Then We Came to the End: A Novel
by Joshua Ferris
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Book Reviews of Then We Came to the End: A Novel
Book Review: Lightweight novel says little early and often
Summary: 2 Stars
This book was passed on to me by a friend who praised its comical look at office culture. The blurbs, back cover summary, and reviews all invite comparisons to "The Office" and "Office Space", both of which mine absurd humor but also pathos from the modern day cubicle careers so many of us face on a daily basis. Simply put, this book, by comparison to those excellent satires, is flat and shallow with uninspired characters engaging in uninteresting banter about insipid matters. The copywriters and designers in this novel are more like caricatures than well rounded, developed characters about which one would care to read. One guy is the "whacky office gossip"; therefore he has a skeleton dressed as "Buck Rogers" in his office and wears Hawaiian shirts. The "disgruntled intellectual" spouts both inappropriate profanity and Emerson quotes with equal aplomb before engaging in behavior that is easily predicted by even the most distracted reader well before the end of the novel. I really wouldn't feel the need to write this negative review, which is of course only my opinion, but for the fact that this novel has amazingly won so many accolades. In light of the hype, I was honestly taken aback by how amateurish and boring the exercise really was for me and just had to share. The interview with the Author that was appended to my copy indicates this novel was completed while he was finishing his education in writing; I can only hope he is capable of creating better things with said education, although getting published is a trick not easy to pull off, so he should at least be congratulated for that. One more thing; if one is going to write a review, at least do the Author the courtesy of reading the entire book. I didn't enjoy it very much, but this was an extremely breezy read, even for a slow reader such as me. Again, just my own opinion, but if you can't bother to read the whole book, your review of its worth means little to anyone else.Book Review: Life in Hell
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is a depiction of life in hell. C.S. Lewis envisioned hell as separation from God. Ferris depicts hell as society which takes is best and brightest, gives them the advantage of a superb education, and thereby manufactures the the profoundly lost people portrayed in this book. It is the story of the staff at a dying advertising agency. After reading this book, I still choose not to believe that people this intelligent, quirky, creative, and well-educated can really be so unlikeable, but the writing is convincing enough that I must admit the possibility. On the surface they seem to be built like normal people. They have successes and failures in their lives. They have families. They have sickness and health, good days and bad. These lives, however, are presented by the author through the lens of office gossip. The result is a portrayal of hell more terrifying than anything Milton ever imagined.
The book is about work--specifically creative white collar work. The characters are workers of privilege with good salaries, offices with views, and an unrelenting fear that it will all come to an end. Anyone who has worked in such an atmosphere will recognize the characters, the setting, the endless stream of office conversation, and the reoccuring nightmare that the world will discover what a fraud it all is. All fears, if nurtured long enough, come true, and, as the title suggests the insular world of the agency does come to an end. For some there is redemption. For others, another cubicle and another deadline.
The book is not satire, nor is it true social commentary. It is not easy to read. I believe that the author liked his characters, but I could not share his feelings and was glad when the book ended. If I want depictions of hell, I will dance with Dante, even though at some level I suspect that Ferris's version is closer to the real thing.
Book Review: True, funny and touching
Summary: 4 Stars
The unnamed narrator of this book kept me laughing and nodding my head for the whole ride as he took me through the final tumultuous weeks suffered by the anxiety-ridden employees of a Chicago advertising firm. Business is down and layoffs are on, and all of them are just clinging to the life-raft, praying they won't be next and agonizing over what they'll do if they are. For the most part it's a hysterically funny and usually unflattering inspection into each character, mixed in with more serious moments, from Tom and his unbearably verbose e-mails to Lynn's possible breast cancer (does she or doesn't she have it?) to Amber and Larry's sordid affair, to the tyrannical serial number system used to monitor the precise whereabouts of every single chair, bookcase and printer. It's a brilliant breakdown of why co-workers really ARE like family, in that you can love and hate them with equal passion several times over - just in the course of one day.
Like the movie Office Space - one of my all-time favorites - this might be one of those "you had to be there" kind of things, meaning that to fully appreciate it you may have to have worked in an office environment; i.e., the world of horrific coffee, unproductive meetings, cheap carpet, unreasonable deadlines, ergonomic chairs, romance rumors, post-it notes, and the inevitable waves of layoffs. Since that's been my world for far too long now it was as familiar to me as if I'd written it myself. It's dead-on and in some ways even made me appreciate the little sub-culture created around one's workplace, one you're often not really aware of as its own special little world until you're suddenly booted from it.
I enjoyed it and will probably re-read at some point.
Then We Came to the End was shortlisted for the 2007 National Book Award.
Book Review: Slightly confused comedo/dramatic/SeriousSillySatire
Summary: 3 Stars
Joshua Ferris' Then We Came to the End started out as a very funny satire of typical American office life, populated with buffoonish characters that most probably recognize from their own professional lives. In fact, it was so funny in the first few pages that I had great hopes of settling in for a lot of laughs over the course of the next 385 pages. That's not quite how it turned out as the novel took a very serious turn in favor of stark drama in its mid-section. It never quite recovered after that, with Ferris seeming to lose his focus on what the book was supposed to be.
The setting is an advertising firm in downtown Chicago where business is slowing dramatically and workers are slowly being terminated one by one. There's speculation over who's next, why the last guy was fired and who gets to keep their fancy chair. There are some truly funny moments during this opening third of the book. Then, the tone suddenly changes and the focus shifts to the personal life of the firm's owner, Lynne Mason. Things aren't going well for Lynne in the relationship department or health-wise. In fact, things are rather grim. This situation dominates the second third of the book where Lynn examines the cost that her career has exacted on her personal life. While the drama here is compelling and well done, it feels like an odd shift. The last third of the book is the least successful with Ferris trying to weld the first and second thirds together for the final act. The satire is not nearly as effective and the drama is not very engaging. The book sputters to an end in the last 50 pages.
It's certainly a decent book, full of keen observations on workplace dynamics and the meaning of work in our lives, but it doesn't seem good enough to have earned its heavy critical praise.
Book Review: Worth the read but peculiar dialogue
Summary: 3 Stars
I found this book on amazon from a forum posting humorous books. I can say that the plot overall was entertaining. The first 100 pages or so are worth the read and very funny. The stories are great and it's a very good insight into everyday life working at a advertising/marketing agency. I did enjoy the dialogue and the way he tells the story. However, after the first 100 pages, the stories tend to indulge into the staff's personal lives, so we get away from the advertising stories and focus more on personal lives. However, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's still a very interesting read. I'm very glad I took the time to read the book and I would recommend the book to anyone.
I do have a few thoughts regarding the formatting of the book, since I'm a fiction writer. For intsance, one should note that it's very hard for a story to flow when you have extremely large paragraphs (large enough they fill the entire page). Also, the dialogue is very peculiar. The characters of the story will be talking together in one paragraph. What I mean is, the dialogue is formatted into the same paragraph. So, everytime someone talks, it's all clustered together in the same paragraph. I hope that makes sense!
To a potential reader: At times you might get confused with who's talking to who and if they're talking about the present or past tense. The dialogue is not formatted like a regular novel. This is very important to keep in mind because I've never seen anything like this in a novel before! However, if you do follow the story and the character lines, it's hilarious! I have not read his other books so I'm not sure what his formatting style is on the other books.