Discontent by Beatriz Serrano

Some books whisper their truths. This one shouts them from the fluorescent-lit cubicle farm of modern life.

Discontent is a wickedly sharp, darkly comic novel that captures the soul-crushing absurdity of corporate existence with surgical precision. Meet Marisa: successful on paper, unraveling in practice. She’s mastered the art of looking busy while bingeing YouTube videos and popping tranquilizers. She’s climbed the advertising ladder through strategic theft and carefully curated lies. And she’s utterly, magnificently miserable.

Beatriz Serrano has crafted something rare here—a satire that cuts so close to the bone it might draw blood. When Marisa is forced to attend a company retreat in the Segovia forests, her carefully constructed facade begins to crack. Surrounded by psychopathic bosses, overeager colleagues, and an alarming quantity of drugs, she teeters on the edge of a spectacular unraveling.

Danya Kukafka, author of Notes on an Execution, calls it “a wry work of spectacular wit,” praising Serrano’s “caustic flare for detail” in exploring “the small humiliations of the everyday corporate office with charm and utter hilarity.”

This is literary fiction with teeth—perfect for readers who loved Convenience Store Woman or My Year of Rest and Relaxation. It’s funny because it’s true, and it’s devastating for the same reason. A dazzling debut from an audacious new voice that refuses to play nice with the corporate machine.

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