The Award, Lydie Salvayre, Four Walls Eight Windows Press, 1997
This novel looks at a necessary evil of the corporate world, the awards ceremony. Honoring certain employees for meritorious service is the sort of stage-managed event that could take place anywhere in the world, but this ceremony takes place at a French car plant. It's the sort of place whose owners seem to have been inspired by the book "1984"; switching from dormitories for bachelors to individual rooms of 18 square feet floor space with furniture bolted to the floor; fatigue is purely imaginary; using electrical stimulation to get rid of useless and superfluous gestures, etc.
The speeches given by each honoree are like mini short stories, and they show that life at the plant is not as wonderful as the owners think. They talk of broken marriages, sexual harassment and domestic abuse. The widow of one honoree tells how the particles from his 20 years as a grinder, plus the lubricant used, turned his skin black. The whole time, there is some undescribed, but spreading, agitation going on throughout the whole plant.
This is an excellent satire of big business. Everyone can identify with this book in one way or another. Well worth reading for managers and employees.
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