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Then We Came to the End: A Novel
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Then We Came to the End: A Novel
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Then We Came to the End: A Novel
Audiobook (abridged)4 hours

Then We Came to the End: A Novel

Written by Joshua Ferris

Narrated by Deanna Hurst

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

No one knows us quite the same way as the men and women who sit beside us in department meetings and crowd the office refrigerator with their labeled yogurts. Every office is a family of sorts, and the ad agency Joshua Ferris brilliantly depicts in his debut novel is family at its strangest and best, coping with a business downturn in the time-honored way: through gossip, pranks, and increasingly frequent coffee breaks.
With a demon's eye for the details that make life worth noticing, Joshua Ferris tells a true and funny story about survival in life's strangest environment--the one we pretend is normal five days a week.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 1, 2007
ISBN9781594836459
Unavailable
Then We Came to the End: A Novel

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Reviews for Then We Came to the End

Rating: 3.5012691158629443 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

1,576 ratings142 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It was undoubtedly entertaining, and as an audio, was really impressed by the actor ... but most of the characters were just so unlikeable and I literally yelled, and at one stage begging them to stop being so petty and repetitive and to just grow up. Most of them deserved to walk the spanish.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read this back in September and liked it well enough at the time, but now that more time has passed I like it even more. An unnamed narrator describes life in a large-ish ad agency around the time of the dot-com bubble bursting. Wonderful descriptions of office politics, relationships, and hardship as the economy starts to implode. I like the pacing where things start off funny and irreverent and develop into something more serious though still humorous. I will say at the time I read it, I was looking for something fun, but it hit a little too close to home. Recommended though for anyone who's worked in an office environment or likes humorous literature.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very dark, over the top, set at an ad agency. The chair! Curious fact. A stack of notepad that said 'Then we came to the end' promoting the book was on the GM office desk of the last store I managed (Syosset). I took it home with me, and have it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Incredibly funny and realistic look at the way an office works. I really enjoyed his use of "we" to show that when one person in the office knows something, the entire office knows it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    If Goodreads allowed half-stars, I would give this a 3.5, because it's a book that started out maybe a two, two-and-a-half, and finished somewhere in the 3.5-to-four range. For the first 75 pages, all I could think of was how the only people who could like it were either a) those in no way associated with office life, and thus found the caricatures of the terrible, petty office-people in the book to be funny, not terribly depressing, or b) those, regardless of their proximity to offices, are completely happy in their lives. For someone who fits neither definition, I was irritated and depressed by the "antics" of the office minions the book describes and that reviewers have found so hilarious. I never ended up really finding the book funny, but as time and pages passed, I found it touching. Ferris has a real talent at teasing out the longing and sadness of contemporary life in capitalist America. He also has a firm grasp of form. The middle section of the book is told in a different style than the rest, and is very affecting, as a result. What we learn about that middle section at the end has a way of actually increasing the power of the book as whole, instead of cheapening it, which is impressive. I look forward to what this young author writes in the future.

    [A final note about the book. Much of the book is told in an unusual fashion. It's a kind of unassigned first person. As opposed to third person ("he/she/they"), or even second person ("you"), first person is a style of voice ("I") that usually draws the reader in, as your narrator is generally a character within the story, relating events as he or she remembers or experiences them. In this case the identity of the first person narrator is never revealed, and relates the events of the story from the perspective of one of the office workers who is never named or addresses by anyone else in the novel. Everything is explained or related as "we did this," or "we gossiped about that." This technique, while interesting, I found very difficult to like. Instead of being drawn in, I felt I had no real anchor in the story, no protagonist to follow. And, because I didn't like the people being described--in fact, I found them shallow and even despicable, at times--and the narrative voice seemed complicit with them, I wanted to reject the book outright. I'm glad I hung on, as that initial revulsion waned with time and perspective on the events and individuals being described. Ferris's skill as a storyteller won me over, but man, it was rough going in the beginning.]
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really want to give this book 3 1/2. It's not quite 4 star quality to me but it's definitely a 7/10. I think this book was most intriguing to me because I don't actually work in an office but I can imagine those who do finding it irritatingly accurate. I think the wryness is overestimated though and more subtle...it explores humans and their personalities and fears about job security and Cancer more than anything else. I also liked it a little more because it took place in downtown Chicago at a marketing/advertising firm.


    I think if you love watching The Office, you might also like this. It really just overall succeeded in making me feel like I was glad I didn't actually work in one.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    'Literary' Shenanigans

    Up until the very end, even through the last few chapters about Tom, I wanted to give it three. Although that still may have been generous.

    I didn't mind the first person plural point of view, ultimately, at least until the last sentence. Until that last sentence I didn't feel any need to be included in the 'we'. I'm good at distancing myself, so if you want me to include me in your point of view, well, you'd better let me know.

    Why was there a short story right in the middle? It went from plural first person past tense, to close second person present tense! Not to mention, in the middle of that, a paragraph in second person past tense.

    Some of it was fun, little was particularly insightful, and of the huge cast of characters, all were entirely shallow and conventional. None of them took me by surprise, even Tom---because that just seemed ridiculous. Lynn was interesting, until we got her perspective.

    Mostly, just too long, I think. And no build up to the end, which just sort of ended. And until the very very last page, I still didn't mind too much, though I didn't exactly like it. Just. Annoying.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Some hilarious bits, lots to remind me why I ran screaming from office work. Enjoyable book but far too long.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'm not quite sure why everyone talks about how hilarious this book is because it really isn't that funny. The characters are often annoying with the way they latch onto the most mundane and ridiculous details in their small office. However, I could relate deeply because anyone who works in a office setting knows that people are often like that. There were a couple of characters I was genuinely interested in, but it seemed like the book focused on everyone else more.

    In the end, not one of my favorite books, but I can see why it got such rave critical reviews.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If you've ever worked in an office or watched either Office Space, or the Office, then this book is for you!Right from the start this book is hilarious! Written mostly in dialogue, this book perfectly captures the true essence and vibrance of the office workspace. The plot is captured in the day to day pranks, gossip, and regimes of the work space grind. Definitely a must read, and an extremely poignant first novel from Joshua Ferris!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great look at cubicle culture. Took me back to my days working for The Man.

    This book plays a lot with the relationship of the individual to the group. Written from the point of view of a limited omniscient "We", the group actually becomes a character separate from the individuals that constitute it.

    There's also some play with what we make public about ourselves and what we keep secret (and how sometimes those things we intend to be secret become public) and with the way that being part of a group can keep reinforcing one version of ourselves and keep us stuck and unable to grow beyond that one version.

    The group needs predictability. Branching out from who the group thinks we are is not acceptable.

    At any rate, I really enjoyed reading this book. I was somewhat surprised to find that it is a first novel. I would have thought it was written by someone with a few more books under his belt.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I don't think this should have been a finalist for the National Book Award, but it was pretty good. There were parts where I had to laugh, yes out loud, at some of the ridiculousness that went on in the workplace, but I took it as a satirical piece. There were also tragic moments that dealt with being alone in a group; work people don't necessarily mean friends.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed this innovative look at life in an office. It is written in the first person plural, which conveys the sense of being part of a group and/or a small unit inside a large organization. The characters are interesting and quirky, but real. The book is humourous, at times, but also portrays the effects of lay offs and illness. It's the kind of book that drew me in deeper and deeper as I got further into the story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of my favorite books from my reading this past year. Have you seen the television show, The Office? This novel resembles that show in its sensibility and humor. Told through the ever-tricky collective first person. Joshua Ferris imbues these everyday people with melancholy, humor, and even small acts of heroism.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It took a while for me to care about the characters, and the "we" perspective seemed kind of gimmicky, especially at the very end, but, overall, it was pretty entertaining.Yeah, you have to struggle through the broad, jumping charicatures of the first half of the book, but the second half is actually engaging and rewarding. I'm not sure whether it was because the chronology calmed down or because the characters finally became people and not just names, but it eventually worked.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Are you a fan of movies like Office Space? Or TV shows like The Office or Community? Then this is a book for you.I was assigned Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris for a course I took last semester. We were supposed to be studying the workplace, as the course was to prepare us for going out into the workplace. We had to write resumes, figure out how life would be handled, how we would fit into these new things (to most of them) called careers. Granted, I'd been in an office environment as I'm a non-traditional student, but it was interesting to see how accurately it was portrayed in this book.Then We Came to the End is filled with a mix-match of characters all facing the dreaded lay-off. There's rumors, speculation, arguments, threats, tears, laughter, fights with office equipment and everything you'd expect, especially if you have worked in any sort of office environment over the last ten years. But mixed in with all this contemporary life are histories of various characters and personal, intimate looks at them through either the words of another, or their own words. It gets confusing at times and I won't lie - the book is hard to follow most of the time as a result, but it's a valid, interesting read and one that makes sense to give to college kids about to embark on their post-college lives.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was surprised I liked this book. I tend to like fluffier reading, one where I know a happy ending is in sight or one that I can at least assume it will have one. This one wasn't like that - for almost the entire book I was wondering where it would go, how it would end. Even then, the ending came from left field. In a very good way though.I'm fortunate to have met Joshua Ferris, as he is an alumnus of my university. A brilliant writer reflected in his brilliant book. The detail he captures and describes an Ad agency in is flawless, a genuine mix of irony with the type of truth none of us really want to admit. On occasion I became lost with all the characters and each story attached, but it was worth it to push through.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'm going to keep this short. I liked the book pretty well and liked it quite a lot at the beginning. However, the initial cleverness became . . . borderline stale, I suppose would be the best way for me to describe it. I never quit liking it entirely, but it started to drag.Luckily, there is a middle section mentioned in other reviews--it's obvious when you read it--that was quite engaging. And it popped up at the perfect time, when I really was starting to feel like the story was grinding to a halt, and it pulled me back into things and was compelling enough to push me through to the end. Which I also liked.So overall, I'm giving it a strong three stars. But ultimately, I think Ferris's second book, The Unnamed, is better. I read that first and I have to say that reading Then We Came To The End really showed how far forward Ferris jumped with his second novel. This novel was entertaining and showed Ferris's promise, but The Unnamed really manifests that promise. Check it out if you enjoyed this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book was an enjoyable read. I think that it accurately describes the situation of anyone who works in a job they don't really like, whether that job is in an office or not. I certainly could relate...Very funny. Good read. I look forward to more from the author.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Compared with The Virgin Suicides, this is the collective narrator done well. 'We' recollect the workplace drudgery in a sort of cross between Catch-22 and Office Space, with gags aplenty. There a few bum notes to knock it down, but I look forward to the rest of Ferris's work.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I should give it 5 stars, I think, but it is hard to tell whether this is a book that will improve with time in my memory or lose some luster (so I'm not giving the 5th star). The closest book I've read to this one would be "Everything is Illuminated", but the Safran Foer book lost some of its spirit for me about halfway through, while this one kept its strength in keen character development and sharp dialogue throughout.My one complaint would be that the time continuity that Ferris plays with throughout the book is a bit of a roller coaster in the first third of the book, and while this may have been an intentional literary device of sorts, I was distracted by the dislocated timings more than I think necessary. But that's such a minor complaint that I'm surprised that I wrote about it here. Maybe it will help keep those who are more sensitive to time-motion-sickness to push on through, knowing that the book will settle down and, IMHO, is well worth the read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Many readers will probably accuse Joshua Ferris of hitching his debut novel to a cheap gimmick. Narration in the second person plural? C'mon! Part of me wants to argue that this shifting of narrative perspective is merely one step in a natural progression. Narrators who make friends with their audience while they tell them their stories go back at least as far as "The Brothers Karamazov;" what Ferris has done here is move this familiar, ingratiating narrator-friend closer to the center of the story's action. The nameless storyteller is both a convenient vehicle for his (or her) story and a participant in it, although because they are never named, they are denied any particular agency. Our passive, elephant-memoried storyteller expresses no real opinions of his or her own and always goes along with the crowd, so, in a sense, using the second-person plural makes perfect sense. It's a testament to Mr. Ferris's skill that "Then We Came to the End" reads so naturally and is so much fun to read. And it really is funny. There's a lot of workplace humor around lately, from "Dilbert" to "The Office," but Stephen King's mention of "Catch-22" in his blurb is spot-on. Ferris seems to have, like Joseph Heller did, an eagle eye's view for the mechanics of organization-wide ridiculousness. He's also got an easy, shaggy storytelling manner that suits his material. He's not afraid of big words, necessarily, but he never lets them get in the way of a good yarn. Some readers, I think, will question Ferris's decision to include a first-person interlude, written from the perspective of an ad executive battling cancer, in the middle of all the good fun, but I won't second-guess him here. They author may have wanted to prove to readers and critics that he could play it straight, of course, but this section also effectively shows the limitations of gossip, work friendships, and the perspective he uses for the rest of the book. Ferris's anonymous narrator is full of stories, but seldom manages to see the objects of his or her gossip for who they are. Co-workers die, they get fired, they get married, they live mysterious lives on the weekend. When people move on from their workplace, they hardly seem to leave a trace. "Then We Came to the End" isn't exactly a "work sucks" manifesto, but I think that Ferris is slyly arguing that the American obsession with work doesn't really bring us much closer to our workmates in human terms. Indeed, when he introduces a talented, successful author memorializes a colleague in the novel's last pages, I think he's making a case that fiction might still be the best way to figure out what's inside of others, and of ourselves, too.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It's easy to identify with the characters because they are so everyday. These are the people you work with, the people you know only to say hello to at the bus stop. Scratch the surface and you find dramas and comedys that you understand because they are the same ones you have had, or hope never to have.Nice easy summer read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    (Adding this to my library now though I read it some time ago--this title just now showed up as a recommendation and I want to confirm that yes, it's a good recommendation. ;-)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I see that the subject heading for this book is Fiction-Clerks-Chicago, which is odd, because it's about the people at an ad agency which is, yes, in Chicago. How do creative people react to the loss of their jobs or the deep anxiety as others around them lose theirs? Some of this book is very funny, some of it is painful. I'm really glad Joshua Ferris wrote it and we had a good discussion at my book club.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
     At first I thought I was going to hate this book. Why? The first person plural - I think that is the right term anyway - by which I mean rather than the third person or the regular first person use of "I", this book is written from the perspective of "we". I find this hard to get to grips with - I want to know exactly who is speaking and this devise stops that from ever being reveal. But actually it is appropriate here in a book about the workplace and the collective mentality of employees. It is set in a Chicago advertising agency in 2001, where a first wave of redundancies has started and everyone is fearing for their job. What starts of seeming incredibly mundane (who afterall really wants to spend any more time in a dull workplace after all day in a real one themselves?) comes to life as gradually individual personalities shine through the collective voice. And for all the detail about meeting procedures, redundancy, gossip and office etiquette etc, quite a lot does actually happen here - this is a workplace affected by cancer and the murder of a child, depression and threats of violence, as well as the usual rumour of office romance. In the end, I did quite enjoy it, although I would question the reviews that describe it as funny.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Then We Came To The End is written for everyone who has ever calculated the psychological effect of taking lunch an hour later on Fridays, so that the end of the week is that much closer upon returning from lunch. For those who have established countdowns in hours until they have reached the number of hours necessary for a qualification/promotion/escape. For those who have put sticky tape over the trackball of a colleague’s old-fashioned computer mouse in order to provide the office with entertainment for a few minutes.Joshua Ferris encapsulates the tedium of daily life in a faceless, soulless corporation, rivalry with colleagues, the pervading fear when lay-offs are rumoured, loyalty born of affection to a terrifying boss and the importance of the right kind of tea. His office workers are obsessive, arrogant, insane, depressive, tortured by tragedy, incompetent, orthographically challenged and aloof. There is no plot – the characters render it unnecessary.My only criticism is that it has not aged well – the lay-offs are in late 2001, after 9/11 and the dotcom bust, but seem anachronistic given the financial chaos in 2008-09.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    While this plot might be ostensibly boring, the characters are so quirky and the life is so real that it fascinates. Office life has never been so vividly painted.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I don't have much ground to complain about corporate wage-slavery these days and I didn't really have to pay my dues all that much in the past. Three years at a very small publishing company, then part-time there and at that terribly well-known search engine LookSmart until I got dot-commed in January 2001. Teaching has its own cliches and characters, but there's not tons of overlap.But damn if this book didn't give me a conference-room anxiety dream as if it were YESTERDAY. Man, is this book pitch-perfect. It's told in the first person plural, which takes about two pages to get used to and then draws you in as if you're part of the company, an ad agency that had its own dot-com heydey and is now starting layoffs and other morale-killers. For me, the author gets everything right: how disproportionately triumphant small work successes can make you feel, how sometimes your co-workers -- even the ones you hate -- are closer than your family, how everyone knows everything that happens even when no one tells, the jokes and stories people tell each other over and over again ... it's just Spot On. This isn't a great book -- it's more of a novelty in its conception and execution -- and maybe it spoke to my own experiences because of an ad agency's similarity to publishing (the "creatives" who can't be held accountable for their craziness and the management that used to be going somewhere) but I don't think anyone who's ever done time in a cubicle, clipped a Dilbert cartoon, or watched "Office Space" more than twice would fail to recognize themselves in this.Plus funny!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I heard the author being interviewed on the radio a couple of years ago, talking about the unique way this novel is narrated (mainly first person plural) which he referred to as 'group think'. At the time I thought it sounded like a gimmick too far, but having read the book I've changed my mind, it's actually a great way to tell a story. Not only does it put the reader right inside the group without narrowing itself to just one person's viewpoint, it also demonstrates tribal behaviour the way big groups of people decide, by unspoken consensus, that certain people do not conform to group norms and will therefore be excluded.Anyone who has ever worked in an office will recognise the office politics, running jokes, obsessions with each other's private lives, general triv ia and work-avoidance tactics. Theres tremendous humour - I particularly liked the ongoing saga of the swopped chairs - as well as startling profundity. Set in a big office during an economic downturn, where everyone is in fear of losing their job (or as the novel puts it 'being shitcanned'), it is also very topical.