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Then We Came To The End - Joshua Ferris - Book Group discussion thread

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Columba Sep 2019 9:43pm, 23 Sep 2019 18,478 posts	Quote Pin Columba Oh, yes. Those chairs and their serial numbers. Loved that. Was The Office a book as well as a television series? I saw some of the TV series, and while I could see it was "good" I didn't like it because the characters were not likeable. Youngest Son rocked with laughter at it, while I was just thinking "I don't like all these nasty people, I wish they'd go away".
Serendippily Sep 2019 11:10pm, 23 Sep 2019 14,139 posts	Quote Pin Serendippily There were not many echoes of a smug gervais for me. At Macmillan we went from free coffee and tea and luncheon vouchers in Covent Garden to a subsidised drinks machine in an industrial estate outside Basingstoke as the credit crunch bit. This book reminded me of all that
Peregrinator Sep 2019 12:14am, 24 Sep 2019 184 posts	Quote Pin Peregrinator I reckon I'm always going to have problems with a story that starts with herds of characters and no obvious central ones. Give us a clue in the title and make sure the main subject is clear early on. Worked for Dickens, worked for Hardy, worked for Henry James... So this was a struggle to keep going, and if it wasn't that we were to be examined on it, I might have stopped. I did realise that the storyline was taken from Agatha Christie's "And then there were none", so at one point I cheated and looked toward the end of the book to see who I should be interested in. But it got much more engaging at the point of Lynn's illness, and the way that affected the crowd behaviour, and split them more into individuals. My main criticism was of the cover quotes, which all describe the book as varying degrees of very funny. Certainly not laugh aloud funny: a bit wry maybe. I've never worked with "creatives" and my only knowledge of cubicle life comes from Dilbert cartoons. So maybe I'm so far out I missed the in-jokes. Did anyone else laugh out-loud while reading this? The way its written gave the book a cosier feel, but made me wonder who these people were in the story - were they at all the meetings and discussions, and just not say anything? Was the whole thing written that way just to give a neat ending, and a handy title? In practice it wasn't a problem, and slides the story along. But please, when we are chatting, can you avoid words like "gelid", "tumid", "sequestered" and "egregious"? That's just not how we talk is it?
Columba Sep 2019 4:56pm, 24 Sep 2019 18,482 posts	Quote Pin Columba Peregrinator - I laughed at the to-ings and fro-ings with the serial-numbered chairs. But other than that, yes, wry is a good description of the book's humour. I smiled a lot. Usually I get lost in books with a lot of characters, and sometimes even keep a note of which page each new character is introduced on; but for some reason I managed to keep track of these ones. I don't think "who these people were" is important. They were everybody and anybody. That's why I particularly appreciated the final sentence.
Love Lettuce Sep 2019 5:09pm, 24 Sep 2019 507 posts	Quote Pin Love Lettuce I completely agree about the characters being everyone and anyone. Except poor Lynn - she's clearly not one of us. The thing that stuck with me from the first time I read the book was that I kept trying to count which characters appeared in which scenes, so that I could figure out who the 'we' of 'us' was. I really liked the last sentence. I was worried that re-reading the book I wouldn't enjoy it as much, but it stood up to a repeat visit. Like Serendippily, there were echoes of my first job which made it relatable. Although not in a creative industry, I started working as the credit crunch bit and 1/3 of my team got laid off within the first 6 months. I've also witnessed a variant on the chair saga play out in another workplace - although it was taken to the extreme of someone bringing in a chain and padlock to prevent the chair from being taken.
Columba Sep 2019 9:50pm, 24 Sep 2019 18,486 posts	Quote Pin Columba LOL, Lettuce. I can well believe that. Thank you for choosing the book. Joe Pope also is clearly not One Of Us.
Peregrinator Sep 2019 11:15pm, 24 Sep 2019 188 posts	Quote Pin Peregrinator Columba: thanks for the thought about Hank and Lynne and Martin - interesting. I guess I had just accepted that it was an excursion where the notion of we really didn't work. So Hank felt a bit like a device to bring everyone together, you would make him much more integral. And yes - I should've been more methodical in following the people, rather than huffily noting down the words I wouldn't use Thanks to Love Lettuce for choosing - definitely a good read.
Columba Sep 2019 10:17pm, 25 Sep 2019 18,489 posts	Quote Pin Columba In Hank's account Lynn has breast cancer. But towards the end of the book she is reported as having ovarian cancer.
Little Nemo Oct 2019 4:18pm, 5 Oct 2019 9,682 posts	Quote Pin Little Nemo A book by an author I'd never heard of and probably one I wouldn't have picked up if it hadn't been chosen for the book club. Thank you Love Lettuce for choosing it, I have a new author to look out for I found it an odd read to start with as it uses 1st person plural narration and had spoilers in the chapter headings. I did wonder if I was going to be able to stick with it but gradually it won me over. It was funny and true. I was sad to finish it although it has one of the better endings of books that I've read recently, almost perfect. If you've ever worked in an office environment you will recognise these characters! It captured almost perfectly the feuds and friendships, the in-fights and grudges and how it all fades away when people leave. My favourite part was the long running saga of the chairs, possibly because my old office had a chair story. When we meet up for reunions it still occasionally gets trotted out again so we can laugh about it. Maybe every office has a chair story? The only criticism (and it's very slight) is that it was difficult to keep hold of all the characters. And I'm not sure about the change of pace in the middle where the author changes style for the cancer story line. It's well written but I thought it broke the flow. I gave this book an 8
Bazoaxe Oct 2019 8:27pm, 8 Oct 2019 15,360 posts	Quote Pin Bazoaxe I started out liking this, but by the end I just wanted to be finished but couldnt really face spending time reading it and so it dragged on to completion eventually last night.