Neste livro celebrado pela crítica, a dinamarquesa Olga Ravn ultrapassa os limites da ficção científica para refletir sobre controle e exploração, sistemas de trabalho e relações sociais. Com uma prosa a um só tempo satírica e apavorante, Os funcionários nos leva às mesmas perguntas que atormentam os tripulantes da nave seis mil: fomos feitos para o trabalho e nada mais? Em um mundo assim, o que significa estar vivo?
O livro é uma pequena ficção cientifica narrada através de curtos depoimentos de funcionários de uma nave espacial onde algo parece ter dado errado. Os relatos são curtíssimos mas a maioria desinteressante com a exceção de alguns genuinamente muito bons. Acho que a intenção da autora era que o leitor montasse um quebra cabeça já que os relatos são desconexos e fora de ordem. O problema é que como ficção cientifica esse pequeno universo da nave é muito desinteressável. O formato de depoimentos me lembrou bastante SCP ou control só que sem o mistério e universo cativante.
Ainda assim se você se interessa como temas como trabalho, humanidade e inteligencia artificial alguns dos depoimentos são muito bons.
"...I dream that there are hundreds of black seeds in my skin, and when I scratch at them they get caught under my nails like fish eggs. Then, with a popping sound, new ones appear where I scratched the other ones away. I feel that this has something to do with the objects in the rooms, but I don't know how. There's something about their smoothness in relation to my skin...I got the impression that one of the objects wanted to take my skin away from me..."
The Employees is a short novel comprised of numbered interviews with "Employees" of the Six-Thousand ship, an exploration vessel whose full purpose is mostly unknown, but one of its functions is to house some strange objects that are recovered from an unknown place. Through the interviews with the employees, we get a vague idea of these mysterious objects which may or …
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"...I dream that there are hundreds of black seeds in my skin, and when I scratch at them they get caught under my nails like fish eggs. Then, with a popping sound, new ones appear where I scratched the other ones away. I feel that this has something to do with the objects in the rooms, but I don't know how. There's something about their smoothness in relation to my skin...I got the impression that one of the objects wanted to take my skin away from me..."
The Employees is a short novel comprised of numbered interviews with "Employees" of the Six-Thousand ship, an exploration vessel whose full purpose is mostly unknown, but one of its functions is to house some strange objects that are recovered from an unknown place. Through the interviews with the employees, we get a vague idea of these mysterious objects which may or not be alive. However we quickly learn about some of the tensions among the crew as some of them are humans (from earth) and some are "humanoid" or constructed humans, designed to not age and whose consciousness can be uploaded and downloaded. There seems to be a schism rising between these two groups of employees that comes to a dangerous head.
What a fascinating little implication of a story. I loved the interview format that seemed to swing between sometimes quirky, sometimes horrific little anecdotes, and insight into the status of the mission and life on the Six-Thousand ship. It hints at much larger goings on, but the author keeps the reader just out of reach of the full context. Some of the interviews can feel a bit silly or out of place, but all of them together created a really interesting narrative. This is very short, so you really have nothing to lose by picking it up!
