Email Madness

• Date: 07.12.2007
• Book: Eleven
• Author: TCRH

Review

A day in the life of a call centre worker told through the emails he sends and receives and the emails he writes but doesn’t send.

The emails are recognisable – gossip, plans, jokes. But Martin carries an aura of disappointment: he hates his work, can’t stand most of his colleagues, has been left heartbroken by his girlfriend, been invited to the wedding of the woman he loves and is being asked to move to London by a school friend with whom he shared an ‘incident’ in Bristol.

Through his emails we know he is reaching a turning point in his life. Then he gets news from a friend: people have started crashing planes into the Twin Towers. Is Martin going mad? Or is he the sane one in a crazy world?

In world where nothing makes sense Martin reaches a decision and writes his final email.

Eleven is a short book that packs in as much humour and sadness as the reader can handle in such a short sitting. Yet through Martin we can see the themes of confusion and detachment of so many people – Generation Why? – who work to live but suddenly realise that life isn’t really all that great anyway.

For Martin, and maybe for many, many more people, this sense of being adrift and bereft was magnified and heightened by the craziness of September 11th.

In the end this book won’t uplift you and will raise as many questions as it answers. But you will know that you have read the debut of a potentially excellent author.