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linniescorner's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
holbeancoffeeld's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.5
chessnut265's review
4.0
The Factory is, to say the least, an interesting book. Set in an oppressive factory boxed in by mountains with just a river flowing out into the vast ocean run by a massive corporation with sprawling subsidies that employs an entire town worth of people, the book right from the get go hides a sinister undertone beneath a paper-thin facade of a prestigious corporation.
It centers around 3 protagonists, all "blessed" with jobs that feel far more like curses in the respected factory. The factory has everything. Restaurants, convenience stores, an abundance of nature, a temple and shrine complete with priest. To quote the mysterious middle manager Goto, "the only thing it's missing is a graveyard" (come to think of it, what the hell happens to the dead? We get zero indicators and although it seems they'd just be buried in an outside graveyard, thats way too innocent for this whole kafkaesque world"). One, a literature major, shreds documents for 7.5 hours a day, a cruel twist of irony. Another one, the literature major's brother, was sacked for no reason from his engineering job, and now does nothing but proofread documents of nonsense that follow no theme or topic. The last one is hired to green-roof the entire factory themself, but is given no timeline, no deadline and no one to be accountable to. All he does is lead an annual moss hunt and classify moss all day.
The narrative constantly switches between the 3 perspectives with often no indication of the switch. That, and the eery absurdity of the whole world has no sense of time, until you are abruptly informed 15 years have passed. The characters never do see the direct results of their labour. The moss guy has his work finished for him by sub-contractors nobody told him existed across 15 years. The proofreader wonders what these documents are even for, given their absurd midway topic changes and complete lack of coherence, and he never figures it out. The shredder girl just shreds, never knowing if she could be shredding a burst of creative genius impossible to replicate or last week's fire drill memo.
The ending is even more absurd. The moss expert wonders what he is really there for, and we never do find out (perhaps, he feels as if he has become like moss, existing for no purpose.) The proofreader comes full circle, coming into work and realising that his life really does have no meaning. Then, the shredder girl becomes the special black birds that live only in the factory. (metaphorically or literally i don't know, this book is crazy enough either could be right.)
Of all these endings, I feel the shredder girl's resonates the most with me. The black shags in the factory have been living within that enclosed environment for years and cannot fly, just leaping everywhere. Its my headcanon that they can't fly because they've been trapped there so long they've evolved no need for it. No. They've devolved and lost the ability to fly. By the woman with a meaningless job transforming into the bird, it feels like the author is trying to tell us how the cycle of futile, modern employment and work ends: not with rebellion, not with demands for change, not with anyone reaching their breaking point and doing anything out of line, but with complete, full utter acceptance. We just accept it, to the point of irreversibly adapting to conditions we were never meant to be in.
The ending of the moss expert, feels like a complete polar opposite to this. Instead of being forced into a oppressive, constrictive mold, his story is the complete opposite. He is given full, complete, uncomparable freedom. But he doesn't end up any better than the shredder girl. He has realised that life, work and the whole factory has passed him by, and moved on without him. He is now like moss, abundant, everywhere and with no obvious purpose. He feels like the other side of the coin, that even if you are completely severed from employment and given no goals, you still don't end up any better.
The ending of the proofreader, doesn't feel like it fits into my balancing act theory. I do feel that maybe his story was created to introduce the concept that this balancing act is a forever cycle, that repeats with no resolution. There is almost no growth in his character. He just ends as he starts, his life a perfect circle with a few microscopic bumps.
Of course, The Factory is proletarian literature, so it does exclude some nuance and of course not all jobs are as meaningless as the ones described. Some do take great joy in their work. The Factory feels like it's trying to use its lack of nuance to show us the extremes of a spectrum. Its trying to suggest that modern work is a balancing act, between the complete submission of shredder girl and the complete freedom of the moss expert, with the proofreaders story thrown in to remind us this isn't a one-off struggle, it's a ever evolving problem looping every single day, like a hydra. One head gone, another sprouts up. Its tearing people apart every day, and it may not ever have a solution. It's a book of extremes, with a message far more nuanced than what a book lacking such nuance would suggest.
Of course, this is all my theory, i could be 100% wrong. But i do hope that at least somebody resonates with my interpretation, and it does bring clarity to someone.
It centers around 3 protagonists, all "blessed" with jobs that feel far more like curses in the respected factory. The factory has everything. Restaurants, convenience stores, an abundance of nature, a temple and shrine complete with priest. To quote the mysterious middle manager Goto, "the only thing it's missing is a graveyard" (come to think of it, what the hell happens to the dead? We get zero indicators and although it seems they'd just be buried in an outside graveyard, thats way too innocent for this whole kafkaesque world"). One, a literature major, shreds documents for 7.5 hours a day, a cruel twist of irony. Another one, the literature major's brother, was sacked for no reason from his engineering job, and now does nothing but proofread documents of nonsense that follow no theme or topic. The last one is hired to green-roof the entire factory themself, but is given no timeline, no deadline and no one to be accountable to. All he does is lead an annual moss hunt and classify moss all day.
The narrative constantly switches between the 3 perspectives with often no indication of the switch. That, and the eery absurdity of the whole world has no sense of time, until you are abruptly informed 15 years have passed. The characters never do see the direct results of their labour. The moss guy has his work finished for him by sub-contractors nobody told him existed across 15 years. The proofreader wonders what these documents are even for, given their absurd midway topic changes and complete lack of coherence, and he never figures it out. The shredder girl just shreds, never knowing if she could be shredding a burst of creative genius impossible to replicate or last week's fire drill memo.
The ending is even more absurd. The moss expert wonders what he is really there for, and we never do find out (perhaps, he feels as if he has become like moss, existing for no purpose.) The proofreader comes full circle, coming into work and realising that his life really does have no meaning. Then, the shredder girl becomes the special black birds that live only in the factory. (metaphorically or literally i don't know, this book is crazy enough either could be right.)
Of all these endings, I feel the shredder girl's resonates the most with me. The black shags in the factory have been living within that enclosed environment for years and cannot fly, just leaping everywhere. Its my headcanon that they can't fly because they've been trapped there so long they've evolved no need for it. No. They've devolved and lost the ability to fly. By the woman with a meaningless job transforming into the bird, it feels like the author is trying to tell us how the cycle of futile, modern employment and work ends: not with rebellion, not with demands for change, not with anyone reaching their breaking point and doing anything out of line, but with complete, full utter acceptance. We just accept it, to the point of irreversibly adapting to conditions we were never meant to be in.
The ending of the moss expert, feels like a complete polar opposite to this. Instead of being forced into a oppressive, constrictive mold, his story is the complete opposite. He is given full, complete, uncomparable freedom. But he doesn't end up any better than the shredder girl. He has realised that life, work and the whole factory has passed him by, and moved on without him. He is now like moss, abundant, everywhere and with no obvious purpose. He feels like the other side of the coin, that even if you are completely severed from employment and given no goals, you still don't end up any better.
The ending of the proofreader, doesn't feel like it fits into my balancing act theory. I do feel that maybe his story was created to introduce the concept that this balancing act is a forever cycle, that repeats with no resolution. There is almost no growth in his character. He just ends as he starts, his life a perfect circle with a few microscopic bumps.
Of course, The Factory is proletarian literature, so it does exclude some nuance and of course not all jobs are as meaningless as the ones described. Some do take great joy in their work. The Factory feels like it's trying to use its lack of nuance to show us the extremes of a spectrum. Its trying to suggest that modern work is a balancing act, between the complete submission of shredder girl and the complete freedom of the moss expert, with the proofreaders story thrown in to remind us this isn't a one-off struggle, it's a ever evolving problem looping every single day, like a hydra. One head gone, another sprouts up. Its tearing people apart every day, and it may not ever have a solution. It's a book of extremes, with a message far more nuanced than what a book lacking such nuance would suggest.
Of course, this is all my theory, i could be 100% wrong. But i do hope that at least somebody resonates with my interpretation, and it does bring clarity to someone.
wizardfuzz's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
hacema_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
charliebuttle's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
wendell's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
I liked it! We follow three factory workers from different departments through their days and more interestingly we get a pretty interesting glimpse into how they feel about the work they do, their questions of purpose, and their ideas of what work means or doesn’t mean in one’s life.
rheaney's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25