Discontent by Beatriz Serrano
I picked up Discontent at a little local bookstore several months ago. At the time, it was exactly what I was struggling with— the bleak reality of a 9-5 for the next 40 years. I was hopeful I’d relate to the main character, Marisa, and feel some sense of comfort in knowing her character arch might find solace in the routine, a light at the end of the tunnel in a way that would bring peace to the reader (me).
Unfortunately this was not the case.
Where do I even begin?
For starters, the pacing of the book was less-than-ideal and I found myself wondering when we would get to that “revelation” in the Segovian forest. This could have been an intentional and artistic choice from Serrano, yes. To drag us along in a monotonous pattern, just as Marisa is dragged along in her M-F 9-5. We grow bored and stuck just as she herself grows bored and stuck. But it gets to a point!
The obsession with YouTube is very overdone. What I’ll give to Serrano is that it is a realistic method of escape. One man’s YouTube is another man’s TikTok, and social media has become the escapism in our daily lives. But I’d argue it was too much and by the end of the book I was YouTube-d out, never wanting to read that word again. And honestly? I don’t think it’s very realistic that she somehow worked her way up to that position without a single person calling her out. Not one time has anyone noticed she’s a complete fraud and steals ideas from college students and her coworkers? No one has once batted an eye that she goes hours without interactions and leaves the office whenever she wants? Especially considering how nosey some of her coworkers seem to be. It leans a little too lacking-accountability in my opinion.
Don’t even get me started on Pablo the love interest, if you could even call it that. Again, this theme of superficiality and a lack of true meaning and purpose. But what grew was less relatability and more disinterest in the book as a whole.
What importance does Rita play??? This distant coworker with nothing other than unimportant, random tidbits of detail. No backstory other than quick office-chat flashbacks and a box of possessions given (for some reason) to Marisa. It was somewhat frustrating when Rita was brought up because I was always left wanting more. And by the end? Not a single full-circle moment involving Rita’s disappearance (which we never learn more about btw!!) in relation to Marisa’s ending. I was hopeful that at the end of the book there would be a larger, more defining event that brought Rita’s destiny into play with Marisa’s. But nope— nada. I give more backstory to a bug I see land on the sidewalk.
The Segovian retreat that was so dreaded from the second we are introduced? She greens out and spends the rest of the trip in her room. The young employee provides her weed and they have a moment of tension. How…original. Like many other points in the book, this provided us with nothing more than a name to not care about.
I was hoping she wouldn’t be able to pull off the presentation, that she would crack under the pressure and reveal herself in a state of absolute vulnerability to her coworkers, baring her open wounds and finally coming to peace with the dichotomy of the lie she lives versus the real Marisa. But no! She magically throws the presentation together in 5 minutes, has the genius idea of drugging her coworkers, is somehow able to not get caught in the process, and passes with flying colors. What? Again, this might speak to the state at which she managed to always get away with flying by the seat of her pants. But that would have been the perfect time to see her character crack and bloom. To finally have it all unfold.
There can be an argument made for the monotony, the slow pace, the lack of character depth— all reflecting the superficiality and unimportance of so many aspects of this capitalistic game we are all playing. But for me, personally, I crave that depth in literature. There is a way to emphasize rhetoric around the abysmal exactness of each working day, while providing enough substance to characters to make me care about them. And that’s the problem— I did not care about a single person, Marisa included, the entire book. Had she died at the end, I simply would’ve read the last page and put it down without thinking about her for the rest of my life. Creating a deeper, profound, and well-rounded character for Marisa in which we feel a larger sense of relatability would have helped bridge the gap I felt with her. Maybe— just maybe— I would have felt sympathy for her. Unfortunately there was none of that, not even in the conclusion.
Speaking of which: THAT ENDING????? Are you serious?? It felt like Beatriz got bored of writing the book and wanted a way to wrap it up without much thought. I mean COME ON! She gets hit by a bicyclist and has to take off work indefinitely? I guess it’s as mundane as the life she lived. Sure, whatever. But what about the accountability from drugging her coworkers?? Was the end some dream or hallucination she had in order to escape from the consequences of her actions? It definitely did not convey that (plus what a random and unclear wildcard that would be).
Elena’s character was enjoyable. I like the reflective nature of their reunion, though I wish she was introduced earlier in the story. I think her character’s relationship with Marisa could have opened a few more doors to character development for the both of them and allowed us to see more of who Marisa is/wants to be. The frustrating aspect of Elena’s character is that she represents a point in Marisa’s life when she was free and unapologetically herself, untied to the current life she hates so deeply. Yet we never crack into that lava cake. We’re left wanting more from Serrano, just as we did the entire book.
That being said, Serrano’s writing style is enjoyable. It flows well and when she does provide detail, I appreciate it. She is witty and spunky and I can tell she tries to engulf herself into the main character to make it believable. If the monotony and pacing of the book was intentional— fantastic, you did it Serrano. You made me hate Marisa’s life! But I can’t say I’m craving to read another one of your books.
All in all, this book blue balled me. I think Serrano did exactly what she wanted to do: creating a monotonous world in which we never truly know the characters beyond names and a handful of unnecessary facts that never create meaningful and fulfilling bonds. A world in which, much like Marisa, we all want to escape. Good job! But unfortunately she did it a little too well and I didn’t like the book.
Those are my thoughts. Thanks for sticking around. If you read the book and want to share your opinions— do tell!
You’re so loved.
Xoxo,
Alli
