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: Brilliant exploration of the humor and tragedy of office life
Summary: 4 Stars
Ferris' characters are fully developed people: vain, narcissistic, altruistic, ignorant, obnoxious and completely entertaining. He captures so well the inanity, the hilarity, the tragedy of these workplace personalities, yet goes further by fleshing them out with real lives, backgrounds, and pasts, so that despite some deranged behavior or annoying habits they might exhibit, Ferris renders this book with a profound glimpse of the value and humanity that lies within each of his characters. But that is exactly what it is-- for in the novel, the reader is constantly alternating between the more profound current of isolation, desperation, fear, and intense love that each of his characters possesses, while also furnishing the everyday office life with gossip-filled conversations, office pranks, and details of the work at hand.
Overall, I found the novel incredibly easy to read, for Ferris' writing makes one feel so intimately part of office life (the narrative voice he chooses is genius), that it is like reading, almost, about ourselves.
Book Review: Funny, smart, dark, moving, clever novel.
Summary: 5 Stars
At the risk of sounding like a snob, I have to think that any reviewers saying this book is boring or bad are just not good readers, or should stick to action packed genre fiction. This is one of the more incredible books I've read in recent years. It's slow-paced but every sentence is delicious...it's incredibly fresh, full of humor and sharp observation about people, work, and life. There are a lot of characters, so if you read it on and off over the course of a couple months, you probably won't feel as engaged with the story...it's a great read if you have time to really plow through it. You'll become incredibly interested in the characters in their glorious weird individuality and you'll become totally engaged in their mundane, gossipy lives. If you stick with it, the book becomes genuinely moving and even truly exciting at its climax. It's incredibly original and such a rewarding read if you have a taste for subtletly, humor, and human observation. If you find yourself bored by it, stick to the da vinci code.Book Review: Get to the point!!!
Summary: 2 Stars
After hearing how funny this book was, seeing how many awards it had won, I tried to read it several times. Recently I picked it back up (after putting it down months ago) but quickly just gave up again - permanently this time. The long rambling pointless prose style just got to me. Couldn't stand it. It's like listening to that long-winded person everyone has in their office tell what should be a brief story about what they did last night - they drone on and on, sticking in details that don't matter, subreferencing to an extent that would drive Dennis Miller crazy, and won't just get to the point, until you forgot why you even cared and you wish they would just stop so you could get back to work. Yes, there are some very pointed and funny observations in the book, but they are buried within long passages that go nowhere and serve no purpose. I wanted to like this book, can relate to the material (recently lost my job after watching other waves of layoffs) but in the end just couldn't get through it.Book Review: Every Single Page
Summary: 5 Stars
I am loving every single page of this book.
I can't tell you how many times I've burst out laughing.
It IS irreverent, but, more than that, I love that the focus is pretty tight. I couldn't see the mechanics of a "plot machine," found the narrative fairly transparent, and loved it for that reason.
That said, there is a very heartbreaking character (Well, almost all the characters are heartbreaking, to a greater or lesser degree) named Lynn. I don't want to give away anything, so I'll just say: Ferris segues seamlessly in and out of her sections, like a magician.
The only reservation I might have is that the company the various characters work for is an ad agency, and I wish Ferris had tried using another type of company, for it's almost too easy to mine the occupation of "ad man" for irony ... (Too much of a good thing, "Mad Men" and so forth) But that's a very small quibble. This is one of the best novels I've read this year.
Book Review: over-rated
Summary: 1 Stars
"Are you bored yet?" asks the writer in the middle of the first chapter. Yes, in fact, I was bored, to tears. Bored by mundane dialogue spoken by stereotypical people doing Sisyphean tasks. Sure, the mundanity of contemporary office life is the point of the story, but merely transcribing droll dialogue and reporting on banal office life does not make literature. It's just a mirror of our lives, sans insight, humor or gravitas. There are too many thin characters, too few fresh revelations and not one passage well-crafted enough to make me go back for a second helping. Maybe the story gets going and the writing starts to sparkle after page 115, because that's where the book came to an end for me.
As an aside, I work in advertising and, like most books/movies/TV show set in the ad business, this one only gets it 80% right. It's a petty comment (about a petty business), but if you work in advertising you'll find the inaccuracies distracting.