Then We Came to the End

Monday Night Book Discussions

"THEN WE CAME TO THE END"
(written by Joshua Ferris)

Salina Public Library

Salina, KS

© Lydia Lowe  2/11/2013

      I started out by reading some of the blurbs written about the book and when I came to the one that said that this book was “As funny as The Office”, I almost put the book down and gave up.  I can’t stand that show.  Fortunately, I didn’t let a blurb dictate what I was going to read.

     This book was really hard to get in to and I would read for a while and then put it away.  As I did, I would see the title of the book and wonder when I would finally “come to the end” because it seemed to me that this book was never going to end.  Yet there it was every time I put the book down, promising me that I had come to the end.  

     Everything about the book was pointless and appeared to be a waste of time to read.  There were a few humorous points in the book.  There was Chris Yop who continued to show up for work after he was fired to make copies of his resume so he could find another job and then later on, when he dismantled the office chair; Tom Mota and the gun that turned out to be a paint ball gun; Brizz’s totem pole that he left to Benny and the ever increasing storage bills.

     But it was hard to read about Janine Gorjanc and her kidnapped daughter who was found dead; Lynn Mason and Martin Grant who both finally realize something about the other during Lynn’s breast cancer scare; Carl Garbedian who self-medicates with disastrous results.

     Clearly, Joshua Ferris, the author, has talent.  He writes with passion in a believable style and parts of this book were true gems.  My hope is that he finds a different editor who tightens up his prose so that the book isn’t so unwieldy.