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#100: Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris

Cannonball Read / Brian Prisco

Book Reviews | June 29, 2009 | Comments (13)

What a way to go. This was a brilliant fucking novel. It’s like an amazing combination of Catch-22 and “The Office.” It’s dangerous to tread the waters of cubicle politics without getting droll and stupid. Just like everyone thinks THEIR office is so much like Dunder Mifflin. But Ferris creates a whipcrack tome that will ring true to anyone who’s ever toiled in the bitter halls of corporate hell.

What’s even more phenomenal is that his narrator is a “we.” Never named or identified, it instantly draws the reader into the story as if they’ve always been a part of it. As if they were one of the office drones populating the cubes.

It treats the atmosphere like a high school, lunches together, best frenemies, deadlines, pranks, hating the bosses. Never once does Ferris go for wacky setups or try to push jokey ideas. And he covers some pretty insane territory, involving homicidal clowns and totem poles. But it all feels natural.

I’ve toiled for years in shitty desk job that I loathe, but I need. At times I’ve threatened the lives of all of my co-workers and bosses. I still tell stories of the people who’ve left, as if they were heroes of lore. How my one co-worker used to buy everyone food, and how we had Smiths dance parties when everyone else left the office. We talk shit on each other, we console each other. We love and hate simultaneously. I spend more time with these people than the people I love, so they become like a family.

Ferris is an excellent author, and I look forward to his next book. As soon as I finished this, I decided to give it to my coworker to read. Even though he’s a fucking idiot. And my favorite person in the office.

This review is part of the Cannonball Read. For more of Brian’s reviews, check out his blog, The Gospel According to Prisco.


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Comments

You finished, you son of a bitch! I'm so jealous.

Also, this book looks good.

Posted by: Marra at June 29, 2009 9:16 AM

I loved this book. Congrats again, Prisco!

Posted by: Julie at June 29, 2009 9:30 AM

Congrats, Prisco! I actually finished 2 more books and just haven't posted them on the blog yet. I read more than 10 since November, that's pretty good I thought and with the added incentive of the contest I'll be well on my way to 20+ books by next November for the year which is probably double what I usually read.

As for "Then we Came to the End" I freaking loved it. That final line is just awesome and having put in the bulk of my 20's in telecom (and rode it as the bubble burst and we had to endure wave after wave of lay offs and bankruptcies) I could identify massively with the characters.

Posted by: TylerDFC at June 29, 2009 9:42 AM

I still can't decide if I enjoyed this book. Ferris is a fine writer, but all the characters were so weak and stupid and petty that I just couldn't stand them (sorry, Tyler).

Posted by: Tracer Bullet at June 29, 2009 10:07 AM

Cute title to finish Cannonball Read. Did your mommy pick that out for you?

I suppose I don't read enough new fiction to know if this was good. I enjoyed it, but my first thought after completing it was, "Oh! Can't forget to do laundry." But then, aside from an internship at Wal-Mart, I've never really had the standard corporate cubicle environment. And I knew the internship wasn't permanent, so I never settled in. So, maybe I just can't identify with these characters as much. But it was funny and just generally enjoyable.

So, how about instead of starting the Cannonball Read again, you create a Prisco book club. Ya know, like the antithesis of Oprah's. See, then you could pick books like The Notebook, but it would be ironic. Oh, god...or you could just review books that Oprah puts in her club, if you're into the whole masochism thing.

Posted by: pissant at June 29, 2009 10:22 AM

Tracer:
I believe I mis-typed. You are absolutely correct on the characters. And they were very similar to my co-workers, not ME of course, but THEM. Which is a very, very corporate sentiment right there.

Posted by: TylerDFC at June 29, 2009 10:38 AM

reading this now, about half way through and i love it. personally, can't wait to give it to a few of my coworkers.

Posted by: Todd at June 29, 2009 10:57 AM

I enjoyed this book but thought it was a bit too long. The premise was great, timely, and a lot of fun and Ferris is a very good writer.

Posted by: samantha t at June 29, 2009 11:04 AM

Loved this book. I have shared it as well with my fellow cubicle monkeys, who loved it as well.

Posted by: Brian at June 29, 2009 1:35 PM

I've spent plenty of time as a cubicle monkey and Prisco's second-to-last paragraph pretty much nails it.

You love these people, you hate these people. On Monday you wake up and you dread seeing their faces, but on Friday when the work week is over, they're the first people you want to grab a beer with. You find yourself becoming friends with people you normally would never associate with, you build alliances, you buy each other lunch on your birthdays, you wallpaper your cubicle with inside jokes scrawled on Post-its and tack up magazine articles that co-workers cut out for you b/c they thought you might be interested. And when you finally quit the job you claimed to loathe they throw you a big good-bye party and you kind of sort of miss everyone. Even the office idiot.

Posted by: lucy at June 29, 2009 4:57 PM

My bookclub is reading this book for July! What an exciting ramp-up to get before I even check the thing out from the library!!

Posted by: Claire at June 29, 2009 7:03 PM

I really enjoyed this book. I read it while I was working in a credit union, and it made me feel a little less stabby about my own job.

Congrats, Prisco!

Posted by: Melissa at June 29, 2009 9:33 PM

As someone who is (hopefully) temporarily unemployed for the week and almost doesn't mind the missed income because I get a break, I'm definitely going to add this to my list.

And congratulations again on winning! Your reviews have made me add more than a few books to my list.

Posted by: SaBrina at June 30, 2009 5:18 PM