I feel that Hard Copy captures the monotonous world of low-level office life perfectly. Reading the blurb about the relationship between the narrator and a printer, I was expecting something more surreal or absurdist, but what I found was instead a moving portrait of a young woman's struggles with mental illness, and the tender connection she forms with an inanimate object.

The narrator feels disconnected from her colleagues, and the book conveys an increasing sense of isolation and otherness to her. The novel evoked strong emotional reactions in me; sadness for the narrator when she's put on leave from work and is separated from the printer, anger at her colleagues (referred to by their job titles only, which adds to the sense of disconnect) at not letting her be, and a wider frustration at the world for still not accepting otherness.

I felt the part narrated by the printer was deftly done. It was a surprisingly moving reflection on the disposable society we live in, and it added to an overall theme of how not just machines, but all of us, as people, are imminently replaceable.

Another really solid translated work about the monotonousness of the workplace and how office life can drive you completely insane. This book is about an unnamed narrator who starts talking to her printer in her office and her coworkers start to wonder what’s up. When she is told to go on leave for her mental health she finds it really hard to leave the printer and her attachment to it grows more maddening and dependant as the novel goes on.

I really loved the voice in this book and the tone was absolutely perfect. I didn’t expect it to be both such a great comment on the workplace but also have a really witty and slightly unhinged narration to it as well.

They have slightly oversold the whole “romance with a printer” thing in the marketing as this only takes up a small part of the book, and it is mostly focused on the narrators inability to leave the workplace and think of herself as a whole person without being attached to her job and the objects at her office.

A really great book and definitely want to read more from this author and translator.

As soon as I read the summary of this book, I knew it had to go straight on my TBR pile.
Both quirky and insightful, it really highlights how what can be considered the mundane day to day activities of work, socialisation and commuting can really take a toll on the average person’s mental and physical well-being.

I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of the book, and found the FMC & printers POV extremely well written. The writing style bought a human nature to the inanimate, and a detachment to the other surrounding characters, showing how sometimes the one person someone can lean on may not be a person at all.

The one thing this book did lack was the “weird” nature I was expecting from both the summary and the cover. I would say the phrase ‘Girl meets printer’ isn’t the main premise of the book, more of an accompanying story of a woman who seems to be suffering with social anxiety and some sort of coping mechanism for this. This is definitely not what I was expecting diving into this, so if you’re looking for a “weird” or “strange” read this may not be the book for you!

Hard Copy is out on 6th June 2024. Thank you to NetGalley & Head of Zeus for the opportunity to read the Arc!

3.25 stars

Pitched as ‘a story of girl meets printer’, I think Hard Copy might end up suffering from heightened expectations. I think that tagline suggests a more a salacious vibe than what you get, which is more a hybrid of Convenience Store Woman and We Are Light. Contemporary Dutch novelists seem to enjoy narrating from the POVs of inanimate objects, and I’m here for it frankly.
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The main character of this book is working a tedious office job - her main duty is printing documents nobody reads - and she finds solace in talking to the printer she shares her tiny room with. When she is forced to go on leave after a colleague sets her up, her already-intense anxiety spirals and she struggles to cope without her inanimate pal. To be fair, he also seems lost without her - we get to hear from him in the middle of the book and that was probably my favourite part!
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I wasn’t entirely sold on the secret that’s revealed slowly about the protagonist’s past throughout the book. I’m not someone who needs a massive amount of resolution, but it seemed too flimsily tied to the present narrative.
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Overall a decent workplace novel with the critiques of capitalism you’d want from a novel with a corporate setting. It was funny, oddly heartwarming at times, and just a little bit different. Perhaps just too underdeveloped for me!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is a book for fans of Halle Butler and Ottessa Moshfegh, such weird girl vibes.

I really think this book does a good job of showing how anxiety can affect your day to day life, and somehow isolate you from people and situations. Of course there is also the relationship with the printer on top of this which was very interesting to read!

This was a joy to read, I really enjoyed the writing style and the dialogue in this. Would 100% recommend to other weird girlies!

Take a look at that cover. Yes, that cover. Makes you want to pick up the book to find out what's hiding behind it, doesn't it. Yes, me too. Do the contents live up to the cover's promise? Is it a philosophical comment on the dehumanising nature of work, a romantic comedy about a girl and a printer or a combination of both? Whatever it is, it just didn't work for me, but thanks to NetGalley, Head of Zeus and the author for giving me the chance to read an advance copy.

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.

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.

Thank you Veldman & NetGalley for this read!

Before delving into this book, I anticipated a narrative that would be 'weird'. Even Goodreads categorised it under Weird Fiction. The peculiar nature of the story becomes evident early on as the reader encounters a deliberate disconnection between the main character and the narrative. Every character is referred to by placeholders like '[my name]' or '[their name]', leaving readers in the dark about their identities. There is either that format or calling her colleagues by their role in the workplace so she will call one person ‘Marketing’ or ‘Product’ or ‘PR’. 
“Hey, [my name],’ PR said.

As I thought over this narrative approach, I couldn't help but wonder if there was a deliberate correlation between this 'disconnection' and the protagonist's peculiar relationship with a seemingly mundane object: the printer in her workplace.

I also wondered if this would be how AI would ‘think’ if it was installed within the printer? It would see the staff as not people, but what they work as.

Rather than interpreting it as one of those unsettling cases where people develop romantic attachments to objects (like the woman who famously married a rollercoaster), I envisioned it more like a cartoonish scenario where a lonely character befriends an inanimate object, turning it into an imaginary friend.

But then, in Part 3, the narrative takes a startling turn as we are introduced to a monologue from... the printer 😵‍💫 I only realised this when I stumbled upon a paragraph where the printer explains its unique perspective: 'not that I can squint, I have no eyes. No eyelashes...'. It reveals a malfunction at the factory where it was made, leading it to be the way it is—a member of the 'faceless' type.

Suddenly, the italicised parts of the protagonist's monologue are revealed to be directed at the printer, which 'hears' it all, whether spoken aloud or in her thoughts, even from vast distances. It's decoded ‘in strings of zeros and ones, in subtle energy variations’.

This book ranks as one of the strangest I've ever read. One character stood out for me: the garbage man. His presence added a touch of humanity to the surreal narrative, making him a standout in this bizarre story!

I devoured it in one sitting and don’t think I’ll forget about it for a long time yet, I was not ready for the printer’s POV. I definitely thought more was going to happen between the unnamed FMC and the printer when the blurb said “girl meets printer” but (sadly?) it doesn’t.

Thank you to Head of Zeus + NetGalley for the opportunity to read Hard Copy before it publishes on 6th June 2024 🩵

This was a very strange book, but the narrative thread running through it was interesting enough for me not to give up - I wanted to know if the girl would lose her job, and what she would do next. The setting seemed to be in a really run-down area. I wondered if it was supposed to be an alternate universe, or a dystopian future: there was a slight thread of danger running through it. Whether this was in general in this world, the natural fears of a vulnerable female, or just the girl's anxiety, For me, it had a satisfactory ending.

This was odd, to say the least. I knew it’d be a weird plot going into it, the premise of the novel describes some kind of relationship between a girl and a printer. However, the book was a lot more philosophical than I was expecting. It focuses more on the life of this young woman, and her confusing backstory and life choices. I didn’t quite understand the switching narrative, nor the plot itself, it read like a steady stream of consciousness with no real meaning.

As a fan of "weird" books I was very excited for Hard Copy, girl meets printer, what's not to like? There was a lot of things to like in this book, but it wasn't entirely what I was expecting. I would say this is more in the realm of My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh than say, A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G Summers or Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder. There was a lot of stream of consciousness from our very anxious narrator and her observations were quite funny. However, I often found the italicized sections confusing, at first thinking they were flashbacks, then that they were unconnected to the main story at all. I now think they were meant to be the narrator directing her thoughts to the printer (?) but I couldn't say that with certainty.
I think my main disappointment is that the marketing of the book uses the phrase "Girl meets printer" which drew me in, but that wasn't the focus of the book really, it was more about her anxiety, the workplace environment and her allergy to stress. Although there was a lot of printer talk, we don't get to see the "relationship" develop, we aren't privy to the change in behaviour of the narrator, who presumably did not always think of the printer in the way she does now. That is what I was expecting from the blurb, and unfortunately I do think it would have made the book more interesting for me. I did not dislike the book, but I think it may struggle to find an audience, as it's magical realism and odd concept may turn away those who prefer their reading to be grounded in reality, yet not bring in the crowd who enjoy strange books, by not embracing the weirdness enough.
If you would enjoy a reflective look at office culture and how work can define people's lives, often to their detriment, then this might be the book for you!

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.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC to review

3 stars???!!!!

Damn I'm on the edge of maybe 2.5 rounded up but I'll give it a 3 for how it was wirrten as some prose I really liked and I did enjoy our main character as a person.

But I really wanted to like this so much more. And how the premise is written, I was truly expecting to read a story about her opening up to the printer and making a relationship out of it but what I was expecting hardly happened as the story mainly focuses on the loneliness in working in a corporate job. I was so ready to read a story of a woman banging a printer and I don't know what that says about me.

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".

I wish I enjoyed this more - usually an unhinged female narrator is right up my so I was left feeling rather disappointed.
I was intrigued by the premise but sadly the execution didn't work for me. The reason for the 2 star review was that the first half felt like it was going somewhere but then it fell flat.

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC

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.

I was interested based on the plot summary but think it missold the book a little - I assumed this was going to be about a woman believing that she was forming a romantic and even sexual attachment to a printer. Instead of that it’s a sort of whimsical rumination on relationships and the meaning of work. So rather less transgressive than I was expecting which is not necessarily a bad thing but I struggled to find anything to connect with here.

Also have seen a lot of praise of the cover so perhaps it’s just me, but the girl on the cover looks like a child which seems a little odd.

Absurd, self conscious, not whimsical enough to be fun or dark enough to be thought provoking. I wish I liked it more.