Review: Corporate Ties by Ben Woods

Title: Corporate Ties
Author: Ben Woods
Publisher: Spumoni Press
Publish Date: August 19, 2011
Source: I received a copy from the author. This did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a fiction fan.
• You've ever worked in an office.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "Jason Harris has found the perfect job as a web developer with a Fortune 500 financial subsidiary. He meets his cool and quirky co-workers and even scores a date with an Indian princess/database administrator.

This lasts all of eight days. Due to “organizational restructuring,” the parent company announces that all employees at Jason's location are being relocated to corporate headquarters in another state.

Each person mulls the idea of exchanging a laid-back, business casual dress environment for a cafeteria, a fitness center, and a strangling — by a necktie (corporate attire only, please) and organizational bureaucracy.

The men and women in suits arrive to document the documents, proactivate the buzzwords, and cage the project managers.

Is the job really worth it? And why exactly do people give up their independence to become company drones?"

My Two Cents:

This story is something that has happened to a lot of people in corporate America, especially with the Recession. Corporate restructuring happens. And this is exactly what happens to Jason and the rest of the people at Mettle when they're told they have to move to be with the new parent company. 

I really like Woods' style of writing. It's fast paced, funny, with a splash of cynicism (just how I like it) and kept me interested in the story. The writing is most definitely the highlight of this book. The humor is subtle, which I liked.

This is a workplace comedy, workplace being the operative word. Some of the business talk may be above and beyond what some people like. I used to work in IT so I was okay with it but other people who aren't so familiar with that world, you may be a little bit lost. This may limit the audience for this book. Throughout the book, I kind of felt like I was waiting for something big to happen and when the turning point in the book finally comes, it was a bit more subdued than I was expecting.


Bottom line: Read this one for the writing!