The Expansion Project by Ben Pester review surreal workplace satire
Briefly

Tom Crowley experiences a growing panic when his daughter, Hen, goes missing during bring your daughter to work day at Capmeadow Business Park. Despite previously locating her, he eventually concludes that she may never have been there. Confronted with the absence of evidence supporting her presence, Tom is coerced into signing an affidavit that denies bringing Hen to work. As he navigates the surreal landscape of the business park, Tom begins to grapple with the dissolution of his understanding of reality and memory. Ben Pester's novel, structured as a collage by an unnamed Archivist, intertwines personal stories with corporate history, illustrating a blurred line between reality and its documentation.
Tom Crowley's daughter, Hen, goes missing during bring your daughter to work day at Capmeadow Business Park, leading Tom to question reality and his memories.
Convinced he brought his daughter to work, Tom confronts evidence suggesting otherwise, leading to a collapse of his sense of reality, blending physical and digital boundaries.
Ben Pester's first novel is a collage presented by an Archivist, who invites the reader into the surreal lives connected to the workplace environment.
The narrative explores themes of memory, belief, and reality, ultimately blurring the lines between personal memories and documented corporate existence.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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