Hard Copy
A story of girl meets printer
by Fien Veldman
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Pub Date 6 Jun 2024 | Archive Date 8 Jun 2024
Head of Zeus | Apollo
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Description
'Joyful, tender, and strangely relatable . . . With sharp, playful prose, Veldman tells a story in equal parts searing intelligence and madcap sweetness. Simply brilliant.' Jenny Mustard
This is a story of girl meets printer.
A customer service assistant spends her long workdays printing letters. Her one friend is the printer and, in the dark confines of her office, she begins to open up to him, talking about her fears, her past, her hopes and dreams.
To her, it seems like a beautiful friendship is blossoming. To her boss, it seems like she’s losing her mind.
Diagnosed with burnout and placed on leave, she faces severance and – worse – separation from her beloved printer. But she’s not about to give up on her only friend without a fight. And, it turns out, neither is he…
Weird, incisive and unforgettable, Hard Copy is perfect for fans of Sayaka Murata and Halle Butler.
Advance Praise
In clear, bright language, Fien Veldman accurately depicts a world, a social background, that eats its way through the individual... A novel like an autopsy. - Manon Uphoff
Dryly comic... You regularly wonder who is more disturbed here, the protagonist or society. - Het Parool
A weird, understated and very well written book about a millennial meltdown. - Havermelkelite
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781035906444 |
PRICE | £14.99 (GBP) |
PAGES | 208 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
This book was hilarious, and a little bit absurd and carefully and eccentrically captivated what it means to work in a corporate space. Will definitely be recommending.
Our character is a slightly unbalanced character who's past plays constant torment on her mind. She releases her stress by talking to her printer.
I enjoyed this book, I found the main character very easy to emphasize with, the author had a wonderful talent for show how pasts can haunt our current lives in unexpected ways.
I do think the ending was quite weak, it sort on lost me at the end, as it began rambling and a few characters storylines never felt rapped up to me. But I did really like it and would definitely recommend it, especially to fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation or Melissa Broder
An electric, hilarious takedown of workplace culture, class, capitalism and everything that goes along with it.
I was initially drawn in by the absurdity of the tagline ‘This is a story of girl meets printer’, the sensational cover - I have never seen a better cover - and its Halle Butler comparisons.
In the end, it exceeded my expectations and is solidly now among one of the best workplace novels I've ever read.
It walks the path of both the outlandish and the mundane in ways that made me puff out a laugh, roll my eyes in knowing, reflect and contemplate how I see and interact with the world around me.
The writing is fantastic, and wonderfully translated in a way which feels like it contains all the nuances and essences of the original text. It's at times witty and punchy, and others flowery and figurative, but above all it remains thoughtful.
I loved this one and can't wait to see what Veldman writes next!
Thank you so much Shannon for the chance to read!!
Okay so I know you're not meant to judge a book by it's cover but that is the reason I requested this book. And lord I was not prepared for the ride it took me on. A story of girl meets printer, what can you expect? EVERYTHING! It is emotional, funny, dark and yet you are just rooting for the narrator the whole time. I really fun, slightly weird book that everyone should give a chance. And yes, I'm caring much more for my printer now.
A book about a woman who develops an emotional attachment to the printer in her office, she slowly begins to reveal a secret from her childhood that still seems to haunt her as an adult.
This is a novel with some incredibly insightful opinions on the human condition. So beautifully written and I devoured it in one sitting.
This is one that will stick in my memory for a very long time and I will be recommending it to everyone! An excellent example of a "weird girl book".
This was such a strange and unique read, but I absolutely devoured it. The book reminded me a lot of Your Utopia by Bora Chung, as that focuses a lot on sentient technology too. I thought the way in which Veldman told this story was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.
This is a book about an incredibly anxious woman who is allergic to stress and the relationship she forms with her work printer. She sits in her office all day talking to "him" until, unsurprisingly, her boss thinks she's losing her mind and puts her on leave.
This book does not have much in the way of a plot, which is not an issue for me but may be for some. I recognised a lot of my own experience with anxiety in her inner ramblings and her struggle to function in the world, so maybe that's why I enjoyed the read more than I was expecting to. If you like weird books that are mostly vibes, you'll probably enjoy this.
This is a weird little book about a woman and her friendship with her printer. Only I wish she had really leaned into her obsession and been a bit weirder about it all, if that's even possible? The book said a lot about working and loneliness and stress that I think a lot of people can relate to, and about feeling like just another part of the system, no different and no less replaceable than a printer. The printers part in the book was almost tender, it really made me feel for the printer and the loss of friendship. I liked the parts about growing up in poverty and almost wish there was more of that and about what has made our main character so anxious and unwell.