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Book review: 'Who moved my Blackberry?' by (Martin Lukes and) Lucy Kellaway

10 September 2006

This book is a bit like having the munchies and over-indulging on cheesy wotsits. Each bite tastes great (although you hit diminishing returns after about half a bag), but when you've finished, you still feel kinda empty.

That's because although there are some great jokes in this book (particularly in relation to branding), very little happens. As regards having a plot it's no more a proper novel than wotsits are proper food. Take a slice through the book at any page and the characters are pretty much in the same position, give or take a bit of office politics and lust. It doesn't help that the lead character is loathsome in every way. He's lazy, manipulative, sexist, self-important and selfish. We never seem to laugh with him - only at him, and darkly.

'Who moved my blackberry?' is a satire of office life, based on a column published in the FT bylined to the fictional Martin Lukes. The book unfolds through records of emails, which makes it quick and easy to read and creates some comic opportunities. Some seem a bit wasted (like when his Blackberry goes missing and someone impersonates him - that idea might have been a short story in its own right in other hands). The big joke is that we never see anyone doing any proper work, just producing 'initiatives' and playing politics.

For people who work in large corporations, a lot of this will probably ring uncomfortably true. If you get through chapter one and accept that the rest of the book is pretty much the same, it's an ideal book for you.

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