Not usually one for bandwagon books in the year they come out or get latched onto, but this was different. Think (as one only can) of the movie "Office Space" or "The Office" on NBC television, but with a heart and soul.

The sad, silly, sordid affairs at an unnamed fictional ad agency in Chicago will have you wondering who at your own office or in your own life is repped here by the well-drawn fleet of characters.

The action (and there IS some action) rarely leaves the actual confines of this struggling Alamo of ads. (Characters are constantly "walking Spanish down the hall," a.k.a. being laid off.) Everything that happens is plausible and believable. It's alternately heartbreaking and hilarious, often at the same time, as when one man whose life revolved around his job sneaks in after being fired to take apart his work chair piece by piece, box it up, and hurl it into Lake Michigan.

This is Ferris's first novel, and the collective "we" voice he gives the narrator(s) is smart and fresh. Anyone who's been part of a work "team," or ever had a "workstation" (cube!) to call his own, or ever engaged in or overheard the gossip in the hallway -- he will love this book.

A fair portion of the dialogue comes in diatribes sent between characters over e-mail. This is another brilliant move on Ferris's part. You wince along with the sender of an e-mail when he accidentally hits "reply all" at the worst time. You also begin to care -- really care -- for a few people as their faults and cruelty and vulnerability come through. When you get to the end, it's all been worth it.