Discontent cover art

Discontent

Preview
Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Discontent

By: Beatriz Serrano, Mara Faye Lethem - translator
Narrated by: Emer Kenny
Try Standard free

Auto-renews at $8.99/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $21.99

Buy Now for $21.99

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Life can’t go on like this – can it?

An audacious, darkly funny, perfect summer read about a young woman in Madrid whose office persona threatens to crack when she’s forced to attend her company’s annual retreat

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.

This book is for everyone who has ever wanted more: more time, more meaning, more connection.

'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

‘Intelligent, engaging ... totally hilarious’ Aysegül Savas, author of The Anthropologists

© Beatriz Serrano 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

City Life Dark Humour Friendship Genre Fiction Literature & Fiction Urban Funny Witty

Critic Reviews

Tremendously entertaining... peppered with pithy insights into the modern workplace, and plenty of vivid characters
It’s hilarious – full of one liners and pithy observations. I rooted for Marisa from the start
A wild ride... even if you love your job, you're still guaranteed to find a bit of yourself in this book
Fun, caustic and mercilessly observed, Discontent announces an impressive new comic talent in European fiction
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 (Aysegül 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
All stars
Most relevant
Toxic, sardonic, awful, hilarious, completely unputdownable. If you love to hate your man character this is for you!

There was a single issue that made me a bit uncomfortable with this book. While there was a clear head on grappling with the mental health themes in the book, there was no engagement with the fairly clear (to me - not an expert!) that our heroine was autistic or otherwise neurodiverse. Unfortunately the manifestation of those traits outside of that context looked more like sociopathy. Maybe this is a deliberate ambiguity and discomfort. It made me feel quite conflicted about my gut reactions to Marisa’s internal (and external!!) life, which may have been entirely intentional! I look forward to reading more about the book and seeing if others have had this question.

Um wow haha

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.