In a city racked by poverty and discontent, twelve people arrive for an interview with the all powerful Frontline Corporation. The successful candidate will trade hunger and hardship for a life of luxury and excess. However, it quickly becomes clear that The Interview is nothing like they expected.
Who will survive the brutal waiting game that unfolds? To what lengths are the candidates willing to go to secure the job? And what secrets are they hiding from one another?
The Interview is an expansive novel told in separate narrative threads, the first focusing on the events in the claustrophobic Interview room and the second going outside into the wider city where its citizens are being crushed under a brutal regime but where reform might just be on the horizon.
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Reviews:
"This is one of the best dystopian stories I have read, but it's also a spectacular single room piece and character-driven drama."
Reviewer: Reader for Bookangel.
In a ruined city, there's one employer, one company that controls the world, and once a year it hires from the slums and the ruins. Twelve candidates, one job, one chance.
This story is fascinating, taking an incredibly simple concept and weaving a whole world round it. With an interesting story structure that alternates one chapter within the interview, and with one from one of the candidates point of view, covering the events that got them into the interview. The entire cast are well drawn, all sympathetic, with believable desperation to be the final candidate. It is a comparatively slow start, and I'll be honest I skimmed a few sections early on, but I am glad I kept reading it, admitted because from early on I was hooked wondering who would win, and why. The world-building that goes on throughout is impressive as the world is slowly built up through the lives and eyes of the candidates. There are several sections that are utter tragedies, and you can only hope that change may come because this world desperately needs it. Interview politics, blend with politics, blend with the desperate need to survive and towards the end the tension is gripping.
The ending is absolutely stunning. Throughout the book I'd been trying to guess who would win, if any, - the fate of the unsuccessful candidates not being much of a surprise for those familiar with the genre - but there's so much more to it. Chanting sequel, sequel, sequel, is tempting but childish and although I'd love to see more from this world, it could equally well be said that it ended at the right point. The story is over, but where everything goes from here I have no clue.
To touch on presentation, the formatting, spelling, and grammar are all professionally done. The cover was plain, but unusual enough to catch my attention, and the blurb and writing kept it. This is one of the best dystopian stories I have read, but it's also a spectacular single room piece and character-driven drama.
The slightly slow start knocks this to a four, but dystopian fiction readers, and lovers of character drama, should definitely add this to their lists.
Rating: 4
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Discussion
rz3300 (14 September 2016)
I am not sure I really have that much experience with single room pieces, but I have to say that I love the idea. I am scrambling to try to think of an example to relate it to, but all I am getting is movies. Maybe this is just all the more reason for me to give it a look, and I do tend to like dystopian stories.
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