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Books like Then we came to the end
A brilliantly deadpan, hive-mind chronicle of the absurdities, anxieties, and unexpected intimacies of modern office life. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with Then we came to the end.
- darkly comic
- anxious
- absurdist
- mundane
- 01
The End of October
Lawrence Wright
A dread-soaked medical thriller that races against time as a deadly virus unravels the modern world.
- 02
All adults here
Emma Straub
A warm, wry exploration of the messy reality that no one ever really figures out how to be a grown-up.
- 03
Empire Falls
Richard Russo · 2001
A warm, wry, and ultimately heartbreaking immersion into the fading pulse of a blue-collar New England town.
- 04
No One Is Talking About This
Patricia Lockwood
A hyper-ironic scroll through the digital void that suddenly shatters into a profound meditation on embodied grief and love.
- 05
The Pale King
David Foster Wallace
A sprawling, hyper-detailed plunge into the agonizing boredom of bureaucracy that somehow emerges as a profound meditation on human attention.
- 06
Pastoralia
George Saunders · 2000
A hilarious, heartbreaking funhouse mirror reflecting the soul-crushing absurdities of modern work and life.
- 07
Rules of Civility
Amor Towles
A sparkling, martini-dry plunge into 1930s Manhattan society, where ambition and chance collide in a haze of jazz and cigarette smoke.
- 08
Severance
Ling Ma
A deadpan, eerily calm apocalypse where the end of the world looks a lot like another day at the office.
- 09
NW
Zadie Smith
A fragmented, kaleidoscopic drift through the streets of London that exposes the invisible fault lines of class, race, and friendship.
- 10
In five years
Rebecca Serle
A bittersweet exploration of destiny that subverts romantic expectations to deliver a devastating ode to female friendship.
- 11
The Brooklyn Follies
Paul Auster · 2005
A warm, meandering love letter to human imperfection and the unexpected second acts found on the sidewalks of Brooklyn.
- 12
A Dirty Job
Christopher Moore · 2006
A hilarious, chaotic romp through the underworld of San Francisco that somehow manages to be a touching story about single fatherhood and grief.
