Secret Life
28 September 2021Synopsis
An uncanny and eye-opening journey into a mysterious building, adapted from a short story by Jeff VanderMeer
To the west: trees. To the east: a mall. North: fast food. South: darkness. And at the centre is The Building, an office building wherein several factions vie for dominance. Inside, the walls are infiltrated with vines, a mischief of mice learn to speak...
Details
28 September 2021
9781770464032Reviews
“This is a vision of office life gone very surreal, with warring tribes who develop their own language and mice who learn to speak English.” —New York Times
“The incendiary collision of two singular talents… Ellsworth adapts VanderMeer’s tale of a mysterious building where 'office culture' connotes secret languages and unspoken rituals, and a cherished desk plant with a tantalizing fragrance grows to menacing proportions.” —Poets and Writers Magazine
“It’s impossible to look away.” —Alex Dueben, Orion Magazine
“Secret Life captures the dark pulsing horror of office life with a bizarre honesty found only in bad dreams and good nightmares. An engrossing, unsettling, beautiful work.” —Patrick McHale, Over the Garden Wall
“This bizarre, fantastical vision will charm art comics and surrealist lit fans alike.” —Publishers Weekly
“Unique, striking, and surreal... Corporate culture, capitalism/consumption, social hierarchies, and domination notwithstanding, only a vine flourishes here.” —Booklist
“An allegory about work life like no other.” —NOW Magazine
