This is the one about us.
The novel Then We Came To The End by Joshua Ferris is written in the first person plural…therefore, I will write my post reviewing this novel in the first person plural:
We found Ferris’ novel sitting on the shelves of the used bookstore in Mesa. Even though we try not to do so, we often judge books by their covers. We tried to pick up the book and read it, but were soon distracted by something more juicy. Eventually, without anything else to read, we read the book about gossip in a failing ad agency of the 1990s.
Most of us thought that this was a rather tedious book to read. Others enjoyed the funny stories about office affairs and pro-bono cancer advertisements. But the general consensus was that it was a clever idea to write a book in the first person plural…but the novelty ran out around page 100.
We all agreed that it felt like we were reading a gimmick. Like this novel was some creative writing exercise assigned to a 20-something in his creative writing course at the community college.
When Ferris wrote this novel, he created some good characters with an intriguing plot, but you don’t get too involved in anyone’s life. You never get to know any of them. If you asked Mike Lawson, he would tell you to not waste your time on this book. But then again, how often do we agree with Mike Lawson?
I’m about to jump into another James Patterson novel, Roses Are Red. Which is in the Detective Alex Cross series. Don’t judge me.
Sometimes I need a palate cleanser, and James Patterson does that for me. I’m not going to knock his books (hell, I read all of them) but there is something superficial about his stories that make them a mind-numbingly easy read.
December 28th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Working in a stereotypical office, we’d thought it might be an interesting book to read and relate to when we picked it up. We soon discovered we agreed with Mike Lawson on his description. The whole thing was rather flat and unexciting.