Discontent - by Beatriz Serrano (Paperback)

About the Book

"On the surface, Marisa's life looks enviable. She lives in a beautiful apartment in the center of Madrid, she has a hot neighbor who is always around to sleep with her, and she's rapidly risen through the ranks at her advertising agency. And yet she's drowning in a dark hole of existential dread induced by the expectations of corporate life. Marisa hates her job and everyone at it. She spends her working hours locked in her office hiding from her coworkers, bingeing YouTube videos, and taking Valium. When she has the time, she escapes to her favorite museum where she contemplates the meaning of human life while staring at Hieronymus Bosch paintings, or trying to get hit by a car so she can go on disability. But Marisa's success, which is largely built on lies and work she's stolen from other people, is in danger of being revealed when she's forced to go on her company's annual team-building retreat. Isolated in the Spanish mountains, surrounded by a psychopathic boss, overly enthusiastic co-workers who revel in their exploitation, a flirty retreat staff, and haunted by a deeply-buried memory about a past coworker, Marisa is pushed to the brink of a complete spiral. A darkly funny, provocative, and incisive tale of our modern times, Discontent explores the unease we bury eight hours a day, and how explosive it is when it rises to the surface"--

Book Synopsis

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE - From a dazzling new international voice, an audacious, darkly funny novel about a young woman whose carefully crafted office persona threatens to crack when she's forced to attend her company's annual retreat

"A wry work of spectacular wit. . . . Beatriz Serrano writes with a caustic flare for detail, exploring the small humiliations of the everyday corporate office with charm and utter hilarity. Absolutely brilliant." --Danya Kukafka, author of Notes on an Execution

On the surface, Marisa's life looks enviable. She lives in a beautiful apartment in the center of Madrid, she has a hot neighbor who is always around to sleep with her, and she's quickly risen through the ranks at a successful advertising agency. And yet she's drowning in a dark hole of existential dread induced by the banality of corporate life. Marisa hates her job and everyone at it. She spends her working hours locked in her office hiding from her coworkers, bingeing YouTube videos, and getting high on tranquilizers. When she has the time, she escapes to her favorite museum where she contemplates the meaning of life while staring at Hieronymus Bosch paintings, or trying to get hit by a car so she can go on disability.

But Marisa's dubious success, which is largely built on lies and work she's stolen from other people, is in danger of being exposed when she's forced to go on her company's team-building retreat. Isolated in the Segovia forests, haunted by the deeply buried memory of a former coworker, and surrounded by psychopathic bosses, overzealous coworkers, flirty retreat staff, and an excess of drugs, Marisa finds herself acting on her wildest impulses and is pushed to the brink of a complete spiral.

Review Quotes

"[A] darkly comic debut. . . . Wry and incisive. . . . A new view into the psyche of the disillusioned work force." --Hilary Leichter, The New York Times Book Review

"Putting a twist on "Fake it till you make it," Serrano's narrator Marisa creates a new mantra for herself: "Fake it till they leave you alone" . . . . Laugh-out-loud hilarious. . . . The story's climax is deliciously stunning as her fantasies become reality. This debut gem is a fast page-turner that most readers will finish in a few sittings." --Library Journal (starred)

"Tremendously entertaining." --The Guardian

"Beneath the novel's breezy "Office Space"-style nihilism. . . Serrano -- via a seamless translation by Lethem -- locates the profound loneliness of her protagonist, who seems to live almost entirely behind screens or via surface encounters. Discontent is one of this year's loveliest small surprises: a melancholy and tartly funny little bonbon of a book with a (literal) knockout ending." -- Leah Greenblatt, The New York Times Book Review (Favorite Hidden Gems of 2025)

"Hilarious - full of one liners and pithy observations. I rooted for Marisa from the start." --Daily Mail

"Fun, caustic and mercilessly observed, Discontent announces an impressive new comic talent in European fiction." --The Telegraph

"A wry work of spectacular wit, Discontent skewers every novel of workplace ennui that has come before it. Beatriz Serrano writes with a caustic flare for detail, exploring the small humiliations of the everyday corporate office with charm and utter hilarity. Absolutely brilliant." --Danya Kukafka, author of Notes on an Execution

"Office Space for literary weirdos. Discontent is brimming with witticisms and scathing observations about our modern-day malaise. While Serrano's narrator is drowning in existential dread, her debut novel never feels weighed down. Electric, lively, and brilliantly constructed by a new writer of immense talent." --Jean Kyoung Frazier, author of Pizza Girl

"This intelligent, engaging novel perfectly captures the discontent of our contemporary minds, managing all the while to be totally hilarious." --Ayşegül Savaş, author of The Anthropologists

"Our heroine compulsively watches YouTube, pops Ativan, quotes both Britney Spears and Proust, dreads work small talk, and, at one point, Googles 'how to be creative.' I adored her. Discontent is a razor-sharp debut with a riveting climax." --Anna Dorn, author of Perfume and Pain

"An acidic reflection on the existential crisis of a generation that thought it had guaranteed success. . . . Humor in abundance, a punk ending that blows the reader's mind and markedly agile writing, which hides necessary and hard reasoning." --Glamour (Spain)

"[Discontent] is not only an x-ray as clear as it is painful of a job market that is often willing to steal the souls of those who inhabit it, but also one of the most outstanding literary debuts of 2023." --Harper's Bazaar (Spain)

"A faithful portrait of millennial disenchantment." --Vogue (Spain)

"Discontent [is] a generational phenomenon that has crossed borders." --Esquire (Spain)

About the Author

Beatriz Serrano is a writer and a journalist who has written for publications such as BuzzFeed, Vanity Fair, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, El País, SModa and Vogue. Along with writer Guillermo Alonso, she currently co-directs the podcast "Arsenic Caviar", which won the Ondas Prize for best conversational podcast. Discontent is her first novel. She lives in Madrid.