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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Barely any
No on-page violence
Language
Some
Sparse profanity in an otherwise formal register
Sexual Content
Some
U
Substance Use
Barely any
Not a feature
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The unease is existential: a coworker dies of cancer and U
What this book is about
U. is hired to produce the Great Report, a document that would capture the whole of contemporary life, and instead drifts through meditations on oil spills, parachute deaths, buffering video, and a casual relationship with a woman named Madison. The Masters Review describes a book of "dark, deadpan humor" set in "a world in which even our most basic emotions seem inauthentic and rote." Almost nothing happens physically; the discomfort is atmospheric. A colleague dying of cancer, a hospital ward, and a trash-incineration plant glowing vermilion are the closest the book comes to graphic content. Booker-shortlisted in 2015, and demanding in structure rather than in content.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Sustained emotional flatness and alienation
A colleague's cancer death reported at a cold remove
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