The Odyssey

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From the prize-winning author of Supper Club--a debut novel that Vogue called " Stephanie Danler's Sweetbitter meets Donna Tartt's The Secret History"--comes The Odyssey, a fresh twist on the epic journey and an unapologetic takedown of capitalism and "lifestyle" that will appeal to fans of Melissa Broder and Ottessa Moshfegh (Molly Young, New York Times) The whole dysfunctional-and-alienated-young-female-narrator thing feels like a sub-genre of its own, though Williams pushes it a bit further into slightly edgier territory here. All the same, it's disappointing to uncover the intimated root cause of Ingrid's troubles yep, another woman driven over the edge by her seeming inability to have a baby, and I wanted a few more decisive pointers to what is happening at the elusive ending: a deeper retreat into psychic safety or a coming to terms with self-responsibility? That is, until the day she is selected by the ship’s enigmatic captain and (ill-informed) wabi sabi devotee, Keith, for his mentorship program. Encouraging her to reflect on past mistakes and her desperation to remain lost at sea, Keith pushes Ingrid further than she ever thought possible. But as her friendships and professional life onboard steadily fall apart, Ingrid must ask herself: how do you know when you have gone too far? A Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by The Millions • A Best Book to Read in April by Town & Country and The AV Club • One of 2022’s Best Beach Reads by Southern Living

The only elements that I unfortunately didn't like were at times, I felt completely out of the story due to the repetitiveness of Ingrid's everyday activities. Though I am very aware that this was another commentary within the book - how we can enjoy yet equally tire from the tediousness of an average, everyday routine. People could argue then, that Lara Williams perfectly executed that within her writing, and I whole heartedly agree though at times I didn't particularly enjoy it. As well as this, the blurb mentions that the book is 'hilariously funny' but I personally thought it was everything but. There were moments throughout the story that undoubtedly made me laugh but the tone of the novel was so melancholic and so satirically ironic that no moment for me seemed hilarious. Until one day she is selected for the employee mentorship scheme - an initiative run by the ship's mysterious captain and self-anointed lifestyle guru, Keith, who pushes Ingrid further than she thought possible. But sooner or later, she will have to ask herself: how far is too far?As its title suggests, Lara Williams’s The Odyssey is about a journey. Ingrid works on a cruise ship that crisscrosses the globe. The ship, the WA, is as large as some towns and comes complete with acres of swimming pools, restaurants and gift shops where long-term guests have an inconvenient habit of dying. As someone who doesn’t generally find cruise ships appealing (and especially so in 2022), I thought the setting of the WA was quite brilliantly done. An entire, carnivalesque world unto itself where Ingrid has endless choices at her fingertips but is also trapped. The ship seems enormous but her own space is small and limited. As the novel progresses, the atmosphere of the WA becomes more dangerous, more hideous, and more satirical. The WA, it turns out, is something more like a cult than an ordinary workplace and the things it asks of its employees become more jarring and horrific. Williams does a good job of establishing Ingrid as the sort of character who will go along with these things. And while I actually really dislike reading books where characters make one bad decision after another, I also didn’t struggle to believe that the employees of the WA would do these things. It reminded me of the cults you read about, like NXIM or even some of the more intense MLMs, that demand utter devotion. Ingrid is a character looking to be utterly devoted to something.

A few years ago I came across a Grace Paley interview in which she stated she cannot write a character until she knows who their family are and where they get their money: a writing practice I fully endorse. And so all fictional characters generally need a terrible job. Here are my top 10 … Ingrid works on a gargantuan luxury cruise liner where she spends her days reorganizing the gift shop shelves and waiting for long-term guests to drop dead in the aisles. On her days off, she disembarks from the ship, wasting the hours aimlessly following tourists around, drinking the local alcohol, and buying clothes she never intends to wear again. It's not a bad life. At least, it distracts her from thinking about the other life--the other person--she left behind five years ago. Engrossing, ambitious, joyful as well as dark - which is so close to the bone and so necessary. I can't wait to read her next book' Emilie Pine, author of Notes to Self Or, to go in more detail, this is a story of a woman of an uncertain age, an alcoholic who left her adoring spouse to go work on a luxury cruise ship. The ship is a grand and self-contained affair featuring every amenity, including your friendly neighborhood cult the woman ends up in. The cult follows a Japanese idea that all things come from and go into nothingness and, to this end, the woman has to submit to a variety of trials, from intense talk therapy to having her finger cut off. Yes, you read that right, her finger. And once she mastered herself, she can advance to becoming a master.If you haven’t read Williams before, go for Supper Club instead of this; if you think the premise of The Odyssey sounds promising, read Sam Byers’ Come Join Our Disease. Within this floating world, something darker is taking place. Ingrid is selected to participate in a ‘self-improvement’ scheme by the ship’s enigmatic captain-CEO, Keith. His philosophy of wabi sabi – a Japanese world-view centred on transience and imperfection – requires total commitment from his employees. The ship falls into disrepair as certainties about time and place slip away. All that remains is a relentless corporate culture that asks for disconcerting and farcical sacrifices from those on board.

The end of this book left a lot of questions still unanswered, which I would imagine some people would find frustrating, and while I did a little bit, it also felt fitting for the book; I didn't want to get too many answers because that's not what the rest of the book was like.Meet Ingrid. She works on a gargantuan luxury cruise liner, where she spends her days reorganizing the merchandise and waiting for long-term guests to drop dead in the changing rooms. On her days off, she disembarks from the ship and gets blind drunk on whatever the local alcohol is. It's not a bad life. And it distracts her from thinking about the other life she left behind five years ago.