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Library of Brothel: A Novel
The long-anticipated, wildly inventive new novel by the Irish-Canadian writer whose previous work won the Amazon First Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Goldsmith’s Prize (UK).
“One of the most unique, most compelling voices in fiction.” Toronto Star
“Like her absurdist compatriots – Beckett, Joyce, O’Brien – Schofield’s novels are existentially confounding, syntactically wild, and buckshot with wit.” The Guardian (UK)
“Schofield’s style feels almost decadently addictive.” The New Yorker
"Do you want to come in?Come here.Come in.Stop resisting.You are on the mat now.Just step over it.And in you come."
Enter Anakana Schofield’s bedazzling a building called “Library of Brothel,” perched in a city where no one has a job, no one can find a date, and many struggle just to be housed. Rumours swirl around the crumbling structure and rapacious developers have their eyes on it. But what we find inside is a unique customers take shelter, workers love their jobs, and each room offers a new kind of intellectual stimulation. How can such a precarious place survive?
Riotous, dramatic, passionate and funny, Library of Brothel is a cri de coeur for human connection and the right to meaningful work.
“One of the most unique, most compelling voices in fiction.” Toronto Star
“Like her absurdist compatriots – Beckett, Joyce, O’Brien – Schofield’s novels are existentially confounding, syntactically wild, and buckshot with wit.” The Guardian (UK)
“Schofield’s style feels almost decadently addictive.” The New Yorker
"Do you want to come in?Come here.Come in.Stop resisting.You are on the mat now.Just step over it.And in you come."
Enter Anakana Schofield’s bedazzling a building called “Library of Brothel,” perched in a city where no one has a job, no one can find a date, and many struggle just to be housed. Rumours swirl around the crumbling structure and rapacious developers have their eyes on it. But what we find inside is a unique customers take shelter, workers love their jobs, and each room offers a new kind of intellectual stimulation. How can such a precarious place survive?
Riotous, dramatic, passionate and funny, Library of Brothel is a cri de coeur for human connection and the right to meaningful work.
269 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 26, 2026
About the author
Anakana Schofield
6 books145 followersAnakana Schofield is an Irish-Canadian writer of fiction, essays, and literary criticism. Her second novel Martin John was shortlisted for the Giller Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize, the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and more.. Her debut novel Malarky won the 2012 Amazon.ca First Novel and the Debut Litzer Prize for Fiction in the US and was nominated for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. Malarky was selected for the highly competitive Barnes & Noble program Discover Great New Writers and named on 16 different Best Book of 2012 lists.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
3.5 Stars
Let me begin by stating that I have read two of Schofield’s previous novels (Martin John and Bina) and both of them left me highly impressed with the author’s bravery and creativity. Her latest, Library of Brothel, often left me more confused than enlightened.
The setting is a crumbling building housing a worker’s co-operative, “the only remaining analog, offline operation in Vancouver.” The Library of Brothel consists of a variety of rooms with workers who are tasked with helping people recover from the internet and “reacquainting the human with the human.” The rooms focus on exploring a specific theme but, more importantly, provide clients with “the opportunity to converse and practise interacting with another human.”
There is little in terms of a traditional plot. The workers do have conflicts with each other, but their major concern is the possibility that the library may close. Fewer clients are using their services. Developers are buying up properties all around and there is fear that their building will be next to be demolished and replaced. Workers are already struggling because of the high cost of housing; many need multiple jobs to survive.
Except for a few characters like Scrabble Woman and Security, there is little differentiation. The narrator, one of the workers presumably, states, “We are a conglomerate of eccentrics” who like “wholesome weirdness.” Characters have no names other than the themes of the rooms. And to call the themes esoteric seems almost an understatement! Some examples are History of Outrageous Political Excuses in the Last Century; Evolution and Influence of Irish Butter; History of Early Urologic Inventions: Forgotten Poets Called John; Decoding Ancient Computers and Bonding with the Antikythera Mechanism; Bayesian Analysis of Phylogenetic Trees; and Great Moments in Belly Dancing.
One theme is the value of human connection. The narrator argues that “We are necessary because humans no longer look at each other. They are ghosting in stasis. On the phones.” There is repeated reference to an “epidemic of avoidance” and the crisis of “the human retreat from the human.” The library serves to address “the great reluctance of humans to be in a room with their eyes open (and not staring at a phone) and to tolerate the prospect of each other socially, romantically, or even generally. We need to convey an urgent requirement to return to interaction or risk social extinction.” The workers want “to keep all our clients sustained intellectually while we attempt, unofficially, to reintroduce them to the concept of each other.”
There are wonderful touches of humour. There are the themes of the various rooms like Influence of the Outdoor Ukulele on Yukon Carpenters circa 1896. The library’s has no WiFi: “We remain aged cheddar to the slippy-slappy slice.” There are comments like “It’s hard to absolutely vaccinate against assholes.” And there’s the totally ridiculous: who could be shaking a fridge so violently that a jar stowed on its side would spill its contents?
And there is social commentary. The narrator comments that in Vancouver “we erase the past swifter than we can construct the present”; it’s the “microfibre cloth swipe of capital.” It’s impossible not to think of current events with statements like “Diversion is a ruse Noble Leader and other global dictators have often used” and workers being warned “not to use the word ‘socialist’ because these days it can get you deported to places you’ve never been.” The razing of neighbourhoods is bemoaned so an “established community of low-income renters and new immigrants” has made way for houses for “financially rising or arisen folks with pre-approved mortgages and an abundance of pedigree dogs and electric blinds.” People are less likely to see “volleyball playing Tamils” but more likely to see new stock in the grocery store: “adding words like organic and no cholesterol to products that had never held any cholesterol, such as a bottle of water.”
The book is written in an absurdist style. It focuses on characters trapped in absurd situations, rejects a realistic, traditional plot, and uses dark humor. This style is not my favourite so I found the book a challenging read. I know I missed much of its message. At the beginning, the reader is told that one of the library’s rules is not to anticipate anything “except intellectual stimulation” and in many ways the book does feel like an intellectual exercise, much like analyzing “The Waste Land” or “Jabberwocky.” I’m certain that if I had the time to re-read the book, I’d appreciate it more.
I recommend Library of Brothel to readers who enjoy unconventional books and love to analyze but are also able to embrace uncertainty.
See my reviews of other Anakana Schofield books.
Martin John: https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/...
Bina: https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/...
Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/).
Let me begin by stating that I have read two of Schofield’s previous novels (Martin John and Bina) and both of them left me highly impressed with the author’s bravery and creativity. Her latest, Library of Brothel, often left me more confused than enlightened.
The setting is a crumbling building housing a worker’s co-operative, “the only remaining analog, offline operation in Vancouver.” The Library of Brothel consists of a variety of rooms with workers who are tasked with helping people recover from the internet and “reacquainting the human with the human.” The rooms focus on exploring a specific theme but, more importantly, provide clients with “the opportunity to converse and practise interacting with another human.”
There is little in terms of a traditional plot. The workers do have conflicts with each other, but their major concern is the possibility that the library may close. Fewer clients are using their services. Developers are buying up properties all around and there is fear that their building will be next to be demolished and replaced. Workers are already struggling because of the high cost of housing; many need multiple jobs to survive.
Except for a few characters like Scrabble Woman and Security, there is little differentiation. The narrator, one of the workers presumably, states, “We are a conglomerate of eccentrics” who like “wholesome weirdness.” Characters have no names other than the themes of the rooms. And to call the themes esoteric seems almost an understatement! Some examples are History of Outrageous Political Excuses in the Last Century; Evolution and Influence of Irish Butter; History of Early Urologic Inventions: Forgotten Poets Called John; Decoding Ancient Computers and Bonding with the Antikythera Mechanism; Bayesian Analysis of Phylogenetic Trees; and Great Moments in Belly Dancing.
One theme is the value of human connection. The narrator argues that “We are necessary because humans no longer look at each other. They are ghosting in stasis. On the phones.” There is repeated reference to an “epidemic of avoidance” and the crisis of “the human retreat from the human.” The library serves to address “the great reluctance of humans to be in a room with their eyes open (and not staring at a phone) and to tolerate the prospect of each other socially, romantically, or even generally. We need to convey an urgent requirement to return to interaction or risk social extinction.” The workers want “to keep all our clients sustained intellectually while we attempt, unofficially, to reintroduce them to the concept of each other.”
There are wonderful touches of humour. There are the themes of the various rooms like Influence of the Outdoor Ukulele on Yukon Carpenters circa 1896. The library’s has no WiFi: “We remain aged cheddar to the slippy-slappy slice.” There are comments like “It’s hard to absolutely vaccinate against assholes.” And there’s the totally ridiculous: who could be shaking a fridge so violently that a jar stowed on its side would spill its contents?
And there is social commentary. The narrator comments that in Vancouver “we erase the past swifter than we can construct the present”; it’s the “microfibre cloth swipe of capital.” It’s impossible not to think of current events with statements like “Diversion is a ruse Noble Leader and other global dictators have often used” and workers being warned “not to use the word ‘socialist’ because these days it can get you deported to places you’ve never been.” The razing of neighbourhoods is bemoaned so an “established community of low-income renters and new immigrants” has made way for houses for “financially rising or arisen folks with pre-approved mortgages and an abundance of pedigree dogs and electric blinds.” People are less likely to see “volleyball playing Tamils” but more likely to see new stock in the grocery store: “adding words like organic and no cholesterol to products that had never held any cholesterol, such as a bottle of water.”
The book is written in an absurdist style. It focuses on characters trapped in absurd situations, rejects a realistic, traditional plot, and uses dark humor. This style is not my favourite so I found the book a challenging read. I know I missed much of its message. At the beginning, the reader is told that one of the library’s rules is not to anticipate anything “except intellectual stimulation” and in many ways the book does feel like an intellectual exercise, much like analyzing “The Waste Land” or “Jabberwocky.” I’m certain that if I had the time to re-read the book, I’d appreciate it more.
I recommend Library of Brothel to readers who enjoy unconventional books and love to analyze but are also able to embrace uncertainty.
See my reviews of other Anakana Schofield books.
Martin John: https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/...
Bina: https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/...
Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/).
June 12, 2026
We live in a world where resistance is perceived as anti-social: Library of Brothel is a microcosm of that world. The Rooms of the Library, like people of any community nowadays, are tired and afraid they will be turned out of the building any minute now. They want to stay but their petty grievances against each other and their lack of real connection (internet or otherwise) might jeopardize their future at the Library. Riotous, sometimes slapstick, and in parts so silly it counterintuitively makes the allegory insanely recognizable, Library of Brothel will remind you that every ridiculous workplace memorandum is a veiled threat and every boss you’ve had a fraud*. A delight to read for all these reasons and more. A wild ride.
*Don’t @me. Comment section has been closed on this matter.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Excerpt from my longer Substack review ( https://open.substack.com/pub/bookgee... ):
I was unprepared for Library of Brothel in the best way possible. It surprised and delighted me! It made expel a high musical laugh alone in my home many times! The wordsmithing so clever and odd! And the rooms! The Rooms aka the people! I loved them all, even the annoyingly odd ones that all the other rooms shunned, like Forgotten Poets Called John Room. #Bless.
Of course, I connected deeply with the dysfunction of the Library and its Rooms and the extreme silliness of the Noble Leader. I was hooked immediately.
The book is divided like a building into its rooms but also into cantos explaining the narrative. It’s musical writing. Opera, Tragedy, Comedy, Satire, Allegory; with the Rooms as the chorus. I’m not smart enough to dissect it all on my first read but it’s wonderful to peel back the layers.
It’s about people and connection and capitalism and destruction and violence and work culture and the right to work and lovely old buildings and the housing crisis in Vancouver and sex and poverty and love and sadness.
In this weird and shocking time of anti-intellectualism, I love to read hard to try and counter the vibe and Anakana’s work helps me do that by letting me get a little glimpse of what is inside her wonderful brain. I love to see it.
*Don’t @me. Comment section has been closed on this matter.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Excerpt from my longer Substack review ( https://open.substack.com/pub/bookgee... ):
I was unprepared for Library of Brothel in the best way possible. It surprised and delighted me! It made expel a high musical laugh alone in my home many times! The wordsmithing so clever and odd! And the rooms! The Rooms aka the people! I loved them all, even the annoyingly odd ones that all the other rooms shunned, like Forgotten Poets Called John Room. #Bless.
Of course, I connected deeply with the dysfunction of the Library and its Rooms and the extreme silliness of the Noble Leader. I was hooked immediately.
The book is divided like a building into its rooms but also into cantos explaining the narrative. It’s musical writing. Opera, Tragedy, Comedy, Satire, Allegory; with the Rooms as the chorus. I’m not smart enough to dissect it all on my first read but it’s wonderful to peel back the layers.
It’s about people and connection and capitalism and destruction and violence and work culture and the right to work and lovely old buildings and the housing crisis in Vancouver and sex and poverty and love and sadness.
In this weird and shocking time of anti-intellectualism, I love to read hard to try and counter the vibe and Anakana’s work helps me do that by letting me get a little glimpse of what is inside her wonderful brain. I love to see it.
Review of advance copy
I don’t even know where to start with this book! The varying rooms/experts/workers felt like I was transcended into my brain where all of my memories on distinct facts or lessons I’ve learned are all arguing with one another. The dialogue was chaotic and humorous, but ultimately captivating.
Simultaneously, this was a spectacular play on work and living conditions under present day capitalism. The issue of value in capitalism is an underlying theme. It challenges the reader throughout the novel to ponder whether these niche experts are valuable, if the Library of Brothel itself is valuable if it is not profitable. This is especially important in a time of mass AI implementation. The depth and uniqueness of the workers/rooms are explored throughout the book. However, mention of AI is bland yet poses a substantial threat.
The book brings in many themes of working conditions, management, value, living conditions, and societal experiences and restlessness, all in an artistic manner. While obsessed with the internal world of the Library of Brothel, I was reminded periodically about the state of society outside of the building, thus demonstrating the struggle of work/life balance.
This was a great read! Fuck AI, and as always, power to the workers.
Simultaneously, this was a spectacular play on work and living conditions under present day capitalism. The issue of value in capitalism is an underlying theme. It challenges the reader throughout the novel to ponder whether these niche experts are valuable, if the Library of Brothel itself is valuable if it is not profitable. This is especially important in a time of mass AI implementation. The depth and uniqueness of the workers/rooms are explored throughout the book. However, mention of AI is bland yet poses a substantial threat.
The book brings in many themes of working conditions, management, value, living conditions, and societal experiences and restlessness, all in an artistic manner. While obsessed with the internal world of the Library of Brothel, I was reminded periodically about the state of society outside of the building, thus demonstrating the struggle of work/life balance.
This was a great read! Fuck AI, and as always, power to the workers.
July 4, 2026
Easily one of my top reads this year, and a total damn surprise (I hate-bought it*).
I've never read Schofield, but man, I really want to pick up her other 3 books now. This was so fantastic and inventive. I enjoyed it like the best of McSweeney's, or Helen Oyeyemi. The plot creeps up on you in the middle of amusing descriptions and the quirky made mundane. The phrasing is wry and witty and dry and has a blast with the English language. A pure joy for me to read.
*was in an indie bookstore in Montreal and overheard the following:
A-hole Customer: [snapping pics of book covers]
Bookseller: Do you have any questions about anything?
AC: Nope! Just wanted to remember these so I can get them on Amazon later!
I immediately bought this book purely based on the cover.
I've never read Schofield, but man, I really want to pick up her other 3 books now. This was so fantastic and inventive. I enjoyed it like the best of McSweeney's, or Helen Oyeyemi. The plot creeps up on you in the middle of amusing descriptions and the quirky made mundane. The phrasing is wry and witty and dry and has a blast with the English language. A pure joy for me to read.
*was in an indie bookstore in Montreal and overheard the following:
A-hole Customer: [snapping pics of book covers]
Bookseller: Do you have any questions about anything?
AC: Nope! Just wanted to remember these so I can get them on Amazon later!
I immediately bought this book purely based on the cover.
July 2, 2026
4.5.
So deeply weird and I'm here for it! A wildly creative allegory of our precarious economy, the purpose of work, screen-obsessed humans and loss of connection. At times it felt like a Mad-Libs party game, but many sentences were as hilarious as they were prescient. Not for the faint of heart, but if you like absurdist, experimental fiction, give it a try.
So deeply weird and I'm here for it! A wildly creative allegory of our precarious economy, the purpose of work, screen-obsessed humans and loss of connection. At times it felt like a Mad-Libs party game, but many sentences were as hilarious as they were prescient. Not for the faint of heart, but if you like absurdist, experimental fiction, give it a try.
July 5, 2026
The writing itself in this book is good. The content, however, is not. Although I can enjoy a bizarre read, my brain couldn't follow the randomness a lot of this book contained. There has to be something to follow and connect to but there just wasn't enough in the story or characters to bring me along.
Review of advance copy
Received this ARC not knowing what to expect, and after finishing this book, I'm still not sure what I read. Unconventional format, but with some entertaining bits.
Did Not Finish
August 23, 2026This had to go back before I could finish it. Might try again another time
August 30, 2026
A good book with nice writing, an interesting premise/plot, and a good sense of humour. I enjoyed reading it, but it didn’t necessarily rock my world.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews