Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780141027630
ISBN: 0141027630
Label: Penguin
Manufacturer: Penguin
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: January 04, 2008
Publisher: Penguin
Studio: Penguin

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Rating: - Not sure!
Well I finished this book this morning and I really cannot decide whether I liked it or not. The book is set in a failing Chicago advertising agency which is what mainly drew me to the book as up until six months ago I was working in a failing advertising department for a newspaper so I suppose I may have been looking for a little bit of nostalgia.
The characters are the driving force of Ferris' work as until the end not much happens. The characters are fantastic though, you have Marcia Dwyer ... Read More

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Rating: - Original, funny, close to life
When I first started reading I thought the "we" viewpoint would annoy me but having finished it ina matter of hours, I think the author has pulled it off with incredible skill.

It's original, funny, close to life and all those things that a good book should be: the characters are absolutely fascinating and believable, the plot strands are very carefully woven together.

I can understand those who don't want to read about work when they aren't there, but unlike working in my ... Read More

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Rating: - Good but not as good as the hype
'We were fractious and overpaid. Our mornings lacked promise. At least those of us who smoked had something to look forward to at ten-fiteen.'

This book is funny - about work in offices and in advertising. The characters are mainly cyphers. Our narrator is one of the gang but we gradually come to understand the different personalities as they live through being fired or the fear of being fired. The boss they all fear has breast cancer and part of the novel is her story in a very different ... Read More

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Rating: - Nagging feeling
I was taken in by the blurb on the cover and that probably set my expectations too high. The overriding feeling though, throughout reading this was that it is a poor, less funny book in the style of Douglas Coupland. If you loved this book (like so many people seemed to do) then try Microserfs and JPod by Coupland and see, in my opinion, how it should be done and how funny this kind of subject can be.

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Rating: - inventive but too long
I really enjoyed a lot of this book, perhaps not least because I know the advertising world a bit, but anyone who's worked in an office will recognise the petty intrigues, games and rituals that develop over time.
It could have done with slightly harsher pruning from the editor I feel, but no doubt some of its repetition is to make the point about how repetitious office life is. Very funny in places, very sad in places and thoughtful throughout, this isn't the most up book you'll read, but it's worth ... Read More

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