
The Room
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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George Newbern
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By:
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Jonas Karlsson
About this listen
“The daily grind got you down? Escape into this Swedish dark comedy about a scaldingly contemptuous office drone who discovers a secret room in his workplace.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
The inspiration for the upcoming feature film Corner Office, starring Jon Hamm
Björn is a compulsive, meticulous bureaucrat who discovers a secret room at the government office where he works—a secret room that no one else in his office will acknowledge. When Björn is in his room, what his co-workers see is him standing by the wall and staring off into space looking dazed, relaxed, and decidedly creepy. Björn’s bizarre behavior eventually leads his co-workers to try and have him fired, but Björn will turn the tables on them with help from his secret room.
Debut author Jonas Karlsson doesn’t leave a word out of place in this brilliant, bizarre, delightful take on how far we will go—in a world ruled by conformity—to live an individual and examined life.
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Critic reviews
“Swedish actor and playwright Karlsson’s short novel offers a monologue that builds from simple office satire to a reality-bending psychological profile with insights into the nature and importance of personal space.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Trendy Nordic noir meets faded office bureaucracy—with haunting effect.”—New York Post
“The Room, a modern, Bartleby-like examination of the tyranny of radical individualism, does mess with one's head, but in a most pleasurable way.”—BookPage
What listeners say about The Room
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 07-13-23
Lord of the Flies in the Corporate world
From the perspective of a man who thinks he is superior and clever in every way, comes a story of how social cohesion breaks down when one man insists that reality is not as it appears.
Does the room exist? Well, that’s not really the question. This is a tale of society and how it’s members need to agree on what is real, fair, and normal. This story gives you a feeling of the distress when people cannot agree on a common reality. As confrontation and social consequences set in, this story is very reminiscent of Lord of the Flies.
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- Laura
- 03-03-15
Don't bother
At least this one is short- I think I found one giggle in the whole thing- otherwise, it's irritating and silly.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-26-23
I want to like this so bad
unsatisfying ending with such an interesting hook this book could've done so much more
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