This week Desiree and Morgan are reading Discontent by Beatrice Serrano — a debut translated novel from Spain that is part workplace satire, part slow-burn existential unraveling, and entirely too relatable.

We're talking about Marissa: a mid-level marketing employee in Madrid who looks fine from the outside but is quietly dissolving on the inside. She's hiding in her office watching YouTube, surviving on tranquilizers, and dreading the corporate retreat that's about to push her over the edge.

In this episode we dig into:

✦ Why corporate burnout isn't just an American problem — and how uncomfortable that is to admit

✦ The connection between Discontent and My Year of Rest and Relaxation

✦ Faking productivity, stealing ideas from interns, and the particular horror of the workplace retreat

✦ What this book gets right about loneliness and the need for real community

✦ That ending — and why it might actually be Marissa's happily ever after

✦ Fan cast picks for a potential adaptation

⭐ We gave it a 4–4.5 out of 5. It's a great read if you already love the "quietly falling apart" genre — but maybe not the one to hand a beginner reader.

Facts & Fictions is a cozy book club podcast hosted by Desiree & Morgan. New episodes every week. Subscribe so you never miss one.

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We Read the Book Your Burned-Out Coworker Would Write | Discontent by Beatrice Serrano