Book Review: 'Choose Your Own Misery: The Office Adventure'

Work sucks...well, at least for most of us who stare at a computer in an office environment on a daily basis. We have to deal with customers, meet unrealistic deadlines, and deal with that one coworker who steals food from the fridge. We also have to make tough choices that often can affect our very employment.

That's the topic of a recent book I had the opportunity to review called Choose Your Own Misery: The Office Adventure. As you can probably guess by the title and cover art, the book is formatted in the retro Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style which makes for a fun read. But before I get into my review, here's a little background on the authors and the book.

Chances are, you were once a kid with one finger wedged between the pages of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book. Now you’re an adult: lonely, broke, unfulfilled, and losing 40 hours of your life each week to a computer screen. You’ve tried an endless parade of time-wasting websites and pop culture quizzes to dull the pain at work, but so far nothing has helped. God help you, not even the cat videos. Now, from two comedy writers and former contributors to THE ONION comes a modern choose-your-own-adventure tale―the story of your own soul-crushing existence. The choices range from playing career-suicide chicken with your boss to Kafka-esque journeys into the workings of the office, but either way, you’ll be choking back that manic, high-pitched laugh you’ve been developing over the past few years.

KEY POINTS
• Acidic wit in an interactive, easily combustible format
• Blurbs from important people at Funny Or Die, Clickhole, and Jimmy
• Painfully obvious candidate for Throwback Thursdays and the whole geek/nerd nostalgia sector of the internet
• Perfect for readers of Ryan North’s blockbuster Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book, To Be or Not To Be

Short review: Office Space meets the Choose Your Own Adventure format. 

Longer review: If you enjoyed the irreverent film Office Space or can relate to the weird situations created by the modern day office environment, then you'll definitely enjoy this book. It's a R-rated, first-person journey of tough decisions that will make you ponder if the well-being of your job is truly worth having to deal with those weird coworkers. Authors Mike MacDonald and Jilly Gagnon spin a web of crazy and mostly "over the top" situations that will both entertain and likely make you appreciate your current job a little more. The format is really what sold it for me as I was a huge CYOA fan as a kid and using it in this very adult environment was pretty fun. 

Choose Your Own Misery: The Office Adventure from Diversion Books is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, and Google Play. Learn more about the book and authors by visiting their website. You can also receive FREE bonus content by signing up for their newsletter!