The eight stories in this 1967 short story collection reflect Hazzard’s own experiences of the time she worked for the United Nations in New York City and they give us an insight into how an organization can become so big that maintaining its ineffectual and often ludicrous organizational machinery becomes almost a goal in its own right while crushing many peoples’ aspirations working for it.

Sharp, poignant, and recognizable when you have worked in a large organization yourself. And also written with a lot of wit which made this into a delightful read.

Shirley Hazzard worked in a clerical position for the United Nations during the 1950s. The Organization, as she (barely) fictionalizes it, is by her account ridden with mediocrity, hypocrisy, and bureaucracy. Ironic and savagely witty. ( )

Abandoned! ( )