Then We Came to the End: A Novel | Joshua Ferris | Opinion of Then We Came to the End

Then We Came to the End: A Novel | Joshua Ferris | Then our reading had to come to an end

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Then We Came to th...

	Then We Came to the End: A Novel Joshua Ferris Little, Brown and Company, 2007 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 208 reviews view larger image
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Opinion of Then We Came to the End

I enjoyed reading this book. It definitely made me rethink about the significance that our job plays in our lives -- not just from a financial perspective, but from how it defines one and gives on meaning in their life.

Then our reading had to come to an end

We sat down to read this work with remarkable gusto. Although some of us were hesitant, we rather enjoyed the gossip-like tone of the text. And all those fascinating details on breast cancer and a child's funeral and which schmo was having fun with which co-worker after hours. This ad agency sure looked like the happening place to be. But it wasn't.

Parody aside, this read was tedious. Although I can admire the use of the first person plural, it gets tired by page 250. To think that it goes on for another 150 pages really made me tired. The problem with this book is it ends up coming off as a gimmick, or maybe an excercise in creative writing. If you are looking for an involved story, you won't find that here. The characters all have a real feel to them, in the way they dress, and talk, but you never get to know any of them. And that is one of the major problems here.

This writer has talent. There's also alot of buzz ,good energy and smart, substantive sentences at work here. (That's why I gave it three stars). I just felt that it was one long exercise in proving something. What, I am not so sure. What does gripe me is the over-the-top praise. In the inside cover there are several pages of accolades from other writers, reviewers, etc. And while I am usually keen on these things, I fell for it. And I bought the book. Sorry I did.

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1st Person Plural Didn't Work for Me

This is a very different story than say, The Virgin Suicides, where 1st person plural was the best way to tell the story. The "we" Point of View made the characters and story weak--I never cared about anyone except for Lynn Mason, and that was because we got a break from "we" with her chapter (BTW, why was that inserted in the middle? Felt forced to me, not at all organic). There were some funny and recognizable parts, and the author pulls of the craft of using "we" (switching between omniscient to closer third person and out again) and is a competent writer. I wanted to be moved by this book in some way but I'm sorry I wasn't.

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Starts of great and then fizzles

Having been through the crash/burn dot.com era and seen people at their extremes, I found myself immediately engaged in this book. Many of the insights were spot-on, the characters/phobias were ones I could identify with some I'd met in real life (pathetic but true) and it started off as a fun way of looking back and laughing at the absurdity of it all. However, the material wears thin especially when there isn't much of a plot to sustain it. As quickly as I found myself engaged, I found myself bored and putting the book aside, just occasionally reading another chapter or two. This book is like a promising TV sitcom...starts off funny with some great characters...but when the material runs dry, you find yourself just checking in when there's nothing else to watch to see if anything has picked up but you really no longer care what's going on.

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