I don't know how I made it to the end - Rated 
To see if it got any better, I guess. My apologies to the author, but I did not find any humour in this turgid 'story' whatsoever. It didn't get any better, either, by the way, in my opinion, of course. There were too many names to remember therefore I didn't begin to care about any of them. The text jerks from one place to the next so that I didn't know whose 'story' I was following, and there isn't really a story to follow. This is the second book I have bought from the "Richard & Judy" book club awards list and the second I have been disappointed with. My recommendation for this lame tale of office life is to read it when you are finding it difficult to go to sleep.
like working a sunny bank holiday week-end. - Rated
you wouldn't wish to do that, just as you wouldn't wish to read this.
banal, cliched, pointless - a bit like work really - avoid
good but not hilarious - Rated 
"funny" ... "VERY funny" ... "PAINFULLY funny" ... "darkly funny" ... "the comedy debut of the year".
the book promotes itself as something absolutely hilarious. this must be a mistake, because it simply isn't.
what is IS though is quite entertaining, more than readable and very well written.
the plot, if i could find one, could not be summed up in a paragraph, because basically NOTHING MUCH HAPPENS. and i suppose that's the point. the protagonists seem to spend their days at work gossiping about others, judging how they act, interfering with them, misinterpreting what they say, and generally indulging in all the petty and senseless activities that office workers tend to do when they're not working.
overall, i found this book to be fairly absorbing, although my sides remained unsplit.
Steer clear - Extremely Dull - Rated
I very rarely give up on a book but three quarters of the way through this one I had to admit defeat. There isn't really any plot - just the interaction of a dull bunch of office workers. Extremely tedious.
I was hoping for a cleverly constructed witty read and what I found was an inane ramble on office life. Richard (of Richard and Judy) described it as very amusing with similarities in style with Catch 22. Nothing like it!!!
Insightful and enjoyable, if not amazing - Rated 
I picked this book out as it kind of grabbed me from the shelf, and ahving read the blurb on the back cover it sounded interesting, as I used to work in an office and the opportunity to read how someone has interpreted this kind of day to day monotony really struck me as an interesting idea, worth reading.
We have an anonymous insider's view of the people and goings on at an advertising company. Mainly though it is the people that the book concerns itself with. I found it enjoyable to read, certainly worth reading, didn't take a long time or much effort to read, and liked the range of characters Joshua Ferris introduces, and the way he portrays their sniping and antagonism and also affection and even love for each other. Also it made me think about how life is in an office, and how you think you know some colleagues well, yet how much do you really know about them even when you spend so much time with them during the working week. And also when someone leaves, how that parting is and whether they are missed.
So this novel has an interesting viewpoint and is a nice fresh read, there are some funny moments, and some sad, but I wouldn't choose it as my favourite book this year.
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