Book Review: Then We Came to the End
14 April 2008
I’ve just finished reading Then We Came to the End
- Start with "The Office" but replace Michael Scott with a competent but intimidating female boss
- Set it in a Chicago-based advertising agency
- Send the economy into a tailspin that leads to constant but unpredictable layoffs
Yet to cast the book in these terms is far too simplistic. For one, it is written in first- person plural. That’s right–plural. In this way, the reader is invited into the story. You feel as though you are part of the group, sitting in Benny’s office listening to his stories. It’s a device that works and works very well.
Secondly, the characters are real and are shown at their best, their worst, with every flaw and foible in between. The routine of work life, however,–with its array of meetings, meaningless assignments (the agency is tasked with a pro-bono project even in the midst of layoffs), sniping, gossip, paranoia, and pranks–is punctuated with some genuine moments of compassion and redemption as well. These were some of the most lifelike characters I’ve encountered in a novel. Although I’ve never worked in an advertising agency, I have worked with the people these characters represent.
The book can get wearisome through the middle but the payoff at the end is huge. You can find another review that will spoil it; I won’t.
The book features a great companion website that includes an office floor plan with each character’s office and some tidbits about each one. Some of the characters even have MySpace pages–cool.
To wrap up, I found the book to be intelligent, funny, sad, touching–in a word, true. If you’ve worked in an office before or wondered what it’s like, read Then We Came to the End
Leave a Reply