Discontent
An audacious, darkly funny, perfect summer read
Published on 21. August 2025
192 pages
978-1-5299-5222-3 (ISBN)
Description
Life can't go on like this - can it?
This book is for everyone who has ever wanted more: more time, more meaning, more connection.
A sexy and hilarious Spanish bestseller, where a young woman's office persona threatens to crack when she's forced to attend her company's annual retreat.
'Tremendously entertaining' Guardian
'Hilarious' Daily Mail
'A wild ride' Express
'An impressive new comic talent' Daily Telegraph
'Wry and incisive... very funny' New York Times
On the surface, Marisa's life looks enviable. She lives in a nice apartment in the heart of Madrid, her friendly neighbour and lover Pablo lives downstairs, and she's risen quickly through the ranks at a successful advertising agency.
And yet Marisa hates her job and everything about it. Over one hot summer she finds herself in danger of being exposed when she's forced to deliver a talk on creativity at a horrendous team-building retreat. Surrounded by psychopathic bosses, flirty facilitators, and an excess of drugs, Marisa is pushed to the brink of a complete spiral.
Discontent is a bold, biting novel about acting on our wilder impulses to reclaim our lives from work.
'Serrano writes with a caustic flair for detail, with charm and utter hilarity. Absolutely brilliant' Danya Kukafka, author of Notes on an Execution
'I adored our heroine... A razor-sharp debut' Anna Dorn, author of Perfume and Pain
'A love song to the listless and lonely of the LinkedIn age' Ariel Courage, author of Bad Nature
This book is for everyone who has ever wanted more: more time, more meaning, more connection.
A sexy and hilarious Spanish bestseller, where a young woman's office persona threatens to crack when she's forced to attend her company's annual retreat.
'Tremendously entertaining' Guardian
'Hilarious' Daily Mail
'A wild ride' Express
'An impressive new comic talent' Daily Telegraph
'Wry and incisive... very funny' New York Times
On the surface, Marisa's life looks enviable. She lives in a nice apartment in the heart of Madrid, her friendly neighbour and lover Pablo lives downstairs, and she's risen quickly through the ranks at a successful advertising agency.
And yet Marisa hates her job and everything about it. Over one hot summer she finds herself in danger of being exposed when she's forced to deliver a talk on creativity at a horrendous team-building retreat. Surrounded by psychopathic bosses, flirty facilitators, and an excess of drugs, Marisa is pushed to the brink of a complete spiral.
Discontent is a bold, biting novel about acting on our wilder impulses to reclaim our lives from work.
'Serrano writes with a caustic flair for detail, with charm and utter hilarity. Absolutely brilliant' Danya Kukafka, author of Notes on an Execution
'I adored our heroine... A razor-sharp debut' Anna Dorn, author of Perfume and Pain
'A love song to the listless and lonely of the LinkedIn age' Ariel Courage, author of Bad Nature
Reviews / Votes
Tremendously entertaining... peppered with pithy insights into the modern workplace, and plenty of vivid characters * Guardian * It's hilarious - full of one liners and pithy observations. I rooted for Marisa from the start * Daily Mail * A wild ride... even if you love your job, you're still guaranteed to find a bit of yourself in this book * Express * Fun, caustic and mercilessly observed, Discontent announces an impressive new comic talent in European fiction * Daily Telegraph * A wry work of spectacular wit, Discontent skewers every novel of workplace ennui that has come before it. Beatriz Serrano writes with a caustic flair for detail, exploring the small humiliations of the everyday corporate office with charm and utter hilarity. Absolutely brilliant -- Danya Kukafka, author of NOTES ON AN EXECUTION Our heroine compulsively watches YouTube, pops Ativan, quotes both Britney Spears and Proust, dreads work small talk, and, at one point, Googles 'how to be creative.' I adored her. Discontent is a razor-sharp debut with a riveting climax -- Anna Dorn, author of PERFUME & PAIN This intelligent, engaging novel perfectly captures the discontent of our contemporary minds, managing all the while to be totally hilarious -- Ayseguel Savas, author of THE ANTHROPOLOGISTS Discontent is a love song to the listless and lonely of the LinkedIn age. Our heroine-the Xanax-popping, YouTube-abusing Marisa-is the picture of modern malaise. Sharp, sad, and sardonic, Serrano's prose is all the encouragement you need to quit that job you hate. -- Ariel Courage, author of BAD NATURE Office Space for literary weirdos. Discontent is brimming with witticisms and scathing observations about our modern-day malaise. While Serrano's narrator is drowning in existential dread, her debut novel never feels weighed down. Electric, lively, and brilliantly constructed by a new writer of immense talent -- Jean Kyoung Frazier, author of PIZZA GIRL An acidic reflection on the existential crisis of a generation that thought it had guaranteed success. . . Humour in abundance, a punk ending that blows the reader's mind * Glamour (Spain) *More details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
File size
0,76 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-5299-5222-3 (9781529952223)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Beatriz Serrano (Author)
Beatriz Serrano is a writer and a journalist who has written for publications such as BuzzFeed, Vanity Fair, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, S Moda, and Vogue. She works for El Pais and, along with writer Guillermo Alonso, co-directs the prizewinning podcast Arsenico Caviar. Discontent is her first novel. She currently lives in Madrid.
Beatriz Serrano is a writer and a journalist who has written for publications such as BuzzFeed, Vanity Fair, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, S Moda, and Vogue. She works for El Pais and, along with writer Guillermo Alonso, co-directs the prizewinning podcast Arsenico Caviar. Discontent is her first novel. She currently lives in Madrid.
