| Product: |
E. (A Novel) - Matt Beaumont |
| Date: |
12/10/00 (100 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Very funny, bitchiness, back stabbing, jokes and adult humour
Disadvantages: Entirely email based that takes a very little time to adjust
'e' The novel of liars, lunch and lost knickers
by Matt Beaumont & published by Harper Collins
[ISBN 0-00-710068-X]
The book 'e' is described as "a tapestry of insincerity, backstabbing and bare-face bitchiness - just everyday office politics", and that's exactly what it is! Right up my street!
This book instantly grabbed my attention. Its font was bright orange in colour, on a vivid purple background and was full of computer icons mimicking a typical Windows environment on any PC. The icons (networking, team building, motivation & career) were funny. Networking was a symbolised with two sets of feet, one set facing upwards with the other inside, facing downwards (say no more!). Team building was symbolised as a man with a dagger in his back. Motivation's icon was of someone popping a cork from a champagne bottle. The career was an icon of a toilet. The words 'liars', 'lunch' and 'lost knickers' also quickly grabbed my attention. If this was just the front cover! What would the rest of the book be like? Inside the author, Matt Beaumont, is described as "a copywriter fired from some of London's leading ad agencies". If Beaumont was willing to speak his mind regardless of the consequences this would add to the expectation and excitement towards 'e'. I knew that this book was for me!
'e' in the title stands for emails! This book entirely made up of emails of the all the employees of a London advertising agency, Millershanks. It starts on the 3rd January 2000 in the dawning of a new millennium. All emails are listed in chronological order.
The scene is set at Millershanks who fighting hard to win and maintain three major ad contracts, the crème-de-la-creme being the 'Coke campaign', not forgetting the major 'LOVE' shoot, for Britain's leading soft porn channel. The emails hit you fast and hard with amazing hi
larity and frivolity right from the beginning and throughout the book.
The employees drag themselves into the office at the start of the new millennium; most of them are still hung over from their drunken escapades from the New Year celebrations. Their behaviour and attitudes don't improve from then on in! You can then understand why not everyone shares the same enthusiasm for the new millennium as the Millershanks' Chief Executive Officer (CEO). This is the man charmed in "Joseph Stalin School of Management" skills, much to his PAs' disgust. His diplomatic management skills are equally matched by his IT skills. His entire 'all department' emails usually ends up carbon copied (cc'ed) to Millershanks Finland! Enter stage (email) left, Pertti Van Helden, Millershank CEO Finland. This amazingly funny Finnish man still stuck in a 70s/80s British television/Eurovision time warp wrapped up with the usual element of Euro speak! This infuriates Crutton (commonly referred to as 'Cretin' by all his employees), the London CEO! His wrath and fury are quick to get distributed to all those he sense are responsible!
Most of Millershanks London have email and use it with great gusto. PAs bitch between themselves. When they aren't bitching they are doing lunch!
Enter Pinki, a "copywriter with two things no ad-woman shouldn't ever let show - underarm hair and a conscience!" Pinki, the ageing hippie with a conscience, has bags full of talent but any work which goes against her principles she is quick to refuse, even if it means standing up for her rights and resigning.
Emails of resignations, firings and employee relations are stretched to the very limit, as Rachel head of the company's personal department is quick to find out. Daniel, Head of Accounts, holds himself as 'an important member' of Millershanks, just a shame no one else does!
Talking of people with no respe
ct, Simon Horne is Head of the Creative Department. Balding fat, middle aged, married, two children, addicted to prescribed drugs, not an ounce of creative talent (strange being Head of the Creative Department), quick to grab the glory, quick to add the knife and steal ideas. He also has a strange and perverted passion for lady-boys, especially on his office table in the middle of the night! Simon's has an equally wet (maniac depressive) PA, Susi Judge-Davis (otherwise known as Judge Dread to the office PAs). Her task is to keep Simon happy all times not that anyone else gives a damn!
The Creative team consists of Liam, Vin (technophobe) and Brett are the Millershanks' 'lads'. The laddish humour and actions from these guys is pure genius. These lads are the office jokers. They are all involved, with the exception of Vin who can't work his Mac, in all the office wind-ups, they email the rude jokes, swear, party, drink, do lunch, hit on the office Pas (all except Susi - they have taste!) and participate in as much sex as possible but don't they do love - unless it's the soft porn shoot for the cable company LOVE!
No office is without the office do-gooder and in Millershanks case this is Nigel (Nige to his friends)! NIGEL is quick to offer all the departments his help, exciting colours of paperclips and articles for sale. Zoe, Cretin's PA, is a good laugh and is bitchiness personified, especially when Susi is involved!
I found this book to be initially confusing with it entirely email based. After a while you get into the swing of things, mainly because of the bitchiness, backstabbing and humour. You get to know the ins and outs of all characters pretty much from the beginning. The books flows extremely well and will have you hooked almost immediately. Having worked at a company where most forms of communication were email-based, I related well with this form of communication, the characters and the humour. Th
e book is full of belly splitting laughs right from the start and right the way throughout. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys office humour; who has worked in a similar agency/office environment; and/or likes adult humour, jokes, bitchiness, back stabbing and an element of swearing (not all that strong surprisingly enough). I picked this book up in Asda for £3.99 and it RRP is £6.99. It was a good £3.99 well spent!
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