I had to DNF this one. I was very interested in the premise and the setting of this book. I’m also always extra excited to find an upcoming translated book that hasn’t had much hype as I love being able to recommend more translated books to people.

Sadly, this book had multiple Harry Potter references. I let the first very brief one slide in the hopes the rest of the book would be worth the read, only to be met by a whole page about HP on page 32 of the ebook. It is 2025 and there is ABUNDANT evidence of the harm JKR actively continues to cause. This is not acceptable and I cannot recommend books with unapologetic HP references.

Note: I read this book around its release date but for various life-related reasons I am currently playing catch up with my review backlog.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stouhton for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own.

As somebody who often feels trapped in a soulless corporate world, this book felt intensely relatable. The observations were astute, witty and had me constantly nodding in recognition.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my digital ARC of Checking Out by Meryem El Mehdati, translated by Julia Sanches. I am a sucker for a workplace novel, and Checking Out hit pretty much all of my boxes! There are anti-tourist protests going on across the Canaries right now, and this book fits in with the discourse perfectly. The main character, Meryem, works for corporate for the largest supermarket chain in Gran Canaria, but her job is slowly sucking away her will to live. El Mehdati perfectly gets across the frustration the narrator feels at so many aspects of her life - seemingly pointless jobs, situationships, microaggressions at work and on the street, racism and xenophobia against her, a born and raised Canarian of Moroccan descent, while white British tourists are welcomed (though, not so much universally anymore).
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Any book taking a blow at capitalism and its injustices is going to be a winner for me, and I LOVED the ending - bleak as it was. El Mehdati rails against the 40 hour work week, which isn’t really 40 hours since office workers are then expected to socialise outside of these hours with colleagues to get ahead, or always be on their emails - who has the energy? Not to mention the inequalities in pay at somewhere like a supermarket, with corporate staff versus supermarket workers. I was impressed with the way all this commentary is woven in to the narrator’s stream of consciousness, without it feeling like we’ve veered off into a nonfiction essay.
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My one drawback - I know we cannot erase HP from the zeitgeist, but is it necessary to mention in every millennial novel? It always leaves a bad taste. But apart from that, this novel is well worth checking out (oop, sorry, couldn’t resist).

This was just following the mc in her thoughts and brain with a commentary on work culture, the commute etc. funny at times and really well written. I did like the mc too I thought she was sharp and witty.

4,5 ⭐️

This book felt like reading my own brain, in the best (and sometimes scariest) way.

Checking Out is one of those "no plot, just vibes" type of books. We follow Meryem, a 25-year-old navigating her way through the corporate cubicles of a supermarket chain in the Canary Islands, and being inside her head feels a little too familiar at times.

She’s sharp, sarcastic, observant. The kind of narrator who says what you're thinking but might be too afraid to admit out loud. Her day-to-day reflections on her job, her boss, and the weird dynamics with coworkers are both hilarious and painfully accurate. I laughed, I cringed, and I definitely paused more than once to mutter “yes, exactly” under my breath.

This is also a quiet but powerful critique of work culture and capitalism. It shows how so many of us end up giving the so much of ourselves to jobs that do not always see us as full humans. It hit close to home in a way that made me feel a little less alone, like it's ok to have these questions and remarks about this world.

If you're someone who needs a strong plot to stay hooked, this might not be your thing. But if you’re into character-driven reads, dry humor, and books that make you feel seen (and maybe a little ragey about the system), you’ll probably love this one as much as I did.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Meryem works as an intern in an office in the Canaries, and is treated badly by Yolanda her supervisor. The book demonstrates the drudgery of a long commute and the banality of office work, and how you eventually get sucked in to the office politics and behaviours.
Meryem is a fresh, funny and original voice and I reading about her.

I’ve decided to DNF this at just under halfway, but it’s entirely my fault.

The characterisation, the setting and the writing are all really strong, but it’s pretty bleak and I can’t handle it right now. The excoriation of capitalism, the helplessness and oppression of soulless jobs and how trapped they make you feel, the impossibility of getting yourself off the ground as someone in their mid-20s (in 2017 so Meryem is a little older than me, but it all lines up!) is just making me spiral. It’s too close to the bone and is really not helping my own current work-related existential crises.

Very much a case of ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ and I do recommend ‘Checking Out’ if you can handle the bleakness around those topics.

I really enjoyed this sharp, smart and funny little book. Anyone who has ever worked retail / in a toxic work environment will shudder reading elements of this one. Entertaining. Recommend.
4⭐️

This was such a funny and satirical book that is perfect for those that love a messy unreliable narrator. I can honestly see myself in the main character, the writing was also very, very good.!

Relatable story, following the life of a supermarket office worker.

We've all been somewhere similar to Meryem, though maybe not in the Canary Islands. Though her place of work sounds like many around the world - the lowest are treated poorly, the money isn't enough for the necessities, and every day is the same.

Meryem is still living at home while she starts her working life at the supermarket as an office intern. Despite qualifications in languages, she's found herself here and often cries in the toilets, over a boss who for some reason has taken against her, over her dull and tiring life.

The story sees readers follow Meryem as her hard work does lead her to better positions, she moves up, she has responsibilities, is able to move out, and strikes up a friendship/flirtation with an office co-worker/higher-up.

Seeing if Meryem finds success and happiness is what keeps the reader on board. I liked her, I understood her, Meryem is quietly witty and determined, even if she struggles to always show it.

This felt like a condemnation of contemporary life for school and university leavers, how hard it is now to find work and lodgings, how much support is needed to make it, and how so much just hasn't changed when you do find work.

The ending surprised me. I hadn't expected it, though it felt honest in a way. It all left me a little jaded and sad for our rising generations, my own children there in a few short years.

With something to say about today's work environments and relationships, this was a great read set in a country I know very little about. It didn't feel all that different to places I'm more familiar with. And people.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

"A thought: when one of your relatives dies, say your favourite uncle or grandmother, you have to keep working. When you're in a deep depression, you have to keep working. When you're sick, you have to keep working. Our lives have been built in such a way that the only thing that must continue no matter what, despite everything and everyone, is work. It's insane."

It really is insane.

Checking Out perfectly encapsulates modern attitudes to work and capitalism. Our narrator, Meryem, is consistently disillusioned with the world of work. We first meet her as an intern at Supersario (a supermarket chain), merely clocking in and out, keeping herself at arms length of the company culture: "I get to the office on time and leave on time, do my best to make sure nothing happens at work that puts a dent in my soul, cross one more day off my work calendar, walk out of there, and don't think about this place again until the next day." Her lack of investment in her job is a common mindset amongst the younger generation; most of us aren't career-minded, viewing on work as just a small fraction of their lives rather than all-encompassing. Meryem pretty much dissociates from her job at all times, even when dealing with casual racism from her coworkers. Taking refuge in her indifference for her work and channelling her frustrations into harmless fanfiction about her coworkers, it is clear that she doesn't hate her work - far from it. A reoccurring motif is her relief in actually having a job (with the other option being unemployed and struggling).

But then, she is offered a permanent position with the company. And she starts to feel doomed. The inevitability of working for the rest of her life for a job she doesn't care about is crushing. Now that she isn't stuck in the intern purgatory between unemployment and a "real" job, she starts to feels less able to dissociate from her work, and begins to actively hate it. And things start to unravel.

I personally loved the unconventional structure of this book; chapters alternate between the main narrative and Meryem's internal musings on work, capitalism and her personal identity, and the occasional snippet of her fanfiction. The conflict of needing a job to survive and the hatred of being a part of the capitalist machine in a job you don't even enjoy is such a widespread experience that I'm sure most millennials and Gen-Zs could see themselves in this novel.

The only slight issue I had was the narrative occasionally felt unfocused due to the structure, but once you get used to the rhythm, it's easy to follow along.

Can't wait for this book to come out! Thank you NetGalley for my ARC!

This book definitely got better in the second half but the lack of plot really didn't do it for me. The whole text felt very messy and disjointed and it really needed a good story or hook as it lost momentum quite quickly. This is about Meryem who works in an office for a supermarket chain, has a feud with one of her co-workers and has romantic feelings for another. I loved her character and especially near the end I felt like I was really getting used to her voice, but the book did feel slightly meandering and like it didn't really know what it was saying or where it was going to go.

I would definitely read this if you like books about capitalism and office culture, as the voice was super strong and the main character really compels you through. However it does get quite dull as times as there's no real other layers to it.

Everybody in retail - or anybody who is working closely with other people for and has frequent interactions for that matter will recognise situations described in this book. It's reflective but humerous.

I find it harder and harder to put my finger on what exactly incenses me: whether it’s the knowledge that no matter how long I live in this place, some people will never believe I’m from here, or the fact that I am not and never will be from there. [loc. 236]

This caught my eye because I'm familiar with the big Canarian supermarket chain HiperDino -- who are, I'm sure, nothing like Supersaurio, the big Canarian supermarket chain for which Meryem, the narrator of Checking Out, works. The daughter of Moroccan immigrants, she's started as an intern: as the novel opens, she's working in Compliance and wondering if her boss Yolanda actually wants to send her home in tears three days a week. She no longer has time to write fanfic, or read, or do much except survive the commute and daydream about people spelling her name correctly.

This is an excellent novel about gradually selling out and becoming a cog in the corporate machine; about the exhaustion that comes from constantly having to push back against sexism, racism, and classism; about being an outsider; about Canarian life. The translation seems smooth (I had to look up a few colloquialisms, but I'm glad they were left untranslated) and I found Meryem extremely relatable. (Especially the line 'I’ve learned that growing up is about pretending, day after day, hour after hour, that you don’t want to just go home and be on your own.' [loc. 1910].)

Things I learnt from this novel:
- guiri - 'a colloquial Spanish word often used in Spain to refer to uncouth foreign tourists'
- Harrylatino, a Spanish Harry Potter fanfic site
- 'It’s impossible to live in the Canary Islands and not feel like you’re in a developing nation instead of Europe. I mean, come on, H&M doesn’t even deliver here.'
And I have a better sense of what it's like to grow up in relative poverty in a major tourist resort.

Thanks also to anyone who’s ever made fun of fanfiction. I’ve got a book. I don’t know about you. [afterword]

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK Publication Date is 8th May 2025.

For some reason, translated literature is often synonymous with translated literary fiction. Not many genre or commercial novels make it to the handful of indie publishers specialising on translated fiction and the ubiquitous 'Women in Translation Month' social media lists, and commercial publishers with a larger audience do not tend to gravitate towards translated fiction. As a result, preconceptions about what translated fiction is and is not can shape reactions to a book. In the case of Checking Out, we have a pretty standard 'Millennial girl navigating life' narrative, coming from a Spanish (specifically, Canary Islands) author of Moroccan descent, focusing on the trials and tribulations of, you guessed it, a Canary Islands Millennial woman of Moroccan descent.

What sets this apart from endless 'hot mess girl' books is that Meryem, the protagonist, is not a hot mess. She did everything 'right' - got good grades, went to uni (choosing to do a humanities degree, which might have been her most serious mistake, oh horror), she does not drink, she does not party or do drugs, she prays, and yet none of this is enough to stop her from bouncing from mind-bogglingly dull corporate internship to mind-bogglingly dull corporate internship whilst still living with her parents in her mid-20s. Add to this constant microaggressions, misogyny and racism of a bog standard corporate environment, and mix it all with another popular genre, 'people actually live in tourist destinations' type fiction. Meryem is probably the most relatable Millennial female protagonist I have come across: she is frustrated, exhausted and perpetually angry at the world keeping her on a leash of due rent and bills. Comparing this to something like the intentionally bland middle class protagonists of Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, Meryem feels alive. I was furiously highlighting half the book as I went through it, not because the writing was particularly excellent or original, but because of just how relatable it was. I also appreciated that the romance did not develop into some sort of a happily ever after, a trend that tends to pull literary-adjacent didactic novels into commercial territory and cheapen their impact (hello Margo's Got Money Troubles).

However, there is a fine line between acerbic commentary and America Ferrara's Barbie speech, which the parts I did not highlight gravitate towards. Precisely because everything this novel says is so relatable, it is also so obvious, so stating it comes across as corny. The book also has serious pacing issues: Meryem's comments on her life get quite repetitive, and although her journey from intern to temp worker to permanent employment makes perfect narrative sense, it would have had much more impact when told in 200, not 340 pages. Tighter editing would have really benefitted the non-story and brought this a bit closer to something like Boulder, instead of leaving it to languish among Disappointed Millennial airport paperbacks.

Checking Out has common DNA with something like Fruit of the Lemon by Andrea Levy, also a novel about navigating the job market in your 20s. Leaving aside the fact that a direct comparison between them really shows just how much easier life was in the 90s, Fruit really emphasised the things Checking is less interesting in: the protagonist's relationship with her family and her connection to her roots in the heritage country. Checking Out does mention those things, as we see the effect of Meryem's parents in particular on her career choices and the ways in which that relationship keeps her grounded and helps her overcome the stresses of the workplace. In an almost direct analogy with the narrative of Fruit, we do visit Morocco with Meryem, but the warmth, the love, the humility and the complexity of family, community and heritage are firmly not the focus of this book. Instead, we get more and more of her cattiness and her bitterness about her soulless job, a point well-made at first, but overhammered by the end of the book. Bringing more of that side of Meryem's life into the spotlight would have added depth to her character and her story, smoothing some of her edges and allowing her to feel something other than dreadful anger.

Overall, I would recommend this book, but I wish it was more tightly edited.

This book was something totally different to what I’ve ever read before - and I really loved that element.

I could totally relate to Meryem’s work situation from previous experience, and I think that’s what kept me captivated throughout. I found her character development and self-recognition brilliant!

I have to say, I was disappointed with the ending, which is the main reason I gave it 4 stars - it felt too abrupt for me.

this book was so interesting and refreshing. i loved the title and the premise. it was such a unique book. because the focus was on a woman and her work environment and it didnt shy away on just what a weight that can be. i thought it was so well balanced between reading about her and what she went through having to enter that environment every day. the side characters all held their place well and their tone felt right i relation to the plot and our main character.
i really liked this book, it was different to my usual books and i cant really fix it into any box shape of genre which i think is really cool. i do like books that take me off somewhere new. if they are done well it can fill the book soul full of good satisfied subject matter.

This is not your usual story following the trials of Meryem who works for a supermarket in the Canary Islands but is enjoyable as she explains what it is like amid the drama of her family and working for a boss who seems to hate her.
It is a eye opener about how to cope with a toxic working environment every day and the reality of day to day routine.

A workplace drama written from the viewpoint of a young Spanish Moroccan woman and set in one of the less touristy areas of Gran Canaria. Unusual but relatable especially to readers who have worked in a toxic hierarchy. I felt for the protagonist very much, her individuality stifled.