A gripping and incisive psychological drama from the internationally bestselling author of DallerGut Dream Department Store.
Eight unsuspecting people receive an invitation to participate in a mysterious new reality show called Break Room. But what starts as an opportunity to find fame is quickly revealed to be something far more unsettling when they learn how they were chosen - they were voted in by their own co-workers as the people they'd least like to share a break room with.
But there's another twist. Among them is an imposter - a mole planted by the show's producers and the only way to win the prize money is to uncover the saboteur before time runs out.
Labelled as 'villains', the participants are left to grapple with the incredibly alarming realisation that their actions might be perceived differently by others and one moment of kindness might see them branded as the office creep. As alliances shift and paranoia festers, each contestant comes to realise surviving the show isn't the greatest challenge . . . it's facing up to who they are.
Welcome . . . Step into the world of the reality show, Break Room, where every smile hides suspicion, and every word could be a clue.
Miye Lee (Korean name: 이미예, Lee Mi-ye) was born in Busan in 1990. After graduating from the Busan National University School of Materials Science and Engineering, she worked as a semiconductor engineer at Samsung Electronics. Her debut novel Dollagoot Dream Department Store—published through crowdfunding in 2020—has drawn enthusiastic responses and favorable reviews.
✨"Just once, I wanted to be seen as something other than 'the weird one.'"✨
This book really made me pause for a lot of self-introspection - wondering how my own actions have made others uncomfortable or created distance. It's one of those reads that pushes you to think and question your behaviours.🤔
Break Room is set up like a reality TV show in the vein of the Traitors and the Mole. Eight contestants (ordinary office workers) are invited to participate & uncover the mole planted among them by the producers. And only after entering the show premises do they learn the brutal truth that they were all voted off by their coworkers as the least likely person anyone wanted to share the break room with. What follows is part mystery, part social experiment - contestants searching for the mole while also grappling with why their coworkers despised them enough to cast that vote.
While the premise mirrors reality shows like the Traitors & the Mole, the format and rules feel closer to the Mafia game (often seen in Korean variety shows) and Among Us. Instead of team challenges, participants carry out solo tasks to collect clues on each other. And the irony of them going to such extreme lengths to dig up those clues - considering their actions are the very reason they're there in the first place, hit hard.
And I wouldn't call this a fun read, no matter how dramatic their actions are😅. It's more of a thought-provoking journey that makes you reflect deeply on how others perceive you.
The characters in the book are not addressed by their real names but by nicknames tied to the very quirks or annoyances that got them shunned in the break room. For example, we have a character who unplugs the microwave to charge their wireless headphones, he is called "Headphones", and our main character is "Ice Cube" and he's hated by his coworkers for filling the ice tray with cola & coffee, and so on. The fact that they have to keep using these embarrassing names in a reality show, and being reduced to just those behaviours would definitely make one furious, but it provides our main character with the vigour to keep participating in the show & win.
The translated author's note says, "Break Room is about those people who have never experienced what it means to be genuinely understood, and who make little effort to understand others."
That's the core of the novel. It leans more into introspection than competition, especially when it comes to our main character. He begins by doing outrageous things to gather clues, but gradually changes as he confronts why people dislike him and how he's perceived. And I think that's exactly the author's intention - to remind us that judging someone by the tiniest fragments of their behaviour isn't fair, and that it's deeply hurtful as well.
"Hating someone is easy, but making an effort to understand them is hard."
Overall, Break Room is an eye-opening, thought-provoking short read that'll make you reflect on yourself, your environment, and the way we perceive others. Highly recommend if you want a book that lingers long after the last page.
Huge thanks to Hachette India for the gifted copy, in exchange for my honest opinion.
✨Pre-read - This sounds perfect for a reality TV show addict like me😍 and I cannot believe Hachette accepted my request & sent my first publisher bookmail, so here we go!!!
1. The genre labeling is misleading, this is the third Korean book I’ve read with this problem. Do Koreans not know what a mystery thriller is, or do I?
2. It’s overpriced for 144 pages.
3. Still, it’s a fun, quick read with an interesting concept that genuinely makes you pause and reflect on your life choices.
"Hating someone is easy, making an effort to understand them is hard." This was a very fun, quick read. It almost felt too short though, I would have easily consumed 200 more pages of this
this one made me think about a lot of things…. and idk if i liked that LOL i liked the book a lot but it put a lot of things into perspective for me. if you hate being perceived consider this a warning. i would genuinely hate nothing more than to be a contestant on this show. not only would i know how negatively i was perceived by my coworkers, but then continue to allow millions of other people to know about that and perceive me in a similar way…. i couldn’t. i really couldn’t. i genuinely hate being perceived and doing that show would be like a personal hell for me. the whole time i would be freaking out and thinking about everything i’ve done up to that point that would make more than one person nominate me…… no thank you.
on the outside, the game seems to be somewhat lighthearted about them finding the mole who would be considered “the normal one.” it’s all fun in games until he (and i) realized it wasn’t just a game. i felt so bad for him because he genuinely thought he was doing something nice for his coworkers but instead they found it strange and were uncomfortable. he’d thought that would be something positive about him and not something negative. monologue coincidentally had the most thought-provoking dialogue ….. i actually had to turn off my phone. but seeing everyone's mindset change throughout the game was so disheartening to see..
My desire to uncover hints about myself was greater than my desire to identify the mole.
Break Room is Sandy Joosun Lee's translation of 탕비실 by 이미예 (Lee Mi-Ye), the author best known (infamous?) for the Dallergut Department Store novels.
It should be said upfront that this, in contrast to the combined 500 pages of Dallergut, is a very short work - even shorter than the 140 page Kindle count would imply, since, in addition to welcome author's and translator's notes, there is bizarrely a 40 page extract from the start of the first Dallergut book - leaving this novel to stretch to just 83 pages.
The novel is based around a reality-game show, as a mocked-up Wikipedia page tells us:
Break Room (Korean: 탕비실) is a South Korean reality competition TV series on QBS created by producer Lee Il- Kwon. The first season aired every Friday from 10 February to 17 March 2023.
Lee Il- Kwon has been engrossed in documentaries since his youth. He thinks they serve two essential roles. One is to reveal the raw, unvarnished faces of human nature that stand in stark contrast to how society wishes to present itself. The other is to expose the truths around us that are often deemed too trivial or uncomfortable to acknowledge. His role model is John Grierson, a Scottish documentary director renowned for the latter approach.
Break Room was originally a hidden-camera documentary, filming the activities of office denizens in the communal kitchen and rest area but was cancelled when one particular office worker, who was pilfering instant coffee sachets, became virally infamous. So Lee Il-Kwon changed it to a reality series where those involved were aware they were participating, mocking up a copy of each person's office-cubicle for them in a private room (with attached bedroom) so they could carry on their job, but sharing a break room with the other contestants.
Those invited to participate believe they have been nominated by their co-workers at their respective workplaces as 'the most typical office workers', but discover on the day before filming begins that they have, in fact, been nominated for having the most annoying habits, each given a nickname for the show:
Who is the worst office villain? A villain who fills the communal Ice Cube tray with cola and coffee? A villain who owns two dozen Tumblers as a self- proclaimed environmentalist, but leaves them unwashed in the shared sink? A villain who piles used Paper Cups by the water purifier instead of throwing them away? A villain who hoards the most popular brand’s Coffee Mix sticks at their desk? A villain who unplugs the microwave to charge their wireless Headphones? A villain who loves to regularly deliver a Monologue in the break room? A villain who clutters the shared fridge with Cake Boxes they never take home? A villain who Gargles thunderously in the communal sink every morning? Now imagine sharing a break room with them.
누가 가장 싫습니까? 공용 얼음 틀에 콜라 얼음, 커피 얼음을 얼려넣는 사람. 20여 개의 텀블러 보유, 공용 싱크대에 안 씻은 텀블러를 늘어놓는 자칭 환경 운동가. 정수기 옆에 사용한 종이컵을 버리지 않고 쌓아두는 사람. 인기 많은 커피믹스를 잔뜩 집어다 자기 자리에 모아두는 사람. 공용 전자레인지의 코드를 뽑고 무선 헤드셋을 충전하는 사람. 탕비실에서 중얼중얼 혼잣말하는 사람. 공용 냉장고에 케이크 박스를 몇 개씩 꽉꽉 넣어두고 집에 가져가지 않는 사람. 공용 싱크대에서 아침마다 벼락같은 소리를 내면서 가글하는 사람. 이들과 함께 탕비실을 쓴다고 상상해 보십시오.
Coffee Mix is the returning woman from the documentart series, and Ice-Cube our male narrator. Only five of the 8 choose to take part in the show - Coffee Mix and Ice Cube joined by Tumbler (*), Monologue and Cake.
(* the use of Tumbler for a re-usable travel mug rather bemused me - and is I assume an Americanism)
The game itself is a simple variation on the Mafia/Werewolf theme as also used in shows like The Traitors as is explained to the contestants:
‘Now, let me walk you through the game rules. Among the eight of you, one person has been planted by the producers. We will refer to this person as “the mole”. We will provide you with certain information about each of the participants, but all information about the mole will be fabricated. Over the next few days, your job is to identify the mole by observing each other, using the information we provide and comparing your findings. In other words, you’re going to need hints in order to find the mole. On top of that, everyone except the mole will have to play a mind game to try and confuse the others. Remember, you are competing against each other. The fewer winners there are, the higher the prize money! But if none of you identifies the mole at the end of the week, the mole will end up receiving double the prize.’
“그럼 게임 설명을 드리도록 할게요. 이 중 단 한 명은 방송에 의해서 의도적으로 만들어진 캐릭터입니다. 간단히 ‘술래’라고 칭하도록 하겠습니다. 앞으로 제공될 정보 중, 술래에 관한 것은 모두 지어낸 사항들이에요. 여러분은 서로를 일주일 동안 관찰하고 주어지는 힌트와 대조해 누가 술래인지 알아내셔야 한답니다. 그러니까 술래를 찾기 위해서는 힌트가 필요하겠죠? 단, 술래를 제외한 모두는 서로를 교란하셔야 해요. 정답자의 수가 적을수록 상금이 커지니까요! 그리고 만약 술래를 맞춘 사람이 없으면 술래는 두 배의 상금을 가져가게 돼요.”
Breaking the rules (i.e. thinking of new ways to violate office etiquette) earns each contestant hints about another contestant, which comes in the form of recordings of revelations about their behaviour from their colleagues. But two hints cards buys you a hint about yourself, and for Ice Cube at least, this proves to be more revealing as he understands how what he sees as friendly behaviour is viewed as creepy by those on the receiving end.
Meanwhile the game itself is rather an anti-climax - indeed even Ice Cube admits that the reveal of the actual mole at the show's end is underwhelming and there aren't really any clues for contestants or reader (although, more by chance, I did guess correctly). It's hard not to think the author could have worked harder at this given the pages of newspaper coverage Traitors seems to generate.
But it is Ice Cube's own journey that is more the focus, as the author herself explains in her (translated) foreword: "Break Room is about those people who have never experienced what it means to be genuinely understood, and who make little effort to understand others."
A rather too-quick read, and I can't help but feel this doesn't really justify a £15 hardback / £8.50 Kindle price when it is so lacking in substance and page count.
8 unsuspecting people are invited to take part a new reality tv show called Break Room. They are startled when they learn why they were chosen, they were voted in by their colleagues as the person they’d least like to share a break room with. But one of them is a mole planted by the producers and the contestants must collect hints to discover who the mole is before time runs out. Labelled as villains, the contestants slowly grapple with the realisation that their random acts of kindness might be perceived differently by others. Surviving the show might not be their greatest challenge, it might be facing up to who they are.
I loved this book, I was very keen to read it as I loved the other books this author has wrote but this one surpassed those as it was brilliant. Our protagonist is one of the contestants on the reality tv show and it was heart breaking as he realises why he is there and what his coworkers think of him, people can be so cruel can’t they? The premise of this book was really unique and it was well written, all the characters were nicely fleshed out. I read this book in one sitting as like the contestants I wanted to find out who the mole was, I didn’t have a clue who it was but the reveal at the end wasn’t disappointing as it made sense. My favourite characters are Monologue and Icecube as these two are genuinely decent nice people who are misunderstood by other people and you can’t help but feel for them. Would I recommend this book? Without a doubt, I would highly recommend it to anyone, it’s an easy 5 stars from me.
Me grabbing all the dopamines from this book: Have you ever been disgusted by the villainous behaviours of the people around you? Then I've got good news for you. This book is all about everyday villainy, and it's also short and sweet. Break Room was very different from anything I've read before, and as someone who reads a fair bit, I'm saying that as a compliment! It was a quick and engaging reading experience that combined the mundane (office workers in a break room) and the bizarre (it's not actually a break room -- it's a reality show set, and one of them is a mole). The main character was an intriguing unreliable narrator, that I feel like some people would hate and some others would feel empathy for (I was somewhat mixed about him, but I definitely liked him as a character). All in all, a fantastic experience! Would recommend to anyone who's feeling like they need some brainrot in book form (and, again, I'm saying this as a compliment! It's very well written and the translation is fantastic, but it being a reality show made it easy on my melty post-work brain). I'm curious to read more books by Miye Lee
Welcome to Survivor: Corporate Hell—where the coffee’s cold and your coworkers hate you 📺☕️
Miye Lee, author of the delightfully strange Dallergut Dream Department Store that I gave five stars to, is back. Instead of your dreams, this time, she’s coming for your 9-to-5 soul. Break Room, translated by Sandy Jooson Lee, is a psychological office drama wrapped in a game show, duct-taped with paranoia, and delivered straight to your anxiety-filled inbox. And I devoured it in one sitting like it was a tray of cupcakes left in the break room with no note.
The setup? A bunch of allegedly “toxic” office workers are put on a reality TV show to determine who’s the worst. Think The Office meets Among Us, but with more guilt, less HR oversight, and a healthy dose of existential dread. One of the contestants is secretly a mole, planted by the producers to sabotage the group. But here’s the real kicker: everyone was nominated by their coworkers as the “office villain.” So yes—every single person here is someone whose passive-aggressive email threads have caused at least one therapy session.
And as the story unfolds, the real game isn’t “who’s the mole?”, it’s “oh no, am I the villain?” Spoiler: Yes. Maybe. Depends on who you ask. And how much you microwave fish in a shared kitchen. This little novella punches way above its word count. It’s fast, sharp, and thought-provoking. Watching alliances form and crumble like someone brought up a missed deadline during team lunch was intense. What starts as a whodunnit turns into a who-am-I, and honestly, that’s way more terrifying.
Do I wish we got a little more character depth? Absolutely But at the same time, the brisk pace and limited backstory kind of work. We don’t get deep dives—we get snap judgments, just like in a real office. You’ll find yourself judging characters the way you judge the guy who steals your yogurt from the fridge. Harshly. And without knowing his tragic backstory.
10/10 would not emotionally outlive this game show, I am definitely a tea-slurping, egg sandwich bringing, once-heaved-into-a-bin-in-front-of-everyone type of work colleague, but would absolutely binge-watch this on television.
"I found it bizarre how they had twisted my small acts of kindness into something sinister."
If you had enjoyed The 8 Show or Squid Game, Break Room will definitely catch your eye. It starts off gripping, with contestants being watched by an audience as they perform to win at any cost. I loved the raw take on office politics and was genuinely hooked.
But honestly… the ending left me a bit disappointed. After such an exciting buildup, I expected something more dramatic or jaw-dropping. It felt a little flat to me and took away some of the spark the story had going. Still, I won’t deny that I enjoyed the ride.
Huge thanks to the publisher Headline and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange of my honest review!
I know it's a novella but god did this need more depth. nothing really happens! I wanted to be invested in the game but if was all over so quickly. the twist at the end was good (but predictable, I feel like the mc should have figured that out as soon as he got given his name for the show) and I can see what the author was trying to comment on, but it fell flat for me. The idea was definitely creative, but I needed *more* of everything.
One of the best short reads I have read this year!
Five people have been invited to take part in a reality TV show titles "Break Room", what they don't know is the casting was based off votes by their co-workers who determined who they would least like to share a break room with. The participants are baffled by the fact that they were chosen as 'villains'. However, the story takes off as they come to realise that the kindness and consideration they believed they were showing to their co-workers were perceived as deeply unsettling and unnerving.
I haven't read a book like this but I was instantly gripped. I loved the concept of this and the black mirror vibes that ran throughout this book made it a total must read. We didn't get loads of information about these character but we had enough information to form opinions and keep us guessing. There were plots throughout this book that had me guessing and I didn't actually guess the ending which I of course liked. The idea of this book was very unique but connected with the reader so well. We have all worked with people we have found to be annoying but we have all also probably done things we thought were helpful or nice and those actions have not been seen that way by others.
Break Room is a very short book under two hundred ages but totally gripping and a fun read.
more like 3,5 ⭐️ interesting read. But I thought that it would have more of the "thrilling" aspect then it had. loved the writing style and the reality TV show setting.
this was genuinely such a fun and captivating read, while i can appreciate the way miye lee captured all this in the brevity of the book, i somehow do wish it would've been longer
This book was so fucking boring. The plot had so much potential to be good, but this was just too superficially written. I did not care for anyone or anything that happened.
This novel has an interesting premise that I'm sure many adults would find relatable. Personally, I felt that it did not go far enough in terms of its commentary on interpersonal conflicts in an office setting and I was hoping for something with a little more bite, like Junko Takase's 'May You Have Delicious Meals.'
A reality TV show producer brings in people based on how disliked they are by their colleagues for their anti-social habits. It's done via a secret voting system, so the contestants themselves actually had no clue that they were so unpopular, a fact revealed to them only right before the shoot. It's kind of a dick move but makes for good TV I guess. However, one of the contestants is a mole, and whoever guesses right will get the money. The only way to get hints about the other contestants is to break the unspoken rules and commit as many anti-social acts as possible.
The protagonist is a man nicknamed 'Ice Cube' because his colleagues disliked the way he'd fill the ice trays with non-water beverages. He passes judgment quite freely on the others but is forced to confront the fact that how he views himself ('normal', helpful, considerate) is actually not how others view him. I wouldn't go so far as to say that he's a villain, possibly just a little unaware, and honestly I think his colleagues could have given him the benefit of the doubt as well instead of being so quick to jump to unkind conclusions.
Absolutely awful. No depth at all to characters or plot. About a third of the book (40 pages) is an ‘excerpt’ from the Dallergut book leaving a very very short novel. Shame as the synopsis sounded so enticing.
"It is one thing to be disliked, but being branded as unlikable without knowing the reason is its own kind of hell."
You think you’re lucky to be specially invited to join a reality program. But little do you know that your own co-workers actually chose you as the person they’d least like to share a break room with. Just imagine how that feels when the truth finally comes out.
The concept of the mafia in this book is exciting, and it makes the program both competitive and stressful because you’re constantly trying to figure out people’s behaviors and identify who the “mole” is. You continue to observe and question everyone’s actions, wondering why they behave in that way.
When the characters break the rules and get hints, it somehow reminds me of I Can See Your Voice, where someone can act so convincingly that you believe it’s real. Breaking a rule here means doing something unfavorable, and it makes me think: how far would people go to get what they want?
It’s also intriguing how people can have so many assumptions about us just from what they see on the outside, without knowing our real story. People can judge at any time, anywhere, for no reason at all.
The narrator, Ice Cube, is someone I genuinely look forward to knowing more about. As an office worker myself, I never thought something as ordinary and mundane as a break room could be turned into such a gripping story. I really admire the author’s creativity for coming up with this idea. Although the ending felt a bit abrupt, and I wished for more, I still loved the life lessons it conveyed the most.
I highly recommend this book, especially if you’re looking for a short yet gripping read. It’s the perfect story to enjoy in one sitting and a great pick to end the year with, especially when you’re feeling motivated to complete your reading goal :)
Break Room by Miye Lee is a week-long reality show where a game of mafia delves deeper into a person’s habits that lingers between right or wrong. This story has a deep underlying tones which will make you second guess certain things that are quite conventional.
Taking the concept of a game of mafia and pairing it with normal office workers with strange habits is really something else. I have to give it to the author for once again taking something that is ordinary and giving it a fresh new perspective. This story is so interesting that I read it in one sitting.
The only thing that is my concern is that this book is too short and the very last chapter felt really rushed. I feel that if the story is slightly longer to further elongate the story in detail, that would make it so much better.
Had much higher expectations for this book after reading the blurb…so the ending was kind of a letdown. Glad I didnt buy it and borrowed from the library instead because it doesnt seem worth paying $30 for such a short book… Though the concept of hating somebody when you dont truly know them is thought-provoking, so it’s worth a read!
3.85🌟This was unlike anything I’ve ever read. A unique, thought provoking, and fast-paced novel! I definitely enjoyed it and the lessons it was bringing through an interesting plot.
Contestants are thrown into a reality-TV style competition after being unknowingly selected as the “break room villains” of their workplaces. Hidden among them is one mole—someone who’s actually well-liked at their job but is pretending to be disliked to win.
Throughout the game, players receive “hints” that they can either use to help with exposing the mole or listen to audio clips revealing what their own coworkers supposedly say about them back home. To earn hints, contestants are dropped into a freshly redesigned break room and must figure out which “unspoken rules” to break—anything from stealing someone’s leftovers to flipping the lights off while people are still inside—in order to trigger the system and unlock a clue.
This concept had potential to thrive—especially with messy American contestants who would turn this into a House of Villains or Bravo-level disaster. But something about the execution felt muted??? I’m not sure if it’s cultural differences or just the framing, but a lot of the so-called “villainous” behaviors from the Korean cast read as… pretty tame compared to the actual unhinged break-room monsters I’ve met in American workplaces.
I will say that the book did spark genuinely interesting conversations —especially around how a show like this would play out in real life. It made me think about how easy it is for the “Mean Girls” office cliques to brand someone as the villain when, in reality, they’re probably just neurodivergent or socially awkward, or simply someone the group dislikes for petty reasons. And the psychological fallout? Brutal. The teasing and mislabeling alone would wreck people. Honestly, the main character felt incredibly sweet (and was likely on the spectrum) - just a smidge awkward with his observations, and I appreciated that the story didn’t mock him for it.
I loved how the hints were delivered—those item tags and audio clips were the most creative and engaging part of the book. However, the story was very predictable (I guessed the mole by chapter three), and overall, the execution didn’t live up to the strength of the concept.
Cool idea, solid discussions, but the impact was softer than I wanted.
I read this book solely because of the cover. It's so stunning; I wish I owned a physical copy. The concept of the story was very interesting. It reminds me of Jubiee's odd one out videos on YouTube. I liked the writing too, but it felt rushed at the end. I wanted more character study.
Quotes: • A break room is a place of rest, but not one where you can stay forever. There are things I need and can use there, but none of them truly belong to me. It’s a place for me, except not just for me. In that sense, it’s a microcosm of the world we live in, sharing with others.
• Break Room is about those people who have never experienced what it means to be genuinely understood, and who make little effort to understand others.
• Never in my life had I tried to genuinely understand someone I despised. Never. Hating someone is easy, but making an effort to understand them is hard.
• Once you’ve lost too many points, no amount of extra points will ever help you catch up.
Easily one of the best fiction I've read this year. The translator, Sandy Joosun Lee, did a fantastic job. I read this book with creepling cautiousness because of the nature of Ice Cube's personality. To be honest, and this is a bit of TMI, I found a bit of myself in Ice Cube. He likes to observe others, and doing that, his actions are being interpreted differently by others. Of which, kinda remind me of myself: overly cautious when I observe others and interpreted my 'observations' into my own voices or opinions about others, and it went back into self-fullfing prophecy about me having to be 'likable' by everybody.
I kind of agree with one review I saw here (re: Goodreads) when I was struggling with the pace of this book at 30 percent, that this book gives you anxiety of being perceived. To me, that one particular thing is the best part of this book. The author managed to capture the corporates life and its employees' nature and turning it into something 'special' (I lacked the better word of it, I apologize) about office-work in this book. I think this book is briliant!
The pace of this book is perfect for me. I think, the book itself is more character-driven rather than plot-driven. You could *feel* Ice Cubes character drove the storyline to its final clue. The ending was a teensy bit of underwhelming for my taste, but honestly, that doesn't really matter because the build up is so good!
At the end of this book, I found myself wanting to read the author's debut book: The Dallergut Convenience Store. I noticed it was translated into my mother language, as well. This is probably my starting point to search for more Lee Miye's and Sandy Joosun Lee's work in the future because this one really captures my satisfied box in me (get it? Laughter box? Spongebob? hehe)
Last but not least, thank you to Netgalley and Headline | Wildfire for the ARC!
Break Room is a novella about a group of people who go on a game show about office drama, and learn maybe more than they'd want about what it means to be perceived by others. A group of people are selected to take part in a new game show, with the twist that they've all been nominated by others in their respective offices for having the worst habits in the break room. The game is simple: they work as usual, using the break room as needed, but one person is a mole, planted by the show, and their job is to try and work out who it is.
The novel is told from the perspective of one of the participants, Ice Cube, and it is fascinating to watch how his mindset changes throughout the show's time and the kinds of paranoia he has. In particular, his discovery of what other people think about his break room habits is powerful and a bit heartbreaking, really highlighting how people have such different ideas about actions they take or others take. As the book is a novella, it is really only a glimpse into what happens and I imagine some people will be frustrated to not be able to delve deeper, but it is a gripping story that says a lot about people's behaviour and psychology.
3 1/2 stars. First off, this isn’t really a book, it’s a short novella of 144 pages. The print is big and there are blank pages between the chapters with illustrations, so it’s not really even that long. There is also a very generous preview of a previous novel tacked onto the end which makes the book look a lot longer. The story is pretty slight being about office workers filming a game show. All of them have been chosen by their colleagues because they do something irritating at work. The crimes are pretty innocuous. One hoards coffee sticks, one leaves a cake box in the fridge at all times, our main protagonist fills the ice cube tray up with cola. This could be a take that’s not really intended, but I read this as frustration at work life balance. You spend more time with people at work than those you want to be with. Of course petty gripes and resentment creep in. The real harm is when the murmurs get back to the person. Suddenly they are aware they are odd and creepy. The horror of hearing all those things about yourself.
Miye Leen aikaisemmat Dallergut-romaanit olivat kepeää healing fiction fantasiaa. Break Roomissa teemana on puolestaan kilpailullinen tosi-tv aiheenaan työntekijät kahvihuoneessa. Ohjelmaan osallistujat on äänestetty työpaikkojensa ikävimmiksi kahvihuonetutuiksi ja heidän tehtävänään on löytää osallistujien joukosta soluttautuja, jonka henkilöllisyyden arvaaja voittaa rahaa. Päähenkilö Ice Cube imeytyy mukaan peliin innoissaan, mutta suru puserossa - miksi työkaverit ovat äänestäneet hänet huonoimmaksi kahvihuoneseuraksi?
Romaanin teemana on mielestäni erilaisuuden ymmärtäminen sekä oma ja toisten käytös. Miten ihmisten toimintaa voidaan tulkita niin monella eri tavalla? Tärkeästä teemasta huolimatta kirja oli pinnallinen, henkilöhahmot omaan makuuni yksiulotteisia ja soluttautujan paljastuminen lähes antiklimaattinen hetki. Nopealukuisuudesta plussaa, tosin kirja koostuu oudosti romaanin lisäksi myös parinkymmenen sivun Dallergut-esittelytekstistä. Suosittelen tätä kevyen jännityksen ystäville sekä niille, joita ärsyttää joidenkin henkilöiden kahvihuonekäytös 😅