A FOOL AMONG FOOLS

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In the 80s Michael Gregoretti would love to be writing plays, but the need to pay rent and buy food force him into copywriting for one of those insane advertising agencies in New York City.  It is hard to decide which is more ridiculous, the products, the ads created for them, or the toxic personalities who are leads for the campaigns.  In spite of the inane nature of what he’s writing ads for, Michael works hard to get it right, only to have his best ideas shot down by cranky clients or delusional and unreasonable bosses at the agency.  The author takes the reader through the tortuous path from first efforts through lunatic videotaping, to meetings with obstreperous company execs to the day to day mix of over-achievement, overwork and daily humiliation.

I really enjoyed this book.  The main character is gay, but that’s beside the fact, the real story being the characters with all their quirks and inanities.  If you aren’t laughing at their antics you are shaking your head fatalistically.  The trouble is that you don’t have to be working in the outrageous ad industry to recognize these “madmen” who are such utter fools and yet wind up running the whole show.  I guess the Peter Principal about workers rising to the level of their incompetence was wrong.. they can rise all the way to the top.