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Radio Iris
Radio Iris follows Iris Finch, a twenty-something socially awkward daydreamer and receptionist at Larmax, Inc., a company whose true function she doesn't understand (though she's heard her boss refer to himself as "a businessman").
Gradually, her boss' erratic behavior becomes even more erratic, her coworkers begin disappearing, the phone stops ringing, making her role at Larmax moot, and a mysterious man appears to be living in the office suite next door.
Radio Iris is an ambient, eerie dream of a novel, written with remarkable precision and grace that could also serve as an appropriate allegory for our modern recession.
Anne-Marie Kinney's short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Indiana Review, Black Clock, Keyhole, and Satellite Fiction.
"Radio Iris has a lovely, eerie, anxious quality to it. Iris's observations are funny, and the story has a dramatic otherworldly payoff that is unexpected and triumphant."
—Deb Olin Unferth, The New York Times Book Review
"A noirish nod to the monotony of work."
—O: The Oprah Magazine
"Kinney is a Southern California Camus."
—Los Angeles Magazine
"'The Office' as scripted by Kafka."
—Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"[An] astute evocation of office weirdness and malaise."
—The Wall Street Journal
Gradually, her boss' erratic behavior becomes even more erratic, her coworkers begin disappearing, the phone stops ringing, making her role at Larmax moot, and a mysterious man appears to be living in the office suite next door.
Radio Iris is an ambient, eerie dream of a novel, written with remarkable precision and grace that could also serve as an appropriate allegory for our modern recession.
Anne-Marie Kinney's short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Indiana Review, Black Clock, Keyhole, and Satellite Fiction.
"Radio Iris has a lovely, eerie, anxious quality to it. Iris's observations are funny, and the story has a dramatic otherworldly payoff that is unexpected and triumphant."
—Deb Olin Unferth, The New York Times Book Review
"A noirish nod to the monotony of work."
—O: The Oprah Magazine
"Kinney is a Southern California Camus."
—Los Angeles Magazine
"'The Office' as scripted by Kafka."
—Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"[An] astute evocation of office weirdness and malaise."
—The Wall Street Journal
208 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2012
8 people are currently reading
949 people want to read
About the author
Anne-Marie Kinney
2 books24 followersAnne-Marie Kinney's work has appeared in Black Clock, Indiana Review, and Keyhole, and has been performed at Los Angeles's Word Theatre. Her debut novel, Radio Iris, was published by Two Dollar Radio in May, 2012.
Read a free excerpt of Radio Iris here: http://twodollarradio.com/books-forth...
Read a free excerpt of Radio Iris here: http://twodollarradio.com/books-forth...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
July 27, 2012
This book was mostly a misfire for me, it was like some dreamy druggy Nico song that went on for 200 pages. The author definitely has skill but in service of what, exactly? Maybe I'm old school but a novel needs to tell a story, not just toss some atmosphere in your general direction. I kept reading because I was waiting to develop an interest in any of the characters, but that never happened. It was never compelling reading and Kinney seemed to go to lengths to make uninteresting daily chores and interactions even more uninteresting. If the protagonist has no interest in what is going on around her, why should the reader? Blurbists have dropped references to everyone from Camus to Kafka when talking about this book but I guess I just don't get it. I am looking forward to seeing what the author comes with next time
July 8, 2019
...wtf have I just read?
I spent my entire time reading this equally divided between 'why in hell am I still reading this?' and reluctant optimism ('it has to get better. seriously, I mean, there HAS to be a plot in here somewhere'). it felt physically painful to get through - it bored me so much, I actually developed a migraine.
for those of you who experience synaesthesia, as I do:
this was grey-brown sludge plopping heavily downward from a tiny rotted skylight into a dank, mouldy, sludge-filled room.
this book does deserve a few awards, though: Most Terrible Ending; Least Likeable Characters; Longest Collection of Banality in History
avoid this one. it was torturous.
I spent my entire time reading this equally divided between 'why in hell am I still reading this?' and reluctant optimism ('it has to get better. seriously, I mean, there HAS to be a plot in here somewhere'). it felt physically painful to get through - it bored me so much, I actually developed a migraine.
for those of you who experience synaesthesia, as I do:
this was grey-brown sludge plopping heavily downward from a tiny rotted skylight into a dank, mouldy, sludge-filled room.
this book does deserve a few awards, though: Most Terrible Ending; Least Likeable Characters; Longest Collection of Banality in History
avoid this one. it was torturous.
January 9, 2021
If I had to choose a single word to describe Radio Iris, it would be ‘ambient’. This is a meandering novel about Iris, a young woman who works for a rather strange business, whose purpose is entirely unclear, in (I think) Los Angeles. She suspects there’s a man living in an office adjacent to hers, and becomes determined to communicate with this elusive figure. This situation becomes increasingly surreal as the story progresses. From the blurb, I was imagining something like a cross between The New Me by Halle Butler and The Room by Jonas Karlsson. The quotes on the book’s jacket make grand comparisons – Kafka, Ballard, Calvino – but it’s much more easygoing and ephemeral than that suggests.
Iris is a blank character who appears to have no real personality. We see her making observations, and being curious about things, but she doesn’t seem to feel anything. She forgets her own birthday; there are big gaps in her backstory. At one point, a friend asks her, ‘God, can you retain anything?’. I wondered for quite some time if she was a ghost. (And maybe she was?) In a good novel, the characters feel like fully-formed people who existed before this story began, and will go on existing afterwards. Here, it is impossible to think of Iris as anything other than a person who started existing on the first page. Which is not to actually say this is a bad novel, as I think Iris’s blankness is intentional; I just don’t know to what end.
The ending is very weird – I mean, genuinely, detached-from-reality weird – but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing either! I like weird endings. Again, though, nothing is resolved. I’m still wondering what the perspective of Iris’s brother Neil was supposed to add, something I had assumed would be clear by the end.
Two books Radio Iris reminded me of: Helen Smith’s Alison Wonderland for its odd aimlessness, and Amina Cain’s Indelicacy for its detached, cold protagonist... as well as the sense that perhaps the point of the entire thing had flown over my head.
TinyLetter | Linktree
Iris is a blank character who appears to have no real personality. We see her making observations, and being curious about things, but she doesn’t seem to feel anything. She forgets her own birthday; there are big gaps in her backstory. At one point, a friend asks her, ‘God, can you retain anything?’. I wondered for quite some time if she was a ghost. (And maybe she was?) In a good novel, the characters feel like fully-formed people who existed before this story began, and will go on existing afterwards. Here, it is impossible to think of Iris as anything other than a person who started existing on the first page. Which is not to actually say this is a bad novel, as I think Iris’s blankness is intentional; I just don’t know to what end.
The ending is very weird – I mean, genuinely, detached-from-reality weird – but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing either! I like weird endings. Again, though, nothing is resolved. I’m still wondering what the perspective of Iris’s brother Neil was supposed to add, something I had assumed would be clear by the end.
Two books Radio Iris reminded me of: Helen Smith’s Alison Wonderland for its odd aimlessness, and Amina Cain’s Indelicacy for its detached, cold protagonist... as well as the sense that perhaps the point of the entire thing had flown over my head.
TinyLetter | Linktree
November 20, 2017
I dunno, all through the book it just felt kinda odd, but you still had the sense that it may be weird but it was going somewhere, trying to tell you something. And you just keep reading because it kinda just sticks to you. But then it just takes a sudden turn to crazy town and you have no idea what the heck you just read. Kinda like a David Lynch film but in book form and not quite as well done. And at least with Lynch you know what you are in for, i went into this expecting something different and am frankly disappointed. (And i like David Lynch)
September 29, 2012
This whole book was weird. I kept waiting for a plot to develop and though it started to get into some back story on the main character it was underdeveloped and left you waiting for more. The ending was extremely bizarre and I have no idea what even happened. Maybe it was supposed to be a metaphor for something but, if so, I didn't get it. I wouldn't really recommend this book to anyone unless you're just looking for something to fill your time. It left me unsatisfied, to say the least.
September 27, 2012
I am still not sure what the plot of the story was and kept reading waiting for something to happen that never came. Not the best book I've ever read.
April 28, 2017
Finished this one over lunch today. What an interesting read. It leaves you with so many questions and so few answers. I really enjoyed the writing style though. I felt connected to Iris and engaged in the story.
December 13, 2021
I understand why people don’t like this book, it has no plot and a very vague conclusion. I did like some aspects of it though, the main character is relatable, especially for young women who haven’t really figured out their life yet. The book had no plot because the main character Iris felt like her life was just radio static, with no real meaning or purpose. At least that’s what I got from it. I definitely understand why people considered the book boring, and I kind of agree, but I also didn’t hate it.
It gets 3 stars because I’m still thinking about it - but won’t be for much longer.
It gets 3 stars because I’m still thinking about it - but won’t be for much longer.
April 11, 2012
From publisher for review
Read 4/4/12 - 4/8/12
4 Stars - Strongly Recommended to fans of whimsical writing with slightly unnerving, twisting tension
Pgs: 209
Publisher: Two Dollar Radio
Release Date: May 2012
I was first made aware of Anne-Marie Kinney's debut novel Radio Iris when Two Dollar Radio submitted it back in December as their Indie Book Buzz feature. It sounded absolutely amazing and I was desperate to get my hands on it.
I mean, a book about a socially awkward receptionist working for a company where her co-workers begin to disappear and her boss grows increasingly odd and secretive... yes please!
To most of us, it's a job like any other. Sitting behind the desk, answering the phone, typing up your boss's emails on the company letterhead, making the coffee-runs, smiling till your cheeks hurt as people you barely know putz around the office making copies and sending faxes. It certainly seems all status quo. Until you hear how Iris landed the job. Until you start to realize that she has no clue what Larmax, Inc. actually is, or does. Until you begin to notice how the once bustling office is slowly becoming devoid of employees. Until you look around and wonder, what the hell kind of place is this?
Iris, our 20-something year old receptionist, is plagued with a lack of inquisitiveness. She seems happy to show up to work, do what she's always done, and collect her paycheck even when things are changing around her. As the offices go empty and her nameless colleagues seem to fall off the face of the earth, she doesn't bat an eye. When her boss demands that she immediately run strange errands and then, upon her return, has disappeared for days without word, she shrugs her shoulders and etches cryptic messages in black sharpie on walls, furniture, and anything else she happens across. Left to her own devices, she begins arriving at work earlier and earlier and starts spying on the hermit-like man who appears to be living in the adjoining suite. Iris wears her awkward, clumsy personality around herself like a coat, burrowing in deep, comfortable in her uncomfortable nature. She has this unnerving, uncanny way of making the strange seem simply mundane. And that's the trick to the story. That's what makes Radio Iris work.
In my opinion, Anne-Marie Kinney is like a magician. She sets up the stage, positioning her key players and all of her props just so. We the readers, her captive audience, have one job - to sit back and enjoy the show. We see only what Kinney deigns to show Iris. We know only what she allows Iris to know. And as we passively sit there, knowing there is more to it than what meets the eye, knowing that Iris must know it too, we are powerless to act as Kinney slowly, magically shifts and twists our perspectives. Our attention completely on Iris, we follow her as she moves across the stage, from prop to prop, distracted by her while Kinney rearranges portions of the stage unobserved by us, realigning each prop after Iris moves on, setting the stage for her next big reveal.
Sometimes the changes in the story line are subtle and they unnerve us because we can't quite put our finger on it. Other times, we appear to catch on to it before Iris does, and we have to stop ourselves from jumping into the pages and pointing it out to her, to stop from asking her "why aren't you reacting to this!" If you are patient, though, you will come to a point in which none of that will seem to matter much anymore.
I wish I could say that everything gets cleared up by the end of the book, that the feeling of unease we experienced as we were pulled through the story is finally put to rest. But I can't. And again, that's part of what makes Radio Iris work. Can you trust in Kinney long enough to see if it works for you?
Visit my blog for the link to read an excerpt - http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.c...
Read 4/4/12 - 4/8/12
4 Stars - Strongly Recommended to fans of whimsical writing with slightly unnerving, twisting tension
Pgs: 209
Publisher: Two Dollar Radio
Release Date: May 2012
I was first made aware of Anne-Marie Kinney's debut novel Radio Iris when Two Dollar Radio submitted it back in December as their Indie Book Buzz feature. It sounded absolutely amazing and I was desperate to get my hands on it.
I mean, a book about a socially awkward receptionist working for a company where her co-workers begin to disappear and her boss grows increasingly odd and secretive... yes please!
To most of us, it's a job like any other. Sitting behind the desk, answering the phone, typing up your boss's emails on the company letterhead, making the coffee-runs, smiling till your cheeks hurt as people you barely know putz around the office making copies and sending faxes. It certainly seems all status quo. Until you hear how Iris landed the job. Until you start to realize that she has no clue what Larmax, Inc. actually is, or does. Until you begin to notice how the once bustling office is slowly becoming devoid of employees. Until you look around and wonder, what the hell kind of place is this?
Iris, our 20-something year old receptionist, is plagued with a lack of inquisitiveness. She seems happy to show up to work, do what she's always done, and collect her paycheck even when things are changing around her. As the offices go empty and her nameless colleagues seem to fall off the face of the earth, she doesn't bat an eye. When her boss demands that she immediately run strange errands and then, upon her return, has disappeared for days without word, she shrugs her shoulders and etches cryptic messages in black sharpie on walls, furniture, and anything else she happens across. Left to her own devices, she begins arriving at work earlier and earlier and starts spying on the hermit-like man who appears to be living in the adjoining suite. Iris wears her awkward, clumsy personality around herself like a coat, burrowing in deep, comfortable in her uncomfortable nature. She has this unnerving, uncanny way of making the strange seem simply mundane. And that's the trick to the story. That's what makes Radio Iris work.
In my opinion, Anne-Marie Kinney is like a magician. She sets up the stage, positioning her key players and all of her props just so. We the readers, her captive audience, have one job - to sit back and enjoy the show. We see only what Kinney deigns to show Iris. We know only what she allows Iris to know. And as we passively sit there, knowing there is more to it than what meets the eye, knowing that Iris must know it too, we are powerless to act as Kinney slowly, magically shifts and twists our perspectives. Our attention completely on Iris, we follow her as she moves across the stage, from prop to prop, distracted by her while Kinney rearranges portions of the stage unobserved by us, realigning each prop after Iris moves on, setting the stage for her next big reveal.
Sometimes the changes in the story line are subtle and they unnerve us because we can't quite put our finger on it. Other times, we appear to catch on to it before Iris does, and we have to stop ourselves from jumping into the pages and pointing it out to her, to stop from asking her "why aren't you reacting to this!" If you are patient, though, you will come to a point in which none of that will seem to matter much anymore.
I wish I could say that everything gets cleared up by the end of the book, that the feeling of unease we experienced as we were pulled through the story is finally put to rest. But I can't. And again, that's part of what makes Radio Iris work. Can you trust in Kinney long enough to see if it works for you?
Visit my blog for the link to read an excerpt - http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.c...
August 13, 2012
A novel that, with quiet assurance, estranges us from many of the rules and expectations that have come to define the form. There's something Bartelby-like about the titular heroine -- her loneliness, her relationship to both vocation and workplace -- but the nausea (Sartre, not Exene) that suffuses the book is both completely original and rather beautiful.
October 9, 2012
It wasn't great. Had some moments, but for the most part I felt outside of the story. I think that feeling of alienation was intentional, but it works against a reader's involvement. Also, it just wan't original enough to pull off some of the noirish attempts at style. It felt like someone's idea of a book rather than the thing itself.
July 6, 2018
What is ostensibly another slow-moving novel about working a normal job is actually an incredibly unique, moving, funny, surreal illustration of office life. It's achingly relatable but also weird and distressing. It's one of the best books I've read this year.
August 22, 2012
oooooooooooooo ........... don't know the last time i read a book where i waited for the entire book for it to get "better". this book was nonsensical and depressing. don't bother.
September 28, 2012
I can honestly say that I feel dumber after reading this book. Don't waste the time and effort it might take you to turn the page.
September 28, 2012
I will never get the time back that I wasted reading this book!!! Still have no clue what it was about, totally weird and pointless!!!
March 24, 2013
Ugh. My nightmare is that if I wrote a book this is what would come out. Self-indulgent, navel gazey nonsense. Ugh, Oy, Ugh. Horrible.
Read
August 21, 2013I did not finish this book. I read about 1/3 of it and got tired of the chapters ending in half finished thought.
I don't get it.
I don't get it.
August 25, 2014
moody does not a novel make.
August 31, 2016
The author is adept at creating a mood, but ultimately seems to lose her way. Strange.
Read
November 6, 2018Gave up 33 pages in.
Read
March 29, 2025Yet another "what the h311 did I just read?" (Perhaps I should make a shelf for that...)
I don't know how to rate this book; it defies the Goodreads five-star system. I will second the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's "'The Office' as scripted by Kafka." It reminds me of jobs I've had, not for larger corporations but for sole practitioners. It is also brings back a lot of memories of The Great Recession, particularly the one with all of the people standing in line for the job interview.
I would recommend it to anyone who lived through these kinds of jobs at that time themselves.
Also, it reminded me of Ariel Courage's Bad Nature. (Although I read Bad Nature before I read Radio Iris, Radio Iris was published first. I wonder if Ariel Courage was influenced by Radio Iris?
I don't know how to rate this book; it defies the Goodreads five-star system. I will second the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's "'The Office' as scripted by Kafka." It reminds me of jobs I've had, not for larger corporations but for sole practitioners. It is also brings back a lot of memories of The Great Recession, particularly the one with all of the people standing in line for the job interview.
I would recommend it to anyone who lived through these kinds of jobs at that time themselves.
Also, it reminded me of Ariel Courage's Bad Nature. (Although I read Bad Nature before I read Radio Iris, Radio Iris was published first. I wonder if Ariel Courage was influenced by Radio Iris?
July 1, 2021
Maybe I just didn’t get it. This novel left me feeling how short stories make me feel, unfinished and bothered.
Iris Finch works as a receptionist in an office where business is conducted, she doesn't know what business or how. Her boss's already erratic behavior is getting even more bizarre and erratic. And her coworkers seem to be disappearing with no explanation. While this leaves Iris with less to do, a new distraction appears. A man seems to be living in the suite next door, like sleeping there. It’s strange.
I didn’t see this in the blurb of the book, nor any reviews, but I spent most of the book thinking we were going to find out Iris was on the autism spectrum. Because of the way she speaks and how she sometimes struggles to understand what is happening. I have read a couple of books with autistic characters and this seemed similar. She is often detached from the world or maybe this is a book about loneliness????
I listened to this on audio, and didn’t find myself laughing until telling my mom about it later. For all of it’s awkwardness it did have some pretty funny moments, Iris while often zoned out can be clever. And the book attempts to start to go into who she is and why, but I feel like it ended before we got there. The end was not satisfying at all. I don’t regret picking this up, but it was just ok for me.
Iris Finch works as a receptionist in an office where business is conducted, she doesn't know what business or how. Her boss's already erratic behavior is getting even more bizarre and erratic. And her coworkers seem to be disappearing with no explanation. While this leaves Iris with less to do, a new distraction appears. A man seems to be living in the suite next door, like sleeping there. It’s strange.
I didn’t see this in the blurb of the book, nor any reviews, but I spent most of the book thinking we were going to find out Iris was on the autism spectrum. Because of the way she speaks and how she sometimes struggles to understand what is happening. I have read a couple of books with autistic characters and this seemed similar. She is often detached from the world or maybe this is a book about loneliness????
I listened to this on audio, and didn’t find myself laughing until telling my mom about it later. For all of it’s awkwardness it did have some pretty funny moments, Iris while often zoned out can be clever. And the book attempts to start to go into who she is and why, but I feel like it ended before we got there. The end was not satisfying at all. I don’t regret picking this up, but it was just ok for me.
February 24, 2018
I really wanted to love this book. I received a copy as a gift from dear friends whom I consider to be deep thinkers. Apparently, I’m not deep enough. I kept reading, kept wondering, kept hoping that the loose ends, the vague allusions to some horrendous family event during the protagonist’s childhood would reveal something or lend credence to why I was reading about Iris, and why her brother mysteriously intersects her life with neither tension or with shared understanding. Why was he even in the book?
The writing was good. Anne-Marie Kinney turns her phrases with magic. She also builds enough tension into the narrative to keep a reader turning the pages. But without a resolution to the tension, I read the last sentence and sighed with ennui.
Yeah, I get it. On every corner, in every office complex, in every home people trudge through boring, meaningless lives. And yes, the corporate world is a tenuous proposition in which no one is immune from a pink slip. I didn’t need this book to point out those facts to me.
And BTW, a piano has three legs, not four and I’m pretty sure a grand piano does not exist whose three legs aren’t detachable to facilitate moving the unwieldy instrument.
The writing was good. Anne-Marie Kinney turns her phrases with magic. She also builds enough tension into the narrative to keep a reader turning the pages. But without a resolution to the tension, I read the last sentence and sighed with ennui.
Yeah, I get it. On every corner, in every office complex, in every home people trudge through boring, meaningless lives. And yes, the corporate world is a tenuous proposition in which no one is immune from a pink slip. I didn’t need this book to point out those facts to me.
And BTW, a piano has three legs, not four and I’m pretty sure a grand piano does not exist whose three legs aren’t detachable to facilitate moving the unwieldy instrument.
November 21, 2021
A enjoyable surreal novel with no discernable plot or explicit meaning. It can pull you into the feeling of ennui that attends the modern precarity and alienation of bullshit jobs. Sadly the characters or weirdness are never explored in any deep explicit explanation but like a dream or life you can make up whatever meaning you want. Don't expect anything to make sense and just enjoy the ambient mood of existential dread. It does remind me of Kafka novels which never actually go anywhere or have any resolution but it is written with captivating prose. Just don't read it expecting a traditional novel experience.
January 4, 2024
An ambient stream of consciousness that set out to do what it ultimately did. You form a connection with Iris if you are into this kind of “living in someone else’s mind” genre. Iris is dedicated to seemingly mindless tasks with a total disinterest in asking questions about the obviously strange things going on around her. However, she is determined to ask questions about a mystery man in 2b that she is potentially unjustified in obsessing over. I liked it. Not entirely sure why there was a parallel plot with her brother, Neil. The ending was fast.
Overall, I took this as a more earthly and artistic “A New Me” by Halle whatever her last name is.
Overall, I took this as a more earthly and artistic “A New Me” by Halle whatever her last name is.
February 9, 2022
So this book was about boredom, emptiness, and being completely alone. However, I was pretty much captivated for every sentence. This book has a mystery and ambiance that I’ve never experienced before. I purposefully read it slowly and fully immersed myself in it.
The story doesn’t really make any sense and the ending is either such a complicated allegory that I don’t understand it or it also is meant to not make any sense.
Overall- very unique book that put me in a very interesting head space for the couple weeks I was reading it.
The story doesn’t really make any sense and the ending is either such a complicated allegory that I don’t understand it or it also is meant to not make any sense.
Overall- very unique book that put me in a very interesting head space for the couple weeks I was reading it.
August 26, 2017
I wanted to "really like" this book and for it to be more than what it was, sort of like Iris, the main character. Iris is a loner, only 24, and prone to "zone out". Perhaps that should have given me fair warning how this book might end. At first, it seemed I was in for a novella(?) with a little DeLillo-style of everyday life with some quirky characters. But no. Well written, as far as setting a tone or mood, but seemed to stall a bit before the sudden Kafkaesque, yet unsatisfying, finish.
May 9, 2018
This is a strange yet thoroughly entertaining book. Iris is a disconnected dreamer, floating between her work and social life, when she discovers a mysterious man across the hall in her office building. She begins to follow and observe him, trying to communicate and find answers, yet not quite knowing how. This novel is part working girl / part fever dream, and I couldn't put it down.
May 11, 2018
Easy to follow, but I just couldn't get out of the book what I had anticipated. Lately, I have been interested in speculative fiction meets office politics, to make sense of what I understand about the day-to-day grind, but Radio Iris fell short for me. I kept waiting for lift-off, yet I was seemingly stuck in the beginning chapters.
May 28, 2018
I picked this up from a "weird books" display at the library, and immediately found myself entranced, and perpetually, curious and almost in the clouds looking down at Iris, Neil, and the casual and weird, weird and casual thought processes and paths in this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews