Then We Came to the End

By: Joshua Ferris

Narrated by: Deanna Hurst

Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

An astounding debut novel, wickedly funny and big-hearted, about life in the office, signals the arrival of a gloriously talented new writer.

No one knows us quite the same way as the men and women who sit beside us in department meetings and crowd the office refrigerator with their labeled yogurts. Every office is a family of sorts, and the Chicago ad agency Joshua Ferris brilliantly depicts in his debut novel is family at its strangest and best.

The characters in Then We Came to an End cope with a business downturn in the time-honored way: through gossip, secret romance, elaborate pranks, and increasingly frequent coffee breaks. As one colleague after another is seen "walking Spanish down the hall" (office shorthand for being fired), the survivors obsessively parse their bosses' decisions - when they're not competing for the best office furniture left behind or trying to make sense of the mysterious pro-bono ad campaign that is their only remaining "work".

Joshua Ferris has a demon's eye for the details and emotions that make up our lives, and he has written a hilarious and moving novel about the strange selves we become when we walk through the office doors each day.

©2007 Joshua Ferris (P)2007 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Heartfelt and delivered in solemn deadpan. It may even be, in its own modest way, a great American novel." (Darcy Cosper, Los Angeles Times)

"Wildly funny....At once delightfully freakish and entirely credible, Ferris' cast makes a real impression." ( Publishers Weekly)

"It's hilarious in a Catch-22 way, but with an undercurrent of sadness that works counterpoint to all the absurdity." (Stephen King)

Book is *Significantly* Abridged

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Should have purchased an unabridged version. The book is excellent. Felt somewhat cheated since it wasn't clear how much of the original book was missing until I read the paperback version.

What was most disappointing about Joshua Ferris’s story?

It is a superb story from a talented writer. It's just this Audible version isn't worth purchasing due to the way the book was edited.

Would you be willing to try another one of Deanna Hurst’s performances?

Yes

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

The heavy-handed editing made me angry. The book itself is poignant, funny, surprising and truly worth reading UNABRIDGED.

Any additional comments?

Audible should really give some indication as to how much a book is altered from the original.

Poor Judgement on the Part of the Abridgers

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The reader is poor and the abridged version takes out some of the most important parts of the book. I felt cheated when I found out what I missed.

ABRIDGED - Don’t bother

This audiobook is an abridged version of the story (without any warning from Audible). The only reason I knew I missed out on major themes/storylines is because I was reading it as part of a book club.

Why is so much skipped?

I often listen to audiobooks as I read the book. This specific audiobook isn’t advertised as abridged… but it is.

Even before the first chapter, there are paragraphs and sometimes pages completely skipped. In my view, some of the skipped material is the funniest of the book. Super disappointed with this audiobook.

Not because of the reader… or the author… but because of whoever decided the audiobook needed to not be the actual book.

Lame.

Worthless

If I could have given it zero stars, I would have. There was no character development at all. I think the author expected that because the main character was sick we would have an empathy.

Doesn’t tell full book

I like to listen and read along to books to keep my attention up and when I was reading along the story would skip ahead a lot missing pages and pages of story who h I absolutely hate.

This is not the whole book

Audiobook skips over hundreds of pages at a time, leaves out SO MUCH of the actual book!!! Don’t waste your money!