This book was easy to read, and it quickly pulled me into the tragicomic lives of employees an advertising agency.

Those of us who are alumni of corporate cube-land can relate to what happens in this novel: these people thrive on rumors, they flock to free food in the kitchen, they break up their idle chitchat whenever the boss comes by, they parse everything management says to search for hidden meanings, they go to lunch, they play pratical jokes, they take offense.

"These people will believe anything. They will say anything."

Initially funny, the tone gets darker as employees are let go (or "walked Spanish," a terrific idiom). Unfortunately, having a large cast of characters means our knowledge of them is limited (apart from a poignant interlude that focuses on Lynn Mason, the boss).

This book was a great reflection on where white-collar working class America finds itself after the dot-com collapse and 9/11.