Funny and touching and deeply serious, "Then We Came to the End" is what happens at a Chicago ad agency as the dot-com bubble bursts and the lay-offs begin.
And it's written in first-person plural! (For the most part.) How cool is that?
Because I'm an office worker myself, this book reminded me that there's so much drama and poignancy in everyday life. This point has been made before (most notably by James Joyce's Ulysses), and maybe it's an easy, obvious point. But I still find the phenomenon to be emotionally moving and almost miraculous. Such is the artistry of the novel.
I interviewed Joshua Ferris for the newspaper, which was great. Some authors I've interviewed don't like talking about their work, but Ferris was very articulate, especially about the different characters in his book.
Read my interview with Joshua Ferris here.
Read the first chapter of Then We Came to the End here.
Here's the opening:
WE WERE FRACTIOUS AND overpaid. Our mornings lacked promise. At least those of us who smoked had something to look forward to at ten-fifteen. Most of us liked most everyone, a few of us hated specific individuals, one or two people loved everyone and everything. Those who loved everyone were unanimously reviled. We loved free bagels in the morning. They happened all too infrequently. Our benefits were astonishing in comprehensiveness and quality of care. Sometimes we questioned whether they were worth it. We thought moving to India might be better, or going back to nursing school. Doing something with the handicapped or working with our hands. No one ever acted on these impulses, despite their daily, sometimes hourly contractions. Instead we met in conference rooms to discuss the issues of the day.
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