BelEdit Book Reviews
Checking Out captures the zeitgeist, portraying the bleakness of life for young people in crappy jobs, burdened by financial worries and holding little hope for the future. While reading Checking out, I couldn’t stop comparing it to the TV series Superstore. Checking out is at once darker and more realistic, but it’s also funny, in a bleak sort of way.
“Meryem is twenty-five years old and has just started working at the offices of Supersaurio: the most important supermarket chain in the Canary Islands. Watched over by the chain’s benevolent blue dinosaur logo, Meryem contends with co-workers who don’t mean to sound sexist, but aren’t women just harder work than men?, a boss who seems determined to make Meryem’s life as miserable as possible, and Omar – smart, funny, very-senior-but-nevertheless-seems-like-a-normal-person Omar, who also happens to be devastatingly handsome.”
Publisher’s blurb
In Checking Out, which is clearly semi-autobiographical, we experience the grind of being a low-level white collar worker in an ordinary, soul-destroying job, and the struggle to maintain hope and optimism. It captures the zeitgeist well — I’m a privileged, retired woman in a northern European country, but I can imagine that Meryem is representative of millions of young people across the world. Her day to day is filled with deadening work, microaggressions, sexism, racism and xenophobia. It truly feels like she’s experiencing all the ills of late-stage capitalism.
And yet, surprisingly for such a bleak novel, it’s actually a very enjoyable read. Meryem has a relatable, witty voice, and comes across as very real. Reading this is like sitting with a friend – a particularly articulate and entertaining friend – complaining about their life. Pretty much throughout the book I wanted to just lean in and give her a hug and try to convince her it would all work out well in the end.
While suspecting it probably won’t.
Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. All my reviews are 100% honest and unbiased, regardless of how I acquire the book.
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