This image was lost some time after publication.

Sometimes, debut authors astonish us with their ability to channel the voices of the past or to invent new universes out of whole cloth. Joshua Ferris, who worked at a Chicago ad agency toward the end of the dot com boom and whose book, Then We Came To The End is about working in a Chicago ad agency toward the end of the dot com boom, is not one of those novelists. But the book is still pretty good! It's Josh's attitude that sucks.

One Christmas party, I got really wasted on the top of the John Hancock building. I made a mess of myself in the restroom, getting sick all over the place. And those poor saps helped me take the elevator down, all 95 floors. I thank them for that.

Those "poor saps" are totally like "you're welcome, and also you're welcome for all the material," we're sure.

Cubicle Bard [NYM]