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Please Be Advised
PLEASE BE ADVISED is award-winning author Christine Sneed’s bright, irreverent send-up of corporate America in the 21st century. Mixing cultural critique and formal inventiveness with wicked laughs and the sort of surrealistic mysteries only a novel about the corporate world could give us, PLEASE BE ADVISED tracks the decline, fall, and possible resurrection of Quest Industries, one of the world’s foremost purveyors of collapsible, portable, and (occasionally) dangerous office products. Featuring a rogue’s gallery of corporate cogs from drunk, womanizing, and often-delusional President Bryan Stokerly, Esq. to his executive secretary, the brainy, libidinous Hannah-Louise Schmidt and his soon-to-be-rival, new office manager and disgraced former coroner, Dr. Ken Crickshaw, Jr., PLEASE BE ADVISED will leave you laughing at a work world more like our own than most of us would care to admit.
“Christine Sneed's Please Be Advised arrives, on the face of it, as a delirious (or is it despondent?) office comedy, but it is only a matter of a few pages before it spirals off into the surreal, becomes as thrillingly disquieting as anything by those twin masters of the American berserk, Donald Antrim and Donald Barthelme. If the workplace is the wellspring of most of our adult unhappiness—and most of our adult inertia—Sneed's book is the fire alarm, the quick hit of acid, the act of righteous vandalism that wakes us up and dispels the nightmare. Seriously funny, and curiously tender beneath all the chaos, Please Be Advised is a delight from end to end.”
—Matthew Specktor, author of Always Crashing in the Same Car and American Dream Machine
“Christine Sneed's Please Be Advised arrives, on the face of it, as a delirious (or is it despondent?) office comedy, but it is only a matter of a few pages before it spirals off into the surreal, becomes as thrillingly disquieting as anything by those twin masters of the American berserk, Donald Antrim and Donald Barthelme. If the workplace is the wellspring of most of our adult unhappiness—and most of our adult inertia—Sneed's book is the fire alarm, the quick hit of acid, the act of righteous vandalism that wakes us up and dispels the nightmare. Seriously funny, and curiously tender beneath all the chaos, Please Be Advised is a delight from end to end.”
—Matthew Specktor, author of Always Crashing in the Same Car and American Dream Machine
- GenresFictionHumorContemporary
248 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 18, 2022
19 people are currently reading
1448 people want to read
About the author
Christine Sneed
25 books255 followersChristine Sneed's fifth book, Please Be Advised: A Novel in Memos, was published in October 2022, along with a short fiction anthology she edited, Love in the Time of Time's Up. Her seventh book and third story collection, Direct Sunlight: Stories, was published in June 2023.
Her other works of fiction include The Virginity of Famous Men, which was a finalist for the 2016 Chicago Review of Books Award for best fiction and winner of the Chicago Writers' Association Book of the Year Award. Her novel Paris, He Said was an Illinois Reads selection for 2016 and is set in contemporary Paris and New York. The main character, Jayne Marks, is an artist who moves to Paris to live with a French gallery owner who is worldly, generous, and unfaithful.
Her first book, a story collection titled Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cry, won AWP's 2009 Grace Paley Prize; Ploughshares' award for a first book, the John C. Zacharis Prize; the Chicago Writers Association book of the year (for traditionally published fiction); was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (first-fiction category), and was long-listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.
Her second book, the novel Little Known Facts, was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice selection in 2013. It centers on a successful Hollywood actor and the effects of his fame on the people to whom he's closest. Little Known Facts was a Booklist top-ten debut novel of 2013 and received the Society of Midland Authors Award for Best Adult Fiction.
Her stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories 2008, The O. Henry Prize Stories 2012, New England Review, Southern Review, Ploughshares, American Literary Review, Meridian, Massachusetts Review, Notre Dame Review, Third Coast, Barrelhouse, TriQuarterly Online, South Dakota Review, Greensboro Review, Story, and a number of other journals.
She lives in Pasadena, CA and teaches for Northwestern University, UCLA Extension, Stanford Continuing Studies, and Regis University's low-residency MFA program. She attended Georgetown University for an undergraduate degree in French language and literature and Indiana University for a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing.
Her other works of fiction include The Virginity of Famous Men, which was a finalist for the 2016 Chicago Review of Books Award for best fiction and winner of the Chicago Writers' Association Book of the Year Award. Her novel Paris, He Said was an Illinois Reads selection for 2016 and is set in contemporary Paris and New York. The main character, Jayne Marks, is an artist who moves to Paris to live with a French gallery owner who is worldly, generous, and unfaithful.
Her first book, a story collection titled Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cry, won AWP's 2009 Grace Paley Prize; Ploughshares' award for a first book, the John C. Zacharis Prize; the Chicago Writers Association book of the year (for traditionally published fiction); was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (first-fiction category), and was long-listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.
Her second book, the novel Little Known Facts, was a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice selection in 2013. It centers on a successful Hollywood actor and the effects of his fame on the people to whom he's closest. Little Known Facts was a Booklist top-ten debut novel of 2013 and received the Society of Midland Authors Award for Best Adult Fiction.
Her stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories 2008, The O. Henry Prize Stories 2012, New England Review, Southern Review, Ploughshares, American Literary Review, Meridian, Massachusetts Review, Notre Dame Review, Third Coast, Barrelhouse, TriQuarterly Online, South Dakota Review, Greensboro Review, Story, and a number of other journals.
She lives in Pasadena, CA and teaches for Northwestern University, UCLA Extension, Stanford Continuing Studies, and Regis University's low-residency MFA program. She attended Georgetown University for an undergraduate degree in French language and literature and Indiana University for a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
May 26, 2022
Interoffice Memo: You Had Me At Collapsible Office Products
Award-winning writer, Christine Sneed, knocks it out of the park in this fun, witty, observant, and suprisingly tender new novel about the lives of people who work for a collapsible office products company. Yes, you read that right: collapsible office products. It's that funny. And so smart.
Five days a week, most of us clock in at nine and find ways to get to six o'clock. Sneed addresses how we get through the work day through the most appropriate format: interoffice memos.
In the beginning, the interoffice memos look pretty standard, featuring hot topics on motivation and creating communty through wellness, dating, and employee stories of triumph, but the facade quickly crumbles into stories revealing cringe-worthy moments of interpersonal conflict, retirement and promotions, candy theft and sugar addiction, alcoholism and adultry, hurt feelings and loneliness, an IRS audit, love and divorce, and even, embezzlement.
By the end of Please Be Advised, a fully-realized rich work world filled with well-rounded lovable and eclectic characters has revealed itself.
It's a meaty story that feels like a breezy read. Which is a testament to Christine Sneed's great writing.
I loved this book.
Award-winning writer, Christine Sneed, knocks it out of the park in this fun, witty, observant, and suprisingly tender new novel about the lives of people who work for a collapsible office products company. Yes, you read that right: collapsible office products. It's that funny. And so smart.
Five days a week, most of us clock in at nine and find ways to get to six o'clock. Sneed addresses how we get through the work day through the most appropriate format: interoffice memos.
In the beginning, the interoffice memos look pretty standard, featuring hot topics on motivation and creating communty through wellness, dating, and employee stories of triumph, but the facade quickly crumbles into stories revealing cringe-worthy moments of interpersonal conflict, retirement and promotions, candy theft and sugar addiction, alcoholism and adultry, hurt feelings and loneliness, an IRS audit, love and divorce, and even, embezzlement.
By the end of Please Be Advised, a fully-realized rich work world filled with well-rounded lovable and eclectic characters has revealed itself.
It's a meaty story that feels like a breezy read. Which is a testament to Christine Sneed's great writing.
I loved this book.
August 7, 2022
Award-winning author Christine Sneed returns with her signature humor, ruefulness and bright writing in this unputdownable satire of office life. Delusional, egotistical bosses, buffoonish, sexist, and alcoholic coworkers enliven these pages. You will suffer and cringe along with the employees of Quest Industries and laugh out loud at their demented, funny, sad (and sometimes raunchy) stories of "personal triumph."
March 3, 2023
This is one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.
August 19, 2022
The epistolary novel meets the workplace comedy in this hilarious send-up of contemporary office life - from the mundane to the preposterous. This is a tonic to read with all the crazy things happening in the world right now. Please Be Advised had me laughing on virtually every page.
10/10 will share with all my favorite coworkers.
10/10 will share with all my favorite coworkers.
October 16, 2022
I laughed so much. It felt sort of relentlessly hilarious, like how it feels to watch What We Do in the Shadows. What a gem.
December 11, 2023
“Please Be Advised” is a workplace novel consisting entirely of interoffice emails written by employees at the fictional Quest Industries, a company that makes collapsible office products.
The novel begins with an interoffice email sent out August 30 from Judith Kemper, Vice President of Marketing. In Judith’s memo, she is requesting assistance from co-workers to help her find her lost cardigan with the promise of a reward.
Throughout the course of the novel, some of the interoffice emails are informative while some of silly and pointless (such as a policy and live plants, sharing of doughnuts in communal spaces, and copious rules regarding when and who can wear certain types of footwear in the workplace.) As the novel progresses, the reader is introduced to other characters including Bryan Stokerly, president of Quest Industries, business partners, new office manager/former coroner Ken Crickshaw Jr., Hannah-Louise Schmidt & Bill Dubonski just to name a few employees at the company.
While reading the novel, it was interesting to see the differences in writing styles between the upper-level, mid-level management, lower-level management. I was also fascinated to learn that Quest Industries makes collapsible office products such as paper cutters and file cabinets which sounds disastrous to me. Throughout the novel the memos become more ludicrous when referring to a company-wide practical joke policy, mandatory attendance at a PowerPoint presentation for a new employee, and an extensive list of employees to contact if targeted by a phishing email.
As the novel progresses, the reader learns of the company being audited by the IRS due to credit card misuse, handwritten receipts, and discrepancies with reported quarterly earnings which leads to cuts including not adding additional staff, having staff create homemade Christmas cards, no more freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, and company president Bryan Stokerly paying for his own haircuts and running shoes rather than having it being paid by the company.
Other company emails included an email exchange is shared by two employees set up by a company matchmaker as well as secret Santa protocols including price increased due to inflation, an list of company candy policy violators who refused to eat their candy in a bathroom stall away from coworkers, the removal of desks to be replaced by treadmill desk for heavyset employees, and a list of time saving measures for staff including keeping bathroom visits to twice a day and completed with five minutes.
As Quest Industries faces more legal lawsuits due to faulty collapsible paper cutters, company president Bryan Stokerly announces via email a hiring freeze but promises that no one will be fired (unless they do something extremely stupid.) Eventually, email is sent to all Quest Industries employees that a salary freeze will be enacted as a way to present a positive image to the outside world as suggestions are made for part-time job including become a dog or house sitter and company-wide changes included bathrooms being stocked with recycled toilet paper, transitioning to a paperless office and removal of paper and plastic kitchen utensils in the employee kitchen.
As the novel winds down ends, the company president being forced to take a leave of absence after sending a hurtful email and a promotion with the company and it is revealed that the former company president was using and alias and was secretly embezzling money from the Quest Industries for some time. After much legal trouble, it is decided that Quest Industries will stop making collapsible office products and will instead operate as a wilderness tour company under the new name of Nature Quests and more. The novel ends with a confidential interoffice memo send from the Internal Revenue Service regarding a phone call from a former Quest Industries executive to audit Quest and suggests that there might be embezzlement occurring.
As I finished the novel, I liked the variety of emails sent by Quest Industries employees which helped to create a realistic portrayal of life in a corporate environment. I also found myself smiling at some of the email since I have seen similar emails during my career such as repeated email reminders to complete staff created surveys, emails from IT staff about changing passwords with hilarious examples, as well as the tendency of some staff members to overshare personal information about themselves in emails.
The novel begins with an interoffice email sent out August 30 from Judith Kemper, Vice President of Marketing. In Judith’s memo, she is requesting assistance from co-workers to help her find her lost cardigan with the promise of a reward.
Throughout the course of the novel, some of the interoffice emails are informative while some of silly and pointless (such as a policy and live plants, sharing of doughnuts in communal spaces, and copious rules regarding when and who can wear certain types of footwear in the workplace.) As the novel progresses, the reader is introduced to other characters including Bryan Stokerly, president of Quest Industries, business partners, new office manager/former coroner Ken Crickshaw Jr., Hannah-Louise Schmidt & Bill Dubonski just to name a few employees at the company.
While reading the novel, it was interesting to see the differences in writing styles between the upper-level, mid-level management, lower-level management. I was also fascinated to learn that Quest Industries makes collapsible office products such as paper cutters and file cabinets which sounds disastrous to me. Throughout the novel the memos become more ludicrous when referring to a company-wide practical joke policy, mandatory attendance at a PowerPoint presentation for a new employee, and an extensive list of employees to contact if targeted by a phishing email.
As the novel progresses, the reader learns of the company being audited by the IRS due to credit card misuse, handwritten receipts, and discrepancies with reported quarterly earnings which leads to cuts including not adding additional staff, having staff create homemade Christmas cards, no more freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, and company president Bryan Stokerly paying for his own haircuts and running shoes rather than having it being paid by the company.
Other company emails included an email exchange is shared by two employees set up by a company matchmaker as well as secret Santa protocols including price increased due to inflation, an list of company candy policy violators who refused to eat their candy in a bathroom stall away from coworkers, the removal of desks to be replaced by treadmill desk for heavyset employees, and a list of time saving measures for staff including keeping bathroom visits to twice a day and completed with five minutes.
As Quest Industries faces more legal lawsuits due to faulty collapsible paper cutters, company president Bryan Stokerly announces via email a hiring freeze but promises that no one will be fired (unless they do something extremely stupid.) Eventually, email is sent to all Quest Industries employees that a salary freeze will be enacted as a way to present a positive image to the outside world as suggestions are made for part-time job including become a dog or house sitter and company-wide changes included bathrooms being stocked with recycled toilet paper, transitioning to a paperless office and removal of paper and plastic kitchen utensils in the employee kitchen.
As the novel winds down ends, the company president being forced to take a leave of absence after sending a hurtful email and a promotion with the company and it is revealed that the former company president was using and alias and was secretly embezzling money from the Quest Industries for some time. After much legal trouble, it is decided that Quest Industries will stop making collapsible office products and will instead operate as a wilderness tour company under the new name of Nature Quests and more. The novel ends with a confidential interoffice memo send from the Internal Revenue Service regarding a phone call from a former Quest Industries executive to audit Quest and suggests that there might be embezzlement occurring.
As I finished the novel, I liked the variety of emails sent by Quest Industries employees which helped to create a realistic portrayal of life in a corporate environment. I also found myself smiling at some of the email since I have seen similar emails during my career such as repeated email reminders to complete staff created surveys, emails from IT staff about changing passwords with hilarious examples, as well as the tendency of some staff members to overshare personal information about themselves in emails.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 6, 2023
What did I just read? I listened to the audiobook, and the quality was terrible. Many stumbles on words that should have been edited / re-recorded. Strange pronunciations. And also just wtf was this book?
January 19, 2023
Loved this. Hilarious and Sneed’s writing is flawless!
October 25, 2022
Delightful. In all the best ways, reminded me of Julie Schumacher's DEAR COMMITTEE MEMBERS (but in a corporate setting).
November 25, 2022
My Story of Personal Triumph
I was so excited to receive a job offer as Vice President of Infrastructure that Runs on Electricity from Quest Industries after meeting with Quest's interim COO and Director of Communications, Christine Sneed. All of my former coworkers laughed at me when I told them about my dream of designing collapsible rack-mounted servers for the cloud, but Ms. Sneed clearly has a keen eye for recognizing the brilliance in what might be considered madness to the unsophisticated layperson.
I had the opportunity to meet the entire Quest family during my 3-day interview process, though my time with them felt less like an interview and more like a whirlwind of hilarity, I was laughing so much. Quest Industries clearly "thinks outside the box" to an extent that I was amazed by the creativity underpinning the whole venture. The Quest mission statement might be boiled down to, "Creating a corporate world where the absurdly unimaginable feels frightfully plausible." Interviewing with Quest was one of the highlights of my year.
Sadly, I was unable to accept the offer due to my draconian non-compete agreement with Amazon, which states that I am prohibited from working for any company that designs, produces, or distributes goods and/or services. I apparently agreed to it inadvertently when I patronized the self-checkout kiosk at my local Whole Foods to buy a box of donuts that I had planned to use to bribe Ms. Sneed into offering me an extra 3 days of PTO as part of my contract. Read those EULAs, people!
I was so excited to receive a job offer as Vice President of Infrastructure that Runs on Electricity from Quest Industries after meeting with Quest's interim COO and Director of Communications, Christine Sneed. All of my former coworkers laughed at me when I told them about my dream of designing collapsible rack-mounted servers for the cloud, but Ms. Sneed clearly has a keen eye for recognizing the brilliance in what might be considered madness to the unsophisticated layperson.
I had the opportunity to meet the entire Quest family during my 3-day interview process, though my time with them felt less like an interview and more like a whirlwind of hilarity, I was laughing so much. Quest Industries clearly "thinks outside the box" to an extent that I was amazed by the creativity underpinning the whole venture. The Quest mission statement might be boiled down to, "Creating a corporate world where the absurdly unimaginable feels frightfully plausible." Interviewing with Quest was one of the highlights of my year.
Sadly, I was unable to accept the offer due to my draconian non-compete agreement with Amazon, which states that I am prohibited from working for any company that designs, produces, or distributes goods and/or services. I apparently agreed to it inadvertently when I patronized the self-checkout kiosk at my local Whole Foods to buy a box of donuts that I had planned to use to bribe Ms. Sneed into offering me an extra 3 days of PTO as part of my contract. Read those EULAs, people!
November 19, 2022
This is easily one of the best new books I’ve read in a long time. I can only imagine how hard it must be to make a novel with this structure flow so well. The finished product is consistently smart, hilarious, original, and entertaining.
The employees of Quest Industries apparently live in a bizarro world where everyone is extremely candid, at least in their office memos. The characters are so naked in their unlikeability, so how was it that I found myself so invested in them? I'm not sure I can say for certain. Maybe it's the very visibility of their flaws and struggles that makes these people oddly endearing. But also, at its core, this novel full of office pettiness, neurosis, and corporate greed/mismanagement actually seems subtly tender and expansive--in addition to being a terrifically absurd dark comedy.
It should also be noted that Sneed has executed some truly ingenious ways of maintaining narrative and thematic progression, and avoiding feelings of repetitiveness or stagnation. I loved this book, and I can easily see myself rereading it many times in the future.
The employees of Quest Industries apparently live in a bizarro world where everyone is extremely candid, at least in their office memos. The characters are so naked in their unlikeability, so how was it that I found myself so invested in them? I'm not sure I can say for certain. Maybe it's the very visibility of their flaws and struggles that makes these people oddly endearing. But also, at its core, this novel full of office pettiness, neurosis, and corporate greed/mismanagement actually seems subtly tender and expansive--in addition to being a terrifically absurd dark comedy.
It should also be noted that Sneed has executed some truly ingenious ways of maintaining narrative and thematic progression, and avoiding feelings of repetitiveness or stagnation. I loved this book, and I can easily see myself rereading it many times in the future.
January 27, 2023
This darkly comic novel ingeniously weaves interoffice memos together to tell the tale of a dysfunctional company filled with egomaniacs and off kilter corporate drones who over share and undermine each other at every turn. Wickedly funny and beautifully paced, the memos build to a crescendo of chaos that left me laughing at every turn. I couldn’t put this book down. This is a must read.
February 14, 2023
Wildly inventive, remarkably perceptive, gleefully absurd--in brief, more fun than a three-martini lunch! If you've ever worked anywhere, I strongly advise you to read this book!
May 13, 2023
Read it. A completely ridiculous and completely hilarious series of interoffice memos. The staff and management are all a bit cracked but it makes for very amusing memos.
January 9, 2023
What a comic send-up of corporate culture gone awry!
Although the novel itself is not exactly Orwellian in tone--it is not meant to be dystopian exactly--the corporate name of the main company, Quest Industries, does harken back, in name only, to George Orwell. I am currently also reading a pamphlet by Orwell, titled, Politics and the English Language, so perhaps I have Orwell on the brain.
What I enjoyed most about Christine Sneed's "Please Be Advised: A Novel in Memos," was its snarky, comic tone as Quest Industries desperately attempts to keep control of its employees. In addition, this pithy novel, chock full of witticisms, remains, at its heart, experimental fiction. Perhaps there are other novels that tackle their subject matter in the form of the memo? I have not, however, read one before "Please Be Advised." It is a fresh, new, unique take on the modern novel.
Brava to the author!
Although the novel itself is not exactly Orwellian in tone--it is not meant to be dystopian exactly--the corporate name of the main company, Quest Industries, does harken back, in name only, to George Orwell. I am currently also reading a pamphlet by Orwell, titled, Politics and the English Language, so perhaps I have Orwell on the brain.
What I enjoyed most about Christine Sneed's "Please Be Advised: A Novel in Memos," was its snarky, comic tone as Quest Industries desperately attempts to keep control of its employees. In addition, this pithy novel, chock full of witticisms, remains, at its heart, experimental fiction. Perhaps there are other novels that tackle their subject matter in the form of the memo? I have not, however, read one before "Please Be Advised." It is a fresh, new, unique take on the modern novel.
Brava to the author!
June 16, 2022
Check out this funny, smart "novel in memos'' chronicling the subterranean life, and chronic insanity of corporate life in America. Characters who seem all too familiar include the new office manager, Ken Crickshaw Jr, who left his last position as a county corner under mysterious conditions relating to the autopsy of his wife and was previously on probation for reselling a VCR to a neighbor. Or the "anti-loneliness'' crusade with suggested compliments to co-workers. Or the lament from President Bryan Stokerly, Esq. who is trying to find out "the identity of the half-wit'' responsible for an April Fools prank that sparks an IRS.
You'll laugh, you'll wince, you'll experience the sticker shock of appalling recognition of the idiotic lunacy of cubicle life (probably including those of us who have not been born with trust funds.) Contributions to "Boss Day,'' an annual holiday for employees to suck up to their superiors are gratefully accepted.
This antic offering from established author Christine Sneed demonstrates her more than considerable range, after successful outings as a novelist ("Little Known Facts'') and short story writer ("The Virginity of Famous Men.'')
You'll laugh, you'll wince, you'll experience the sticker shock of appalling recognition of the idiotic lunacy of cubicle life (probably including those of us who have not been born with trust funds.) Contributions to "Boss Day,'' an annual holiday for employees to suck up to their superiors are gratefully accepted.
This antic offering from established author Christine Sneed demonstrates her more than considerable range, after successful outings as a novelist ("Little Known Facts'') and short story writer ("The Virginity of Famous Men.'')
September 9, 2022
While reading Pleased Be Advised, I snorted, laughed out loud, read sections to my partner, and affixed sticky notes to sections I wanted to reread. This book of serial memos mixes hilarious accounts, wild acronyms, and the absurd demands of Quest Industries, a leader in collapsible, portable office products. A cast of colorful characters populates the dysfunctional office yet their heartfelt antics keeps things far from lightweight. Sneed's delight in crafting such a book is off the radar. Let me tell you, it's been a while since I had so much fun reading a book. Treat yourself to this artful hilarity.
September 5, 2022
PLEASE BE ADVISED does a five-star job of capturing the strange and twisted ways of the corporate world and the workplace -- the pettiness, the wacky (and sometimes unhinged) personalities, the endless jargon and corporate-speak. Sneed's execution is masterful: an incredibly funny and original take on corporate culture. Satire at its best.
December 6, 2022
If you have ever worked in a corporation, this is a "must read." The wellness survey, the alleged inspirational message from the CEO, the e-mails about the state of the office fridge. . . I have experience with all of these e-mails in the last 10 years of my career. The use of interoffice e-mails as a literary device is hilarious!
July 21, 2024
(Mostly) Hilarious
3.5 stars so I rounded up.
This was absolutely hilarious throughout most of the novel, however I wasn’t entirely sure how far the satire was meant to go. Was this meant to be ultra-realistic satire or over the top caricature satire? It was kind of hard to tell because it was both at times, but I still enjoyed this. It was quite creative and pretty funny.
3.5 stars so I rounded up.
This was absolutely hilarious throughout most of the novel, however I wasn’t entirely sure how far the satire was meant to go. Was this meant to be ultra-realistic satire or over the top caricature satire? It was kind of hard to tell because it was both at times, but I still enjoyed this. It was quite creative and pretty funny.
read-dnf
February 12, 2023DNF at page 122. Likely not the book's fault. I've never been good at appreciating comedy, and with the story being written as a series of interoffice memos, whatever plot (if any) was unfolding wasn't working for me.
January 24, 2023
Anyone who has worked in the corporate world will find some of these memos completely relatable. Hopefully they no longer work at that place of business and will laugh, as I did several times!
March 24, 2023
Very cute and genuinely funny! I really enjoyed this book. I received a free kindle copy in a Goodreads giveaway but I will be buying a physical copy soon to support this author!
April 8, 2023
I felt like I was missing the plot but the premise was interesting and some of the memos were funny
May 15, 2023
I loved the concept and thought it was really funny, but honestly, I started to lose interest at the end. (Granted, I haven't worked in an office environment for 20+ years since I have my own biz so maybe I'm not the ideal audience!)
March 31, 2023
Sneed's sense of humor definitely grows on me! Few novelists today develop humor at steady pace like she does. I am so used to reading dark novels, but Christine's writing managed to pull me out of my funk.
January 1, 2023
Please Be Advised: A novel in Memos is the novel that we need now. Entertaining without being shallow and satirical without belittling its characters, Sneed proves that it's possible to be funny on every page of a novel by using a light touch that never take away the humanity of those who write useless memos, updates, emails, and make suggestions for office efficiency. It's impossible to not relate to the office environment that Sneed creates because it's the office environment that we've all experienced. The breezy, funny and smart Please Be Advised was impossible for me to put down. I highly recommend.
December 12, 2022
So, this book got some nice buzz in Chicago where the author works at Northwestern University -- hometown enthusiasm, maybe? This book is mildly entertaining - think "The Office" in the form of a series of ridiculous memorandum from a pompous CEO, misguided HR department and various other middle managers with too much time on my hand. Reminded me of a few clients and the time our own office manager had to send an email advising people not to flush their uneaten chicken salad down the toilet. Pass -- much better options for your reading pleasure, unless you like this kind of thing.
October 30, 2022
Please Be Advised is an absurdist's dream. Told in memo form, the books offers societal commentary through the voices of more than 50 characters stuck office culture. The setting serves as the ideal environment to make fun of human character and to make note of what happens to us when we're forced to exist in a 9 to 5 purgatory. It was a delightful read and perfect in a world that may take itself too seriously at times.
March 6, 2023
Funny, sad, poignant, a unique look into contemporary American culture through a series of inter-office memorandums. A couple of my favorite parts are the mandatory sharing of "Stories of personal triumph" and the coworker who was upset his desk was replaced by a treadmill desk not because he was fat, but because he was a pain in the ass. I won't share any more because I don't want to spoil it, but it is a delightful, thoughtful read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews