Then We Came to the End

Title: Then We Came to the End
Author: Joshua Ferris
Penguin, 2007

This story is set at a major league ad agency in Chicago. Times are bad and lay-offs become something to fear. The anonymous protagonist tells us about the shenanigans, gossip fests and pranks he (?) and his co-workers spend their time on. On the cover, there is a blurb quoting Craig Brown of the Mail on Sunday: "it's a long time since I've read a novel so painfully funny, or so absurdly true." Well, it is kind of funny, at times, but, so far, my colleagues have neither put bloody fake scalps on my desk, nor created havoc through paintball-massacres. If I cross my fingers, maybe those days of fun are just around the corner. Nevertheless, I don't recognise my workplace in Ferris' creation.