Matt BeaumontReseñas

This is one of the best novels I have read in recent times. Like many of the other reviewers, I was wary of the fact that the book is written entirely as a series of inter-company e-mails. However, Beaumont pulls it off fantastically.

The key element to the humor is the duplicitous nature of the main characters. In the personal e-mails to each other, we see what they really think, and in the business e-mails, and to contrast, the business e-mails are all brown-nosing and have the forced quality of many official e-mails.
There also several running jokes, such as the agency president's e-mails getting diverted to the Finnish office, and the many amorous liaisons among the underlings.

What I found surprising that Beaumont was able to flesh out the characters so well. Every one of the characters has a unique voice and as the book progressed, I found myself cheering when something bad happened to Simon, the conniving creative director.

I whole-heartedly recommend this book to all.

This story is told entirely in emails flying around an advertising agency in London. It's hilarious. I've worked in offices with electronic mail since before the Internet and have often thought there was a story there. Beaumont does a great job.

The remnants of the crew from Miller Shanks London are back with Meerkat360, a new cutting edge ad agency.

The humor is just as cutting as the two previous books, but there is a darker edge, with Liam's gambling addiction and his attempts to get Lorraine back.

But, Beaumont also successfully integrates different technologies such as IM and SMS to help shape the narrative.

I also enjoyed how he skewers the new generation of corporate mumbo jumbo.

Great success.

Very very funny, read it in one straight 3 hour session. Now looking for the sequel!

Amazing how bad this was after reading "E Squared" which was very funny, this was not!

As good as the first one if not better.

Ein durchaus witziges Buch mit einem bissigen Humor und einem Hauch von Realität - genau das, was man lesen sollte, wenn man sich im Urlaub gemütlich zurücklehnen möchte. Etwas konfus machten mich zeitweilig die vielen verschiedenen Personen, die ich auch nicht immer auseinander halten konnte.
FAZIT: Ein gelungenes Buch für lustige Stunden... und Agenturleben live!½

Jodi's recommendation. Light, entertaining and very, very funny.

People who haven't read the original will (and seem to) like this better than people who read e to start. e has a freshness and a narrower scope that works with this type of book because it has a lot of characters, none of which are too easy to get a handle on because all you have are emails, blog posts and the occasional ebay auction listing. It's those extras that are the most inessential to the story. I didn't care about the metal band and wondered what the hell it was there for until Pertti showed up in all his backward glory. An excuse to drag him in? I guess, but it was pretty dumb. Ditto for the inclusion of Janice Crutton. It stretches the focus of the novel which isn't exactly heavy on plot; more like a sitcom, it's predicated on misunderstandings and stereotypical characters. Eh, what the hell. It was $3.59 and amused me for the most part, it just isn't as cohesive or as original as e.½

Some amusing moments but felt over long so that by just after the halfway mark I was reading to finish it rather than to enjoy it.

I read e, the previous book, quite some years ago and rather enjoyed it so when I happened across this when the local Borders was closing down the other year, I bought it without hesitation. It's not a direct sequel in that it's set in a completely different agency but it does carry on the story of some of the characters from the first book. I don't think it's necessary to have read that one before this; there are mentions of a previous agency but no real details are given and there's only really one instance in which the prior knowledge is needed.

Whereas e was made up solely of e-mails - hence the name - this one also contains texts, instant messenger conversations and blog posts. Oh, and eBay auctions listings. I was a little concerned that it would make it hard to follow but it actually didn't take that long to get the gist of at all. I did wonder if the blog posts from France were really necessary, it was a rather odd tangent that didn't fit with the rest of the book or the rest of the characters and was solely there to show the come-uppance of a character from the previous book. There's a random comment made regarding it, but other than that, it really wasn't relevant at all.

There are an awful lot of characters but it's nice to see some familar names from the previous book, such as David Crutton, Susi Judge-Davies and Liam O'Keefe. The characters are fairly well portrayed which is no mean feat considering they're only expressed through e-mails and instant messenger conversations. However, it is quite easy to get a hold on a person's personality though those forms of communication as anyone who uses them regularly will know. It also means that you're not being told the story directly but have to piece it together from the information contained in all the e-mails, texts etc. It is really well done and it's although confusing at the beginning, you soon get into the swing of it and pick up the thread and the individual characters with their unique voices.

This is definitely a book for anyone who has ever worked in advertising/PR or even just worked in an office. The e-mails about the mugs from the kitchen disappearing, the constant Out of Office Replies from that one colleague who never seems to be in, the bizarre e-mail signatures, all of those had me nodding and laughing in agreement. It also goes a step further than e and shows more of the character's lives outside of the office which makes it a bit more accessible to those who haven't experienced that delight.

It's definitely a quick and easy read, I got through it in 2 days. It's over 500 pages but a lot of that is taken up with the e-mails headers (which I skimmed just to get the name of the person sending it) and also white space between all the e-mails on the page so there's not as much reading in it as you think. If you ever wanted to know what happens if you respond to that spam email from Nigeria, this is the book for you.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I thought it was better than the original and short story sequel. However, to be able to fully understand and appreciate the book, I recommend reading the original novel first. If you choose not, I have a list of characters since there are many and it can be confusing. The characters are as follows:

MEERKAT360

•David Crutton - Managing Director aka THE MAN and former CEO of the London branch of Miller Shanks
•Janice Crutton - David's wife
•Paula Sterling - Janice's PA
•Alex Sofroniou - Head of IT aka ZORBA THE GEEK
•Noah Crutton - David's son
•Tamara Crutton - David's daughter
•Dotty Podidra - David's PA
•Caroline Zitter - Founder of Meerkat360 aka THE SEER
•Ted Berry - Founder of Meerkat360 aka MC IDEAZ
•Roisin O'Hooligan - Receptionist
•Susi Judge-Davis-Gaultier - Ted's PA
•Yossi Mendoza - In-house musician
•Liam O'Keefe - Works in Creative Department
•Sally Wilton - Office Administrator aka PRINCESS PAPERCLIP
•Brett Topolski - Liam's good friend now working at the Dubai, United Arab Emirates branch of Miller Shanks
•Vince Douglas - Also good friends with Liam and works with Brett
•Neil Godley - Nigel Godley's identical twin. Works in Accounts
•Kirsten Richardson - In-house hair stylist for the Creative Department
•Kazu Makino - Donald and Bill's PA
•Milton Keane - Caroline's PA
•Donald Gold - Works with Bill and is Senior Account Director and is also gay
•Bill Geddes - Works with Donald
•Harry Frisby - Senior Account Director
•Harvey Harvey - An employee who is somewhat mental and a Doctor Who fanatic
•Lorraine Pallister - Liam's ex-girlfriend
•Mr. Fraggles - Clown in Residence
•Simon Horne - Former Creative Director at Miller Shanks
•Larry Finlay - Managing Director of Transworld Publishers
•Katie Espiner - Senior Commissioning Editor of Transworld Publishers
•Aislinn Casey - Team Coordinator of the Transworld SynchroStarz
•Pertti Van Helden - Former CEO the Helsinki, Finland branch of Miller Shanks
•Nigel Godley - Neil Godley's identical twin brother who used to work in Accounts at Miller Shanks

The story of an advertising agency's bid for the Coca Cola account, told entirely in e-mails. Much back-stabbing, boozing and bad behaviour - very funny.

It was only when I finished that I noticed the amusing computer icons on the cover (e.g. the career icon shows a toilet).

I'd never have said yes to Tigana's visit if I'd known the shoot would turn out so pear-shaped that the pears were close to suing for defamation.

The story of the making of a TV advert, told from the point of view of the advertising agency staff, film crew and actors. Slow to get going, but I was really enjoying it by the half-way point.

A shorter follow-up to 'e', concerning the travails of organising the company's Christmas party. Probably best read soon after 'e', while you can still remember who's who at the advertising agency, as this book doesn't make each character's position in the company terrible clear.

e squared is the story of just over a month in the offices of Meerkat360, a very ‘cutting edge’ advertising agency in London. It’s told entirely through the emails, text messages, MSN conversations and blogs of various members of staff, with the odd news article included.

Some of the main characters are David Crutton (‘The Man’, who really would prefer to be called by his proper job title of Managing Director); his long suffering wife Janice; Ted Berry (‘MC Ideaz’, head of the creative department); Liam O’Keefe, member of the creative department team, who is heavily in debt, deeply offensive (and funny) and descending into bankruptcy; and Harvey Harvey, Dr Who fanatic who is so naive that he responds to spam mail.

Because of the style in which the story is told, the reader is fed bits and pieces which fit together to form complete pictures of what is happening. Most of the characters are caricatures, but they have elements of their personalities which everyone who has ever worked in an office environment will surely recognise.

Some of the main stories include Liam’s money and relationship problems, David’s marriage problems, some very trivial gossip between Suzi Judge-Davis-Gaultier and Milton Keane (two PAs at the company) and the company’s attempt to produce a cigarette campaign promoting the product as a healthy addition to anyone’s lifestyle.

Perhaps due to the fact that we only get to know the characters through their electronic communications, it’s sometimes hard to empathise with them. However I did warm to the characters of Harvey Harvey and Liam. I also liked David’s long suffering assistant Dotty, who was incredibly dense, but very sweet. Suzi and Milton were irritating beyond belief, although this was presumably intentional.

The book certainly made me dissolve into giggles on several occasions. Some parts were completely outlandish, but that didn’t bother me – after all, it is satire.

The only sections of the book that didn’t really work for me were the blog posts by ‘Hornblower’. This man turned out to be a former colleague of some of the characters, who has now moved to France and blogs with extreme pomposity about his new life there.

Overall though, a very funny and enjoyable read.

Q: What’s the difference between „The Godfather“ and „e – A Novel”?
A: The sequel of “e – A Novel” (i.e. “E²”) is better.

Ok, the book is still funny, the characters are dumb, schemers, and the bosses are self-righteous arseholes.
Very entertaining, and very hard to put down. The book mostly consists of e-mails, sms’ and private messages so you have to reconstruct the stories behind all these messages. Confusing in the beginning but it doesn’t take too long to recognize the voices and their individuality. The best thing is: the funniest stories are not told directly but only in pieces you have to put together. And the further the stories go the more these pieces fit together.
But in comparison to E² I missed the really hilarious parts like the Nigerian princess, David’s disastrous family life, Papin, the Serbien detective, the thefts and the Helsinki rock-concerts.
Still worth to read, but for suspense’s sake I recommend to read “e” first.

I bought this book incidentally on the Innsbruck airport because I liked the cover. Though the flight only took an hour I was on page 100 when I left the plane in Berlin. Took only some hours more until I finished it. Very entertaining and very hard to put down.
The book mostly consists of e-mails, sms’ and private messages so you have to reconstruct the stories behind all these messages. Confusing in the beginning but it doesn’t take too long to recognize the voices and their individuality. The best thing is: the funniest stories are not told directly but only in pieces you have to put together. And the further the stories go the more these pieces fit together. The best characters are those who don’t actually appear in person: Vince, Papin and the arab princess (and Barack Obama). The best jokes (as I said: not told): The office thief, the rock-concert in Helsinki, David’s tattoo, the not-gay Milton at „Big Brother“, the Serbian detective with his unorthodox technique to reanimate a Tobacco-tycoon with lung-cancer, the Nigerian Heiress (really alive!), le Blogue Franglais, and a British Jew arrested in the US as islamic terrorist for owning a picture of the North-Korean dictator. I could go on for a while but I think it’s enough to recommend the book for everyone who has to take a flight from Innsbruck to Berlin.

A great read, if not quite as hilarious as the original. But a great read nonetheless. A farcical portrayal of the ad biz that rings all too true to this grizzled, dried up ad guy. The protrayal of the "new agency" with its absord titles and office design made me need to change my shorts it was so funny.

Laugh out loud funny epistolatory novel that uses email to deliver rapidfire mockery of office politics, office romances, and 21st century marketing.

a novel composed solely of emails, text and instant messages ....
absolutly refreshing and extremly funny, eventhough often, very farfetched or even absurd.
i loved it!
i havent read e first, so i can say nothing about the other reviews who think it was better than the sequel. but i am definitely looking foreward to it!

39/2009. Novels in e-mail are kind of a gimmick (I'm sure there are others though I can't think of any right now) and this one works pretty well. (Bookmooched.)

E2 is a loose sequel to E - we pick up with some of the characters about eight years after the events of E. These characters include David Crutton (MD Extraordinaire), Liam O'Keefe (Advertising Wide Boy) and Susi Judge-Davis (Moronic and Overly-sensitive PA - who is now triple barrelled and sort of related to JP Gaultier). In this book, as well as emails, Beaumont has added in blogs, ebay entries, and text messages to show the communication between each of the characters.

The basic story (beneath the goings-on that fill up the rest of the plot) is that David Crutton is going through marriage/kid problems; and Liam O'Keefe is struggling with mounting debts.

I had a blast reading E and, superficially, also enjoyed this sequel, but I feel I am unlikely to read it again because it was just so far-fetched. I mean, E was also pretty unrealistic, but this takes it even further.

We have a character who is constantly absent from the office on courses; Harvey Harvey who responds to spam email as though it is for real (and ends up travelling to Nigeria); a character so scared of flying that, through a series of bizarre incidents, ends up being arrested as a member of Al Quaeda (despite being Jewish); and so on.

Some parts of the novel are genuinely funny - I love Roisin the hard-nosed and foul-mouthed receptionist, and Dotty (David's PA) is so dense it becomes amusing. In fact, the bitchy PAs are the best part of this book.

However, Beaumont does not hit the right note with other parts of the book - Neil Godley (the twin brother of Nigel, from E) is boring, rather than a character you can instantly recognise from your own office; Liam's thefts become farcical rather than funny; and the Big Brother subplot is genuinely ridiculous.

It is diverting enough and a very quick read, but not on a par with E. Pretty disappointing.

This was a blast of a read. We join the advertising agency of Miller Shanks in the dawn of a new millenium, and follow the various staff members during the month of January as they chase a pitch for Coke. The novel is told entirely in the form of emails between the various characters.

The style of the book creates an extremely fast, easy read which is exceptionally hard to put down. Once you have got each character straight in your mind, you are able to zip through the emails.

For anyone who works in an office, it is easy to see each stereotypical character in your own workplace - particularly Ken Perry (the office administrator who believes he is in charge of the entire building) and Nigel (the creep who works in accounts and sends out company-wide emails trying to sell various undesirable items).

It really surprised me that Beaumont was able to create such strong characters while using the format he did. Even though there was no narration as such, each character came across extremely effectively. While hating them, I loved reading the emails between Simon Horne and his PA Susi - extremely funny.

In fact, the whole novel (while not laugh-out-loud) was very amusing and I read it with a smile on my face. The office politics, back-stabbing, office romances - everything was very familiar and hence a joy to read about.

In fact, my only real complaint comes from the sheer amount of swearing on display. Sure, it made a lot of the gossipy emails much more realistic, and I reckon advertising agencies do use that sort of language, but it was pretty relentless - especially with some of the wide-boy characters writing to each other.

Altogether, though, I would recommend this book as a nice little interlude between more serious and worthy novels. It was easy to read, very funny and had a happy ending!

Not quite as funny as e, but still very good.