You can buy them. You can borrow them. You can download them. But are all those books out there really worth your while?
Herewith some brief assessments.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Novels At Work
My Yahoo India column on fiction that deals with, in Alain de Botton's words, "the intelligence, peculiarity, beauty, and horror of the workplace".
The kind of politics & power struggles that happen at almost all white-collar workplaces is rivaled only by our politicians. It surely is a goldmine for any writer. Closer home, we have few noteworthy novels of the white-collar variety. While Chetan Baghat makes only passing references to work-life in his novels, 'If God was a Banker' by Ravi Subramanian is quite riveting with a portrayal of the gory side in glorious detail.
And, by the way: i began following you on twitter only recently & find your tweets & posts very interesting.
Thanks. Yes, I think Ashok Banker too, in one of his early novels, features a crime in an advertising agency (much like Sayers' Murder Must Advertise).
Max Barry has written what is called the definitive workplace novel, called Company, which is excellent. Jennifer Government by the same author is good too, though it can’t be totally classified as a workplace novel. I loved e, as also Then we came to the end.
Attempted a workplace novel myself, but clearly that’s easier said than done!
7 comments:
The kind of politics & power struggles that happen at almost all white-collar workplaces is rivaled only by our politicians. It surely is a goldmine for any writer. Closer home, we have few noteworthy novels of the white-collar variety. While Chetan Baghat makes only passing references to work-life in his novels, 'If God was a Banker' by Ravi Subramanian is quite riveting with a portrayal of the gory side in glorious detail.
And, by the way: i began following you on twitter only recently & find your tweets & posts very interesting.
Thanks. Yes, I think Ashok Banker too, in one of his early novels, features a crime in an advertising agency (much like Sayers' Murder Must Advertise).
There's also this novel called 'e', set in an ad agency. It's a comic novel that's very, very funny.
Oh yes, that's the one by Matt Beaumont written entirely in e-mails, isn't it?
Yup, that's the one.
I too find your tweets very interesting. Do keep them coming.
Max Barry has written what is called the definitive workplace novel, called Company, which is excellent. Jennifer Government by the same author is good too, though it can’t be totally classified as a workplace novel.
I loved e, as also Then we came to the end.
Attempted a workplace novel myself, but clearly that’s easier said than done!
Thanks for the Max Barry tip, must seek out that title. Interesting how so many of such books are satires. And good luck with your own novel.
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