Then We Came To The End (review)

I have recently (last hour) finished the book, Then We Came To The End, by Joshua Ferris. The book revolves around a group of coworkers who work for an advertising firm. They are slowly being laid off as it is the end of the 90's internet boom. This is a first novel for author Joshua Ferris and it is a very top notch first piece of work.I throughly enjoyed the story and interaction with the characters.

Ferris writes the novel in the first person-plural format. Meaning that the novel is written in this "we" idea. Hence the title, then WE came to the end. Ferris starts off the novel with a lot of office humor similar in many ways to the humor found on NBC's the Office. Then something starts to happen, you start to become emotionally involved with these characters. By the end of the novel you no longer feel like he is trying to be funny but that the attitudes of the characters are funny. You know their personalities and are familiar with what they might do in these situations.

Ferris' descriptions are classic. For example, when Ferris is describing the office coordinator he says, "It was rumored that, like an ant, her back could bear the burden of something several times her body weight." It is rich descriptions like that one, that leave you imagining the person in your head as you see her and not as Ferris so much describes her.

As the novel goes on you learn about each person and become familiar with their names. It is very much like the first day at a real job in the idea that when you start you don't know names and their is just to much going on to keep up, but by the end you know everyone and care for them. I highly recommend this novel for someone looking for a good laugh, a chance to care about some characters, and even a little action (Tom Mota comes back to work after being laid off for "vengeance"). You can pick up the book through Amazon here.