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.