The Room: A Novel

To some extent, this is the book that I wanted to write: an absurdist look at modern life and conformity. I love its humor, darkness, intensity, and brevity. Jonas Karlsson does not waste the reader's time with unnecessary details simply to drag out his clever conceit. The character Bjorn comes across as the 21st century ambitious stepson of Bartleby.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was different. It is a little odd . IT is a take on corporate culture. It is about a man who just does not fit in with the others in the office. He appears to be a know-it-all. IT is a book about the man and the room. Nothing much happens , he irritates his co-workers and they irritate him, he goes to the room. Does it real exist? are his co-workers playing tricks on him or Is he insane, who knows. I liked it!

Remember Bartelby?
Somehow, this workplace book reminded me of Bartelby, Herman Mellville’s character who eventually ends up spending long periods of time staring out one of the office's windows at a brick wall.
I found the office setting and the work conflict generated by the odd behavior of Bjorn quite similar with the overall atmosphere of the short story about the scrivener.
Bjorn is a man who seems to have nothing outside his work: on his desk there are no family photos, nor children’s drawings. He is not particularly fond of people, he views his colleagues as competitors and seems like the goal of his workplace actions is to become the boss and prove his superiority.
His behavior lacks authenticity and Bjorn aims to be conformist to help him advance his career.
With no real human connections, it is no surprise that a mental health issue becomes apparent, as he creates an alternative safe space, in the “room”.
I like how the writer keeps the confusion alive in the first part of the novel- you are tempted to believe that maybe the room might exist, until it is clear that it does not. I also liked how he shows how difficult it is for someone with a conviction, an obsession or a compulsion to deal with it. In fact, he/ she cannot. Eventually, he/ she will be eaten up, absorbed by it, like the “spoon in the yogurt “.

finished this audiobook in 3 hours and it makes me feel I was in a strange and long dream. Love how this story was written and love the narator as well

Simple easy I could see the characters one by one like in every office you go to

Why does everything lately remind me of American Psycho? In this case, an unlikeable, unreliable narrator that slowly falls apart. There was even some pop music pretentiousness. No violent murders though, so yay. I greatly enjoyed hating this character and felt so much sympathy for his coworkers. We’ve all dealt with that one weirdo that thinks he’s better than everyone else. Though this one seems to have more than a bit of autism rolled into his superiority. A quick read with a fun(/weird) ending. Enjoyable as long as you don’t expect to like the protagonist.

Easy read. About office worker, his "personal space"--a room that nobody else sees. His sense of reality differs with his workmates--space, superiority, timed intervals, work habits--and how others cannot cope with his differences. funny & sad. Well written, surreal. It's about being "different."--others are uncomfortable. Even when he does brilliant work, others would rather not deal with him than be successful.

Interesting take on corporate life...would have given it 5 stars if the ending had been better.

This is a short, very odd book that was nonetheless enjoyable. It's pretty tough to describe so I'll leave that to other reviews you can check out on it, but if you'd like a little diversion from your 'normal' reading patterns you should give 'The Room' a chance. It's well-written (translated), funny, and.... odd.

Terrific book about ambition, alienation, paranoia, isolation, along with relationships in the workplace. A very quick & humorous read, but it is also a very thoughtful & intelligent story. One that I will be pondering for a long time to come.
Highly recommended!

A fun little novella by a famous Swedish actor, the reviews on this one are rave. While I don't think it will change my life like it did some other readers, I did enjoy it.

Bjorn is an utterly unreliable narrator, seeing himself as far superior to his coworkers, and even his boss. He is so low in the organization that he is given tasks like making lists of phone numbers, and ensuring the printers are full of paper. However, he sees all of this as a bit of a ruse because of his inflated self-esteem.

One day, Bjorn discovers a hidden room between the toilets and the lift. Inside the room, he feels relaxed, secure, efficient. He is able to look in the mirror and see himself as more handsome than he remembered, with a suit that looks fantastic on him, and his hair is perfect. In short, this room is the nirvana of Bjorn's psyche.

Once the coworkers start asking him why he is standing in a daze at the wall, he realizes that not everyone can see the room, and the story takes on a new dimension.

Recommended.

OK, there must be something odd in Scandinavian water that is bringing out so many Swedish fiction writers out recently. This book is really a thought study about obsession, told from the point of view of a man who is the only one in his office who can see a hidden room. Is it real? Or does it only exist in his mind? That's ultimately not the point. An interesting read with a slightly disappointingly ambiguous ending.

This was a good, entertaining read. I think I expected it to be more funny, but for a story from Sweden, where the stories I've read tend toward the depressing, it was a gut buster.It was the perfect length -- any longer and the narrator may have gotten tedious -- and the story clipped along really well.

I really really enjoyed this. It's quick (I read it in the bath) and surreal and, yes, I'll say it, Kafka-esque. But it is really well done. And though it seems it should be rather depressing, it somehow isn't. It's somehow light and ... even funny, without being irreverent to the topic at issue (which, maybe isn't entirely clear, but certainly deals with mental illness).

Karlsson tells you all you need to know about Bjorn in the second chapter. The warning flags rise and the reader has doubts about him from the start. You see Bjorn, after being gently dismissed from his former employer, begins a new, low level job at The Authority. He's strict with his "personal strategic framework" other wise known as a routine and meticulous with his desk. In his mind, he is superior to others. He's like the person who plumps up their resume with big words and big accomplishments that mean absolutely nothing. He does not form friendships easily.When he is stressed or has a little free time he goes to the room he's discovered in the corridor. We all need a space to regroup but his co-workers contend this room doesn't exist and his belief that it does annoys them. Yet, in this room he excels in his work and becomes a top performer. So, where does he go? Is "the room" a figurative or literal place? And if it helps him, why can't Bjorn continue to go there? You, the reader, can decide.The author's writing is as minimalist, stark and functional as Bjorn's office. It's a gem and should have readers discussing it for years to come.

I enjoyed this short book very much. It's a story about an office worker who doesn't fit in with his co-workers. He discovers a room that only he can see. Is the room really there? Are the workers playing a trick on him? Is the room all in his head? The author allows the reader to decide.This book is not for everyone but if you like a book that's different and if you like to laugh then this book is for you.I won this book from Goodreads.

Made me question my own sanity.

There are 3 stars for the story and an extra star for the Narrator. We see the world through the eyes of the protagonist Bjoern. it is sometimes though hard to sympathize with him. The story is well told. But the end is like of... yeeeaahh... so? I still would recommend it to a friend.

Bjorn has recently accepted a position as a civil servant at “The Authority” and spends his days working in a modern, open-space office; a bureaucracy complete with petty co-workers, office politics, and a dreary environment.Bjorn isn’t interested in socializing or making friends; he just wants to do his job and gain recognition as a leader. Unfortunately, he’s also a bit odd and irritating to his co-workers. When he finds a small, unused office near the elevators, he begins to spend his breaks there. The room is a peaceful, productive place where he can think and work. There’s only one problem: No one else can see the room.This quirky little book was a quick read and an interesting change of pace. I read it in between a few more challenging books, but found it brought up some interesting questions: Is Bjorn a clever manipulator or a nut? How far will someone go to regain their personal space? Does the room really exist? In the end, a compelling psychological study.

This is not a book for everyone. It is a bit disjointed because it depicts the workings of the main character’s muddled mind. However, Bjorn’s thoughts are presented very logically, and even though they may seem to be irrational, the author presents them in such a clear way that we accept them, on some level, and begin to understand Bjorn, a troubled low level employee who believes he is brilliant and more deserving of success and recognition than any of those around him, even his superiors. He believes he is superior in all things, and with the presentation of his perspective, his personal philosophy is carefully laid out for the reader, as the days progress. I would describe him as an “outsider” who believes that he is an “insider”, as someone who believes that those truly inside are atypical and are outside his own sphere of reference. He has it “inside out”, although those who are truly on the inside are not very likeable. This troubled character has been beautifully drawn by the author, so that the reader is aware that the narrative represents the chaoitic nature of his mind. Although he carefully orders his lifestyle, he is betrayed by his disordered psyche. The irrational though lucid way in which he expresses himself, confuses those around him, and by the very nature of the audacity with which he presents his case each time the subject of his behavior is raised, we are compelled to try and understand him. When we first meet Bjorn, a man who has probably been demoted, but believes since the workplace he has been assigned to is larger than his former one, although his personal space is no longer private and his salary is lower, that he has been promoted in some way, we realize that we are dealing with someone who lives in a bit of an alternate universe. Yet, he expresses his theories in ways that justify them so we are sometimes mystified by his behavior and our own reactions to him.Bjorn appears lonely, introverted, misunderstood and even arrogant, at times. Although he may often appear paranoid, he can appear very sane, as well. The manifestation of his flights of fancy, his sojourns in “the room” seem to be credible at first, until the reader becomes aware of the fact that “the room” exists in a part of his mind, a small space, like the space “the room” occupies, a place in his imagination. Although he measures the floor space to justify its existence and finds it coming up short, he creates a reasonable explanation for the missing part of the building on his floor. He decides that there is a conspiracy to keep the room secret from everyone, even the Director General. Bjorn’s greatest asset is his mind, but it is also his greatest downfall. He is bright and clear-headed so that he is able to perform above the level of the other workers, bringing some fame to his department as their overall competence improves because of his output. The Office workers may have tried to befriend him, at first, to figure out what he was doing that was making them so uncomfortable, to understand his behavior, but he rebuffed everyone. He is hostile and so he causes hostility in return. He negatively judges all around him and remains aloof and condescending in his attitude. The fellow workers begin to meet in secret to discuss his aberrant behavior and eventually pass judgment upon him. He in turn has been and continues to, pass judgment upon them. Each, in turn, makes unreasonable demands which can really not be met by Karl, the ultimate boss of their department. He follows procedure, and in the end, the take-down of Bjorn is not really a take-down, because Bjorn outsmarts them all, and possibly himself, in order to escape their ridicule and his own humiliation, by entering the world of “the room” and disappearing within its walls. The reader is left wondering if he has truly entered the world of his fantasy and will not return, waking from his trance, as he so often did, previously, or has he truly disappeared.It has been described as the Kafkaesque journey of Bjorn, but I believe it was also a Kafkaesque journey for the other workers who found themselves confounded by his explanations, demands and accusations and also found that their boss was hamstrung by policy. They began to reduce their own confusion and discomfort, caused by Bjorn’s behavior, to petty demands. They wanted equal treatment although their behavior was normal and according to policy was thus not rewarded. Surely the scene was upside down, in the final analysis, because the zoo was being run by the animals, but it was hard to know recognize the actual animal in question in each episodic encounter.Could someone so demented actually carve out a space, assert himself so well that he could assume power? The irrational mind is often successful at creating diabolical plans; a complete but over the top example is Adolph Hitler, a man able to bring the entire world to its knees in an effort to defeat his irrational ravings which were, at first, believed and followed by so many. On a small scale, although he attracted many enemies, Bjorn was able to attract some followers because of his accomplishments at work, regardless of his bizarre behavior. The book has also been described as the representation of a man trying to fight corporate culture, trying to find a place for himself in a world out of his control, yet, I found a man so detached from reality that I believe he merely wanted to find a place in the world, period, a place where he was the be-all, end-all judge and jury of his life in its entirety. He was so regimented and so obsessive that he could not have functioned in many positions well unless he was able to divert his mind to another place where he ultimately found sanctuary.The author has done an amazing job of getting into the mind of this character and painting a portrait of him so that I could picture him, the other workers and the workspace without much effort. I could enter “the room” with him and feel his frustration and his release as I could also feel the frustration of his fellow workers who were subjected to his anomalous behavior. This little book, both in size and length, stands out a bit larger than life and will make the reader both chuckle and wonder at the antics of the characters and then question their motives and sanity at the same time. Bjorn prefers to live in a world I will call “the emperor’s new room”, because there, he is in charge, he is respected and he is not ridiculed or laughed at because he is different, rather he does the judging and the smirking. How did the author get so completely into this benign mind of madness into which he draws the reader step by careful step? It is a quick read, but not a beach read. It is a book that should excite discussion. The power of the mind is infinite.Thought provoking and amusing don’t usually go together, but in this book the two are married comfortably. The author has perfectly captured the mind of a social misfit. The contradictions of his life and workplace are captured flawlessly. It was a pleasure to read so creative and original a book after reading so many that seemed like clones of the one before it.***I won this book on Goodreads and truly enjoyed it. At last there is a book that was not simply murder, mayhem and sex. At last a thought provoking book that did not go on forever into the hundreds and hundreds of pages!