Dear Summer Readers, An Assignment You Will Enjoy:
About a year ago I touted George Saunders' In Persuasion Nation, a collection of short stories set in a world not far distant in time from our own in which life is not as we know it, in large part because of advertising.
I repeat my suggestion of its surpassing worth.
Here is another work of fiction to stand next to it.
Different.
Wonderful.
It's a first novel by a guy who had to have worked in a Chicago ad agency in the last decade.
His book is fiction but he gets the directions right on Michigan Avenue--even down to the irresistable pull of the PotBelly Sandwich Shop in Illinois Center.
It's a book about people at an office in which the characters are humans, not caricatures.
Great sentences.
I finished it at the beach.
Goes down like a slush margarita.
I repeat my suggestion of its surpassing worth.
Here is another work of fiction to stand next to it.
Different.
Wonderful.
It's a first novel by a guy who had to have worked in a Chicago ad agency in the last decade.His book is fiction but he gets the directions right on Michigan Avenue--even down to the irresistable pull of the PotBelly Sandwich Shop in Illinois Center.
It's a book about people at an office in which the characters are humans, not caricatures.
Great sentences.
I finished it at the beach.
Goes down like a slush margarita.
posted by Fenske at Monday, June 11, 2007
21 Comments:
Hi, Mark. I'm Angela, nice to meet you. I've been enjoying catching up on your posts. I'm a 23-year old copywriter in Detroit.
I found the book depressing, although it did make me laugh out loud. I just hope life in advertising is not like the book portrayed. I shelved it halfway through last night, but I'll give it another shot (on a beach somewhere).
Dear Angela,
No, advertising isn't like the book portrays. Life is like the book though. The book nails life, I think, in the ways a novel can. What happens in it isn't going to happen to you per se. But what happens in the characters is happening inside you and the people you know. That's what a novel can do--show you your life. Forget the book is about advertising. Advertising isn't life.
Hey Mark, my name's Matt and I'm a CD in NY. I also read this book and found it a little tough to get into. Perhaps because the subject matter and the characters seemed all too familiar. Another great book that nails the advertising world dead-on is "e" by Matt Beaumont. Beaumont is a London-based writer who also comes to us from the advertising ranks. The book is a few years old but if you can get your hands on one I think you'll enjoy it. The entire book is written in the form of e-mails, as a fictional London ad agency prepares for the biggest pitch of their lives. Funny and scary accurate. Enjoy.
This book starts and ends amazingly. For me, the middle gets tedious. But keep faith! At the end, I had a completely fresh perspective on my job. It made me more willing to accept failure, because look at these people at this made up agency! They're just like me!
Since Ferris started as an ad guy, he got me, but he went back to school to get people, which is something I want to aspire to.
He did nail some of advertising's contradictory philosohpies. One example passage, “We respected the intelligence of the American public, which is why we had ads like Cold Sore Guy and the Talking Llama.”
So Fenske, did you bond with the character who quoted Emerson?
Here's an interview on NPR unfairly titled "An Agency Escapee Takes Aim at the Ad Biz."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9775501
God I kinda wish I wrote this book.
Dear Mr Polo,
There are more readers of Emerson than you'd think. Just not enough of them in the government I guess. Am I nuts or did the author give his best sentences to the least likely character--Tom? I found myself walking out in the hallway at school to read his email rants to whoever was walking by. How about the guy's uncle with the creative creatives creating creatively line. Took us down a justifiable peg there, eh?
Mark,
I don't think I'm going to read this book. Even though it might be great. And I know it's probably well writen, because you recommended it.
The problem I have with reading books like this, is that it's one person telling me what they think about advertising or life in general. Joshua is a different person than I am. He probably doesn't love the Taco Bell commercials with the talking lions. He might be a White Sox fan, which is a sad situation.
And right now, I don't want people to tell me what they think or try to change my mind in any way, even though I'm young and naive and stupid. I need to think for my self and maybe write a book of my own. But not about advertising, because I don't know enough.
You may have already read it, but I recommend the book Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgeman. It tells you the answer to every important question in existence. No opinions, just facts. And that's why it's great. You might want to check it out.
I'm back in the Marshal Field's-less suburbs of Chicago. I didn't get a chance to come to your office and shake your hand and tell you that I appreciate everything you've done. I would probably be a slightly different person if I were to have never met you. Thanks.
-Nate
Dear Nate,
A novel set in and around an ad agency is not a book about advertising. Don't live in fear. You've got an advanced degree. And despite how little help I was to you in the maturation process, you are nevertheless required after graduation to put on the vestments of adulthood an advanced degree hints you've earned. Read the book, friend, you'll dig it.
Nate, do you need a hug? Come 'er you!
To anyone who runs into a Potbelly,
Order the wreck. Peppers on the side. Bag of chips.
Chocolate shake. They slide two small sugar cookies on the straw of the shake.
Usually there's a man rocking acoustic guitar in the rafters. Nice little lunch.
Potbelly is expanding throughout the midwest. I'm looking for its San Francisco equivalent. As well as an Italian Beef sandwich. And a hot dog that comes with a garden on top. And a decent slice of pizza. Ya know, the kind where after two slices you wish you had worn your old, grey gym sweats. Chicago will get ya fat, but you'll never hear your stomach complain.
Don't you hate when you turn to the last page of a book and find that the author is 35 years old and also handsome? Damn you, Ferris.
Dear Andre,
I am not interested in how handsome an author is. Neither are you. What you do show evidence of is a belief the good work done by someone else has an effect on the work you do. It does not. Not in novel writing, not in advertising, not in anything except how many hot dogs you eat when there's only two left. There is not a limit to how much good can be made. I bring this up in a site devoted mostly to advertising because so many of us ad students, ad grads, and people who work in the business labor under the impression that someone else doing well lowers the esteem they themselves are held in. Nope. No effect. Go write good and stop looking in mirrors, kid, you're beautiful.
all this talk of hot dogs is making me hungry for chicago. rarely has boyd steered anyone wrong on matters of filling the small intestine. though i would say that while 'the wreck' from potbelly is quite tasty, it could be rivaled by a fat tire and grilled cheese from southport lanes which, as boyd would attest, warms you like a hug from your grandmother.
i wouldn't mind seeing a jimmy john's in richmond sometime soon.
Hi Mark,
I’m enjoying the whole summer reading list discussion. For starters, it reminded me that a friend who works in London gave me “e” years ago and it’s still in the stack of books to read next, next to my bed. Need to move it from the bottom of the stack to the top.
About “Then We Came to the End”.
My neighbor (not in the business) brought this book over about a month ago. He picked it up based on a review, loved it, and thought my husband and I (both in the business) would love it too. As he dropped it off he said, “You’re both in this book.”
He got that part right.
Too right. I’m now thinking the reason I couldn’t get beyond 100 pages may be because I worked at several of the Chicago agencies he dissects and brought too much six degrees of separation baggage to the table to enjoy it. I put it down after the Great Chair Affair tale because having already lived through that episode in reality; I had no interest in revisiting it. (In a case of mistaken identity, my totally innocent chair was dragged into that whole serial number checking fiasco)
I like the idea of starting the book over and focusing on the life stories instead of the ad stories. You reminded me that my favorite ad novel written by a guy who used to be in advertising who isn’t anymore, wasn’t really about our business either. (That would be “Dry”, by Augusten Burroughs)
I have to re-read “In Cold Blood” by Sunday but based on the discussion here I’ll give “Then We Came to the End” a second chance. Besides, I owe it to Bear Claw (the world’s greatest neighbor) to try it again.
One more thing. What do you think the place in Illinois Center that made duplicate keys and nothing but duplicate keys was a front for?
Linda
i'm hesitant on taking book recommendations from you mark.
You recommended "Understanding Comics" to me.You said it would inspire great ads.
I bought it.
Read it.
Loved it.
BUT
when I came to you to discuss it, you told me you never read it.
Lesson learnt.
BUt I'm willing to let bygones be bygones and give this one a try...it seems that you've actually read this one.
speaking of ribs, anyone who orders a full slab from twin anchors will go home happy. just be sure to get there early. (full disclosure--i've never tried bbq from the states of nc, kansas, missouri, texas, or tennessee. surely some would argue that because of that fact, i've never truly had bbq.)
is it a coincidence that when the topic of chicago comes up, any person who's spent any amount of time there inevitably starts talking about food?
boyd-i could be mistaken, but i believe the cookies you're referring to are Salerno butter cookies.
kd-i miss warm hugs from you.
Dear Linda,
I got duplicate keys from those guys.
You mean there's not a living in doing a $3 job every couple hours?
Dear Boyd,
You're not wearing old grey sweats AND eating deli in SF are you?
Dear Floyd,
You're right, if you haven't eaten it in NC, you cannot speak bbq. However, if you want to say the words ribs and Chicago together I say to hell with what anyone says.
Mark - and hello from the left coast. Read it. Found it incredibly disturbing for the first 100 pages. No, make that, found it incredibly disturbing from start to finish. Something about the universal collectivity of folly - or is that the folly of universal collectivity? - made so much sense I started to re-examine, well, my entire career. When, of course, I wasn't laughing out loud. Of course, your note to Anglea makes it all better - so thanks for that.
Cordially,
"We"
Hey Boyd,
Giordano's on Columbus has great Italian sandwiches, Pittsburgh-style though.
I loved the "We" POV. I loved the "not sure how we all knew, but we all knew" sentiment. Found the archetypes accurate and human. Found the agency-amid-layoffs setting uncomfortably accurate and human.
I work in advertising, but this book hit me in the belly, not the brain.
Mark,
Looks like the New York Times agrees with you. "Then We Came To The End" is one of the New York Times' 10 Best for 2007.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/books/review/10-best-2007.html
Tim
Hey, Mark,
Barb Nasby writing here. I don't know what made me think of you and the night you won the MTV Award for "Right Now", the Van Halen video, but I was reminded of the time you stuck a workman's glove out of the hole in your office wall and put a note in the palm that read "The cask, Edgar, the cask!" And the great Christmas gift you made for Debbie Somebody at HNK&P when you made it appear that her name and phone number appeared in men's rooms all over the city. And, the unsuccessful attempt at making a black Easter egg -- which didn't work even using black Magic Marker.
You've come such a long way from working on real estate ads, and I hope you are happy and well.
Take care,
Barb
Post a Comment
<< Home