Then We Came to the End... Who is "we"?

I just finished this book, so I'm giving you the freshest and least nuanced of reviews of it.  It is Joshua Ferris' debut novel and a pretty good one at that.  I liked the book.  There were no vampires, werewolves, fairies, unicorns, or mer-men, but it was still riveting literature.  Imagine that.  In the absence of mystical creatures there were at least one whore, one complete idiot, and one maniacal mad man, who went on a shooting spree after being let go.  With a paintball gun.

It focused on the office dealings of a rather large ad agency in downtown Chicago.  So, I would say a major theme of the book is "office intrigue."  Everybody loves a little office gossip as long as it doesn't "hurt" anyone.  (Quotes are there to indicate that hurt is a percieved notion.  Pretty much everyone is hurt by gossip over the course of a high school career or a year in a college dorm, but in the grand scheme of things, these are the small tragedies of life.)  I think the reasons that I liked the book personally is because I did know a lot of the places Ferris described in an off-hand unstudied way about Chicago.  Like the use of Oak Park as an idyllic suburb that people have normal lives in.  Oak Park, in real life, is a rather expensive and left-leaning suburbs, which tries, in many ways, to keep the cutting edge feel of being close to a major city without making people feel like they live, for real, in a major city.  There are good schools, nice restaurants, low crime, etc.

Another reason I liked this novel is because you learned about a lot of characters, but the majority of the narration was given from the first-person plural, the "we".  This was interesting because you wanted to know which one of the characters was actually narrating and hiding their real feelings in the "we", but after a while you get to realizing that the "we" was amorphous and changed depending on the situation.  However, you could rely on the "we" to provide a grand sense of the collective consciousness of the office.  So, I feel like, for a first time author, relying so heavily on the "we" was risky.  Ferris did it well.  If you see him, give him a pat on the back. 

One of the strangest and most engaging parts of the book was an interlude between halves where an omniscient narrator told the truth behind what their boss was going through.  It was a different writing style and a little weird to adjust to (being spoken to by the Borg for most of the book).  But it did answer some pressing questions and gave the reader some information that the "we" didn't know until much later.  Very nice use of a interlude.  I'm pretty impressed by this Ferris guy.  Buy him a shot in addition to that pat on the back.

Here's the real question.  He's using all these fancy plot devises and literary nuances and plays with the language and the reader's mind; he gives us so much on his first attempt, it's polished.  So, what are we going to see from Ferris in the future.  Will he write himself into an office story niche?  Is he going to be the author with the "we" narrating all the time?  I don't see how he could and survive in the currently literary climate.  He will have to raise the bar on himself.  He will have to write a new novel, just as interesting and engaging in different ways to prove to the public and his skeptical fans that he is worthy of their continued attention. 

This book is a national best seller and was a finalist for the National Book Award.  Where do you go from there, Josh Ferris?  How much higher can you go?  Having already given a good swing at the "great american novel", what more do you have to show?  Have you blown your load, or will you be still bringing in the cash in your 60s after over 40 books like Stephen King?  Who knows? 

His second novel came out this year already, and I haven't heard anything about it. It's called The Unnamed, sounds like a sophomore slump if you ask me. Nevertheless, he got things right as a rookie.