Stupeur et Tremblements (1999) is a novel by Belgian writer Amélie Nothomb. It narrates the year a Belgian girl spent working for a Japanese firm in Tokyo before returning to Europe to become a writer. During that year, faux pas after faux pas, our heroine was subjected to several humiliations at work. Having been employed as an accountant she is finally demoted to guarding the toilets or being 'Madame Pipi' as she puts it.
This novel is partly biographical and her witty observations on modern-day Japan are hilarious when they are not tragic.
Although I have read it in the original French, the novel has been published in English in the UK and I certainly recommend it.
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