The Room: A Novel
(OverDrive Listen)

Jonas Karlsson. (2015). The Room: A Novel. Unabridged Books on Tape.

Jonas Karlsson. 2015. The Room: A Novel. Books on Tape.

Jonas Karlsson, The Room: A Novel. Books on Tape, 2015.

Jonas Karlsson. The Room: A Novel. Unabridged Books on Tape, 2015.

OverDrive Product Record

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• name: Jonas Karlsson

title

The Room

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Room A Novel

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   • fileAs: Karlsson, Jonas
   • bioText: JONAS KARLSSON writes plays and short fiction. One of Sweden's most prominent actors, Karlsson has performed on Sweden's premier stage and in several acclaimed feature films and television series. In 2005, Karlsson made his debut as a playwright, earning rave reviews from audience and critics alike. Spurred by the joy of writing for the stage, Karlsson began writing fiction.
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2015-02-17T00:00:00Z

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title

The Room

fullDescription

“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.

reviews

1. • premium: False
   • source: Nick Offerman, author of Paddle Your Own Canoe
   • content: "The Room is the most effective chapbook on workplace comportment since Glengarry Glen Ross. Hats off!"
2. • premium: False
   • source: Neel Mukherjee, author of The Lives of Others
   • content:
     "A gripping, tense, demonic fable in which the unease is precision-tooled and the turns of the screw wholly unexpected."
3. • premium: False
   • source: Booklist
   • content:
     "Karlsson deftly captures individual voices, which he conveys directly (as Björn reveals his obsessions) and indirectly (as Björn describes interactions with coworkers). Using Björn's voice to draw characters and build dramatic tension, Karlsson exposes the gifts and gaffes, visions and delusions, and the rise and fall of a seemingly ordinary civil servant." --Publishers Weekly (starred)
     
     "A contemporary tale worthy of comparison to Franz Kafka's works, Amélie Nothomb's Fear and Trembling, and Herman Melville's classic 'Bartelby, the Scrivener,' while the antics of Björn's fellow workers recall Terry Gilliam's film Brazil. Enjoyable reading, extremely well executed, this fable should become mandatory reading for cubicle and office workers everywhere." --Library Journal (starred)
     
     "Part psychological drama documenting a disturbed man's possible descent into madness and part satirical take on corporate culture and the alienated workers it produces, Karlsson succeeds admirably in creating the perfect combination of funny, surreal, and disturbing."
4. • premium: False
   • source: Kirkus
   • content:
     "Provocative...Karlsson's deft jab at dead-end workplaces keeps you agreeably off-balance and eager for more of his work."
5. • premium: False
   • source: Göteborgsposten (Sweden)
   • content:
     "A flawless novel that you will finish with a smile." --Knack (Netherlands)
     
     "Jonas Karlsson masterfully tells us about his main character's Kafkaesque adventure."
     --Panorama (Italy)
     
     "A Beckettian drama in an open plan office." --Il Giornale (Italy)
     
     "Sweden has its own Kafka in Jonas Karlsson." --DeMorgen (Netherlands)
     
     "Fascinating.... Every time you think you know where Bjorn is heading, he does or says something that tilts the whole story. Minimalism and surrealism, bundled in a short but powerful novel." --DeZondag (Netherlands)
     
     "The Room has the qualities of a masterpiece."
6. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     Starred review from December 15, 2014
     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. Bjorn, a Stockholm bureaucrat, is a meticulous but unreliable narrator whose sense of superiority comes in conflict with the facts. When his boss eases him into another job, a demotion in several ways, Bjorn sees it as his chance to blossom into his full potential, which unfolds in a series of short, often humorous, and increasingly disturbing narratives. Bjorn begins the new job by organizing his days into 55-minute intervals with five-minute breaks. During one such break, he sees a door. When he steps inside, he finds a small, tidy, unused office. The problem with this room is no one else sees it—and it’s not the only thing Bjorn sees that others do not. In the receptionist’s smile Bjorn sees an invitation; in his desk-mate’s pile of papers he sees encroachment; in his coworkers’ denial of the room he sees conspiracy. Bjorn visits a psychiatrist, promises to never reenter the room, and meanwhile devises a strategy to defeat his adversaries. Karlsson deftly captures individual voices, which he conveys directly (as Bjorn reveals his obsessions) and indirectly (as Bjorn describes interactions with coworkers). Using Bjorn’s voice to draw characters and build dramatic tension, Karlsson exposes the gifts and gaffes, visions and delusions, and the rise and fall of a seemingly ordinary civil servant.

popularity

176

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“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...

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Room A Novel

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