Then We Came To The End

I just finished Joshua Ferris’ Then We Came To The End and…

I was very moved at the end. To tears actually. I read the book based on reviews citing it as very funny. This was coming fresh off of A Confederacy of Dunces. End was not funny like Confederacy. Two very different books as far as humor goes; though, I have to say that the last chapter of End has a character, Benny, unhappy in his new marketing job and how no one listens to his stories and how it is all idle chatter (note: the author studied philosophy in undergrad so I wonder if he is familiar with Heidegger’s concept of Das Gerade) so he decides he will only utter Godfather movie (only 1 and 2, as “3 sucked”) quotations had me laughing out loud in a desolate student union. 

“Benny explained that he gave himself a simple rule: nothing could come from his mouth that had not come from the mouths of Michael, Sonny, Fredo, Tom Hagen, or the Don himself – or anybody at all in the first two films…

…At the conclusion of a morning meeting, during which he had remained perfectly silent, as everyone was gathering up their things, Benny had turned to Heidi Savoca and said “I spent my whole life trying not to be careless. Women and children can be careless, but not men.’” Heidi’s expression indicated she didn’t know where Benny’s comment was coming from, but more pressing than confusion was her distaste for the remark itself. “That’s a very sexist thing to say Benny,” she replied. Later that morning, Seth Keegan stopped by Benny’s cube to ask him a question about revisions for a project the two had been working on over the course of the previous few weeks. “Do you have a minute?” Seth asked Benny. Benny swiveled in his chair. “This one time,’” he said. “’This one time I’ll let you ask me about my affairs.’” “Cool,” said Seth, who entered the cubicle more fully. “I’m wondering what you think we should do about these drop shadows. What I was thinking we could do is…” Benny let him talk, nodding from time to time and before long, Seth has arrived at a conclusion without needing any input from Benny at all. Just as he was leaving, Benny thought what the hell, and called out to him. “’Hey, it’s my sister’s wedding,’” he said angrily. “Oh yeah?” Seth said. “Your sister’s getting married?” “’And when the boss tells me to push a button on a guy,’” Benny continued, I push a button.’” Seth stared at him. “Cool,” he said. He nodded, then walked away.
                In the afternoon Carter Shilling came to his cube, and Benny didn’t think he could continue to talk with Carter, his scruffy, cross-eyed boss. A rasp or a boom, those were the two ways Carter communicated, and he was currently booming, raving about how stupid the client was to request such changes to their ad. For a long time Benny didn’t have to say a word. Finally Carter looked at him and asked him if he agreed that the client was stupid. “’I think if we had a wartime consigliere,’” Benny found himself answering in a small voice, “’we wouldn’t be in this mess.’” Carter gazed down at him and asked if that was code for something. “Are you saying we’re at fault here?” asked Carter.
                “So I swear to god, Jim,” said Benny, “I put on my most serious face, man. I mean, I was nothing but business, and I looked him straight in the eye and I said, ‘Carter, this sort of thing has to happen every five years or so. Helps to get rid of the bad blood.’ And both of us, at the same time, looked back down at the ad, which the client had just ripped to shreds, and he says to me, ‘Yeah,’ he says, ‘I suppose.’ As if what I just said made any sense whatsoever. ‘Go ahead and make the changes, then,’ he says. ‘I don’t give a damn anymore.’ And then he stormed out of my office.

…Marcia was trying to get ahold of Benny so he could help her keep things together. Beny rushed over to the hospital and inquired at the nurses’ station was room the boy was in.
                “When I get there, nobody else was around. Tunrs out later, they were down talking to the doctor. I walked in and took one look at Mikey in his hospital bed – Jim, he was all fucked up. Broken arm, black eyes. Big gash in his chin. But he was awake. The kid was going to be fine. And you know what I said? I just couldn’t help myself. I went right up to him and I said, ‘My boy! Look what they done to my boy!’”