I won’t say that I was mis-sold Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris: rather that I mis-bought it.  I had seen adverts for it in the press and on posters (it was heavily promoted) that carried all sorts of quotes about it ‘truly capturing the way we work’ or saying that it ‘unravels the chaotic reality behind the unified corporate identity’.  The clincher was the line at the end of the blurb on the back that said it ‘is about sitting all morning next to someone you cross the road to avoid at lunch.  Its the story of your life, and mine’.   As a long-time office worker I couldn’t resist that – especially when the book people who visit our  place to set up a stall in the canteen were selling it for three quid.

As a result of all that I was expecting something a bit like Keith Waterhouse’s Office Life; a book now so overlooked that the only description of it on Amazon is ” A new novel from the author of several previous books”.  Wow.  Makes you want to rush out and buy it doesn’t it?   I remember it being funny, absurd and a book I would read again tomorrow if I had not lent it to a friend whose dog pissed all over it.  It took recognisable aspects of office life and twisted them just enough to come up with a bizarre conspiracy.

Then We Came To The End is also funny and absurd, and I may read it again one day.   What it does not do is reflect life in any office I have ever worked in.  There were a few clues in the quotes that I had overlooked and I did not realise until I started reading that the book is set in…  an American office.   That need not be a problem: millions of us elsewhere in the world can appreciate the situations in Dilbert’s American office which does echo our own situations, but this book is set in a Chicago advertising agency and it features the creative staff, so nothing like my, admittedly limited, experience of being in an American office.

This is an environment where individuality and eccentricity is tolerated and even encouraged, where the work is creative rather than repetitive.  It is not the dull routine, regimentation, dress codes, and clear desk policies that most of us know from our offices.  Almost by definition, the review quotes were written by those who work in newspaper or magazine offices which have a lot more in common with that sort of office than with the Ricky Gervais-type office the majority of us live with.

It is also an environment of fear, where lay-offs happen randomly and without warning, where somebody facing the chop is told and then has half an hour to clear their desk and leave the building – not like our places where there is time for colleagues to organise a card and a collection before the last day.

So I did not get the experience I was hoping for, of spotting similarities to my own circumstances, of the comedy of recognition, or even insights to my own career path.   That is not to say I did not enjoy the book though: after the initial disappointment I settled down to plan B – getting a glimpse of another type of life, getting some vicarious insight into a different type of workplace, possibly getting my horizons broadened.

The book is unusual in that there is no central character, apart from the anonymous narrator about whom there are no clues whatsoever.  All we know about the narrator is that we are pretty sure he (or she) is not any of the named characters.  There is an interesting narrative technique which can get a little irritating in places whereby the narrator refers to ‘some of us’.   It will say, for example “some of us were glad to see X go” and you assume the narrator shares that opinion until the next line “but some of us were sad to see them go”.  Nothing is given away at all.

Actually it ends up being quite intriguing.  Who is this narrator who is so involved with all the other characters and obviously mixes with them all but who has nothing special about themselves – no events, opinions, or impact on anyone?

Then there is the way the main story abruptly stops on September 10th 2001, jumping straight to a reunion-type event 5 years later.  There is the implication of major changes to the whole ensemble resulting from 9/11 but no details at all.

Not a bad book by any means, but I was hoping for a dose of de Sica-scale realism (but with jokes) rather than amusing escapism.  Now I have finished it, I think back on some of the characters and events, and find that I got a lot more out of it than I expected and despite all the moans I would recommend this to anyone.  At least they would read it without the misconceptions I had.

Just don’t be put off by the relentless marketing offensive the book had – being a Richard & Judy Book Club Book, adverts everywhere and really impressive website – it is a good read.  Its just that unless you work in an American advertising agency it is “the story of your life, and mine”.