PositiveAsymptoteThere is more than meets the eye in this seemingly mundane narrative ... The active monotony of the industrial stillness, smelling slightly of existential horror, defies the traditional expectations one would have of a book; in other words, there is no plot, little actually happens, and it lacks a sense of drama—all unfortunately realistic aspects of working in a major corporation. In this sense, the novella is the perfect form for such a subject, as any longer description of this alienated landscape would have been dull. The decision to alternate first person narrators is striking: it requires precise execution, and Oyamada succeeds, as it is a vehicle for deliberate confusion, making for a trompe-l’oeil effect. Later, we do not know whether we are in a space of years or months (though the pacing is quite rapid and engaging), and reality is brought into question by way of this ambiguity ... intriguing and self-sustaining in its capacity to keep the mystery alive. Overall, The Factory proves to be an exacting, well-written work.
Olga Tokarczuk, Trans. by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
RaveAsymptoteThe novel isn’t memorable for being a perfect noir (though one might say that it could be categorized as such, for its \'ticking all the boxes\'), but rather from its ability to turn the genre on its head by broaching much larger existential, political, and psychological issues. Simply by looking at the table of contents, with chapter titles such as \'Testosterone Autism\' and \'Cucujus Haematodes,\' one realizes that Tokarczuk is a baroque author who, as we later come to discover, is sensitive and attentive to detail ... Tokarczuk is indulgent in her use of idiosyncrasy, comfortable with unattractive characters and eclectic assortments, and takes her time pacing a work that strikes the reader as both niche and approachable at the same time. There is no rashness and, despite the book being a thriller, it is also pensive. The psychological emphasis keeps the tension continuously taut ... Sometimes the trope of the sensitive person in the world of insensitive people comes across as overbearing, though this may be understood as deliberate ... Antonia Lloyd-Jones’s translation is natural and fluid, though evidently the result of great mechanical work ... the hype is justified. Unexpected and elusive, Tokarczuk is worth reading.
