Then We Came to the End - Joshua Ferris

The first bit of this book is like Seinfeld, in that it's totally about nothing - all the ins and outs and relentless tedium of working in an office - and totally hilarious. This one line near the beginning, where the narrator says, apropos of nothing, 'There seemed to be only the one electric pencil sharpener in the whole damn place.' And I only worked in an office for three months, and we didn't need any electric pencil sharpeners because all we had were computers and head-sets, but I worked at a restaurant for THREE YEARS and we NEVER had enough check presenters (the thing you put a check in before you give it to the table), and so staff would hoard them. You'd stuff them in your apron pocket, and wedge them between the small of your back and your tied apron springs, which, I understand, is totally not the same thing, but it still made me nod my head and go, 'Yeah dude. Yeah.'

Ferris' characters are all hilarious and quirky, with little gimmicks to help you remember who's who in what seems like it's just going to be a rambly collection of office tales, which, for the record, I would have been totally fine with. I was giggling and shaking my head and saying to myself, 'Man, I WORKED with that guy. Dude, hey, I worked with you!!,' so it was all good. The basic gist of the plot is that this advertising business is going under-ish, and people are being let go with agonizing slowness. Firings are fun.

But then somewhere around the middle (ok, not somewhere, but in this exact one spot, and I can't tell you where but you'll know it when you get there) they all stop being hilarious, Office Space-style caricatures and become real people. Like, sympathetic people. 3-dimensional people (personal tidbit: I only see in 2-D, which is why I can't do those lousy Magic Eye thingies). People that you kind of start to care about, and who start going through difficult things, and who you want to shield from those things (but, and I'm not going to lie, sometimes you're so thrilled by the crazy shit that's going down that you can't help but rubberneck). And it's sweet and it's still funny, but it becomes incredibly touching.

And quite a bit has been made about the bizarro omniscient first-person narrative - like, this guy is EVERYwhere, and hears EVERYthing, even what's said behind closed doors, but no one ever references him and he never speaks except to you, the reader - but I loved it. I love a first person narrative, because I'm all, 'Yeah, buddy? And then what happened' but I love an omniscient narrator because I WANT to know everything, so this worked out just fine for me. I actually remember reading that this bothered someone, and it was one of you, so fess up and let's agree to disagree.

Eight caterpillars.