1969. Evie notices a group of scavenging girls – they belong to a nearby cult. And this cult is horrific. Think of the Manson family… A seriously excellent debut novel.

—— William Leith , Evening Standard

As Lena Dunham says, it'll both break your heart and blow your mind.

—— Hannah Dunn , Red Online

Through the story of the Manson family and their brutal crimes, Cline explores the intensity and loneliness of female adolescence with an impressive mastery of language.

—— Alexander Newson , Upcoming

A superb, chilling novel of doom-laden adolescence.

—— Simon Sebag , Week

A thrilling, savage exploration of how a teenager gets sucked into a cult led by a Charles Manson figure.

—— Allison Pearson , Sunday Telegraph

The writing is so beautiful; the sentences perfectly formed, cumulated in a plot that slowly draws you in… Eloquent, perceptive and insightful, you won’t be able to put this one down.

—— Jennifer McShane , Image

Few books have such a dramatic effect on me but Emma Cline’s stirring debut The Girls is one I’ve never managed to get out of my head… This is a perceptive, insightful and beautifully written book on the often harsh realities of the formative teenage years and a telling truth of what some will do to belong and feel loved. It is a must-read and one that is more than worth sitting down with a second or third time.

—— Jennifer McShane , Image

The novel has a number of things going for it, from Cline's gorgeous prose to her knack for plot and timing, to her way of presenting Evie's electric, often jolting moments of self-recognition. But the aspect of The Girls that captivated me the most was how Cline channels that particular period in a girl's life when she is consumed with the need to be seen, to be known—by her mother, by slightly older girls, and most often, by men.

—— Jennifer Schaffer , Vice

Thanks to Cline’s lyrical prose, which is at once as clear as the Californian skies of the novel’s setting and as evocative as a sunshine drenched Polaroid picture, The Girls perfectly captures the twilight years of the hippie era, where the rot of its seedy drug-fuelled underbelly shattered the dream of peace and love and culminated in a gruesome massacre that shocked the world.

—— Dean Muscat , Nudge

The Girls exemplifies the uncomfortably thin line between healthy and unhealthy relationships

—— Emily Watkins , i
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