Office Politics

by Wilfrid Sheed

Book by Wilfred sheed

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Book Club, 20th Century, Novels, New York, Satire

249 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Sheed was born in London to Francis "Frank" Sheed and Mary "Maisie" Ward, prominent Roman Catholic publishers (Sheed & Ward) in the United Kingdom and the United States during the mid-20th century. Wilfrid Sheed spent his childhood in both England and the United States before attending Downside School and Lincoln College, Oxford where he earned BA (1954) and MA (1957) degrees.

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's offices - not schools, factories, coal mines, or prisons - that are the unpleasant underbelly of American life, the places where most Americans come face to face with their dissatisfactions, underachievements, and failings, where we suppress the uncomfortable questions: Why do I dislike so many people? Is this all there is? How long can I continue to do the same thing every day? Should I key Dave's car or are there working security cameras in the garage? For all these reasons I usually find myself avoiding that subgenre of fiction set in offices. But this had been sitting on my shelf forever and it was time to either read it or dump it. (Both, it turns out.)

Published in 1966, this is one of those novels that has been lost to the sands of time, even though it was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1967, the year that Bernard Malamud's The Fixer won. It should be allowed to rest undisturbed in its fusty, crumbling tomb. About its subject, the subtle backstabbing among staffers fighting for control of a small journal, the back cover reads: "The conflict is bitter because the stakes are so small." It's an apt description of my feeling for the novel, too - my mood was irritation because the novel's scope and importance seemed so slight and puny. You could say this is 339 pages of virtually nothing.

It's the only novel by Sheed I've read so I don't know if all his writing is so misanthropically and misogynistically tinged.

George had always found it difficult to be serious with fat people.

His wife turned over with a grunt as he entered the bedroom, and her white nightgown swung peevishly out of the moonlight. Gray woman. Ugh, fundamentally.

He could never tell her a dream without having to listen to one of hers. And hers were so pointless.

The most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Her face was with him all week, gentle, tolerant. If she ever spoke, it would probably be with an awful secretary's bleat. The lovely eyes would go vacant and she would never look beautiful again.

It was like a National Geographic article, without even the prospect of brown bosoms to lighten the load.

Going to bed with Hilda was like going to bed with the war. She had as a matter of fact spent five years in the army, and a kind of institutional dinginess had rubbed off on her.

She was, like most inarticulate people, completely at the mercy of cliches. Her interpretation of the current situation was an insult to everyone concerned. Matty must simply be ignored in this case.

Besides, these American college girls never knew how to cook, or make a bed properly. And that was important. They were athletic, demanding, but had no idea how to dust.

Matty might have nothing useful to tell him, but she had the considerable wisdom to know it. It was no news to her that her verbal mind was hopelessly underdeveloped. It could only say things like, "It's a good job, isn't it, you'll be famous, what are you afraid of?" - hopelessly inadequate to the situation. But her presence was a real help. If he had wanted a word-clever wife, he would have had one. The woods were full of them.

The old fag shouldn't get so attached to his furniture.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty much all books about the workplace are interesting. Being human is messing up a perfect workplace, and we all have experienced that.

[Jason P · Rating 2 out of 5]

In fairness - this is more like 2.5 stars, but I’m hard-pressed to understand how a ‘satire’ could end up bumming me out! The book captured perfectly the kind of pathetic back stabbing that goes on inside the editorial team of a second-rate (or probably first-rate for that matter) publication. Nursing of hurts, caustic envy and impotent ambition. But then it just kept rambling on. I’m also a sucker for republished ‘lost classics’! Maybe some books just go out of print because they have their day and the passage of time leaves them smelling a little moldy!

[Harry Smith]

This rocks

He added up the nourished and the undernourished in China. They came to 103.5 percent of the population. Fair enough. Things were supposed to be pretty rough out there.

[Christina E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tbh i didnt rlly like this book until the last third of it. But the last third was pretty entertaining and i found mysellf surprised by who i was rooting for

[Christopher Bernaudo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Humans in an office are fascinating. This book holds up really well in that these characterized cartoon people are very much also people I work with today (I’m looking at you Ash!) the way this reads like a classic but is still so relevant and modern today made it a really interesting read. This book is ironic and funny and dull all at the same time which I ultimately enjoyed and would definitely recommend. For better or for worse there was a lot here that I recognized and for that I wonder..

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Office Politics by Wilfrid Sheed
10 out of 10


Paradoxically, this chef d’oeuvre seems to have been largely forgotten – astonishingly, it has collected a grand total of 13 (!!) ratings and 2 reviews on goodreads, where the likes of Dan Brown collect millions – and if you try to google and find about the novel, you are invited to buy it on Amazon (of course), but information on it is more than scarce, it appears to be absent.

Nevertheless, the fabulous, glorious book is included for good reason on The Guardian 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list - https://www.theguardian.com/books/200... - while the undersigned has placed it on his favorite fifty works.

George Wren seems to be the main character of the stupendous Office Politics, albeit we get different views and the book is so complex, sophisticated, intelligent, challenging, intriguing, rewarding and puzzling as to make the reader unsure who is the villain, if anyone, if we should root for Fritz, maybe feel sorry for Brian, admire Twining or loath him…perhaps all those within.
George has left a company where he was much better paid to join a small magazine called (surely symbolically) The Outsider, deciding that this is his ‘calling’ – Harvard professor of positive psychology Tal Ben-Shahar suggests that finding one’s calling is crucial and is done by identifying what one likes, is good at and has meaning for one and then find where these distinct groups intersect with each other.

The ‘commander’ of The Outsider is Gilbert Twining, brought from England, a complicated, impressive intellectual, who has outstanding qualities and some awful negative traits, maneuvering with expertise through the often turbulent waters of his Office, where peculiar personalities would come against each other once he is out of the picture, perhaps temporarily.
In fact, some of the ‘rather small’ people who would aspire to take control of the magazine, had been grumbling and tentatively scheming even before Twining is incapacitated, thinking that his prime had passed and The Outsider is descending into irrelevance under the present master and it would be much better off if a safer pair of hands would come to the rescue.

George Wren has a bizarre bond with the commander, who keeps taking him for drinks, which keep him up late in the night, to the chagrin and frustration of his wife Matilda first, then causing her to get ever more upset and perhaps close to desperation, seeing that she had had to put up with a much lower income, a lesser standard of leaving and the result is not a resplendent, radiant state of things, but a rather perverse atmosphere, ruled by a man with some outré, sick inclinations – Twining confesses to being close to obsessed by a girl – or is it girls? – he sees in the park, while he is married to a woman who would – granted – pay him back tenfold, when she would sell her shares to the most unsuitable person.

The magazine does not make money – it is intellectual, not concerned with fashion or themes that attract a large audience – and it depends on generous donors, one of which would very much like to write the theater chronicle – where Wally had enjoyed such success, albeit this is waning – only to be opposed by Twining and encouraged by Fritz Tyler, when the latter would endeavor to take over the helm and become the editor in chief, controlling the publication.
Gilbert Twining travels to California – the magazine is based in New York and may even become ‘too New Yorky’ – where he plans on raising some funds, but as he meets a stranger in a bar, he would invite her to further their connection and unfortunately suffer a heart attack which would send him to an institution to recover for months, during which the diagnostic is that he would be unable to manage the Outsider and this results in a fierce fight.

Evidently, it is not a confrontation that involves physical violence, albeit in the psychological realm, the clashes result in tears, accusations, hatred and abuse, for when Brian takes the leading role, he enters conflict, makes Olga Marplate cry when he refuses her requests for new furniture and makes reference to large pile of cash the woman possesses, aggravates Philo Sonnabend, who is supposed to be the advertising expert, but without much talent and a penchant to ask for more money, from an institution that is short of cash.
Frits Tyler is eyeing the position of editor and is using a winning strategy, for he is sleeping with Harriet Wadsworth, the wealthy woman who owns about a third of the shares of the Outsider, she wants to write for the prestigious feature and with Twining gone, Frits would do almost anything to get the top job, after he would allow Brian to try his hand and crash the plane into the ground.

This is all so fascinating, intriguing and radiant, for none of these people is a monster, although all seem to behave viciously in certain moments – making the reader think if that is not what would happen to him or her in the same climate – and they argue and fight over such small things, although power is a well-known, potent drug and The will to Power aka der Wille zur Mach is an important concept for Friedrich Nietzsche and explains the dynamic of Office Politics – in this divine book and in offices around the world in general, not just at The Outsider.

Eventually, Gilbert Twining may recover, albeit his state of health seems to have deteriorated drastically, and maybe his lieutenant, George Wren, would bring himself to write to the Commander, just as he had been asked before the ill-fated California trip, and ask him to rescue a ship that looks like sinking under immense egos, actions that seem to remind one of boisterous, foolish Trump – all that happens at the magazine is unexpected, we read with passion, curious in the extreme to learn what would happen, would Brian stumble and when, what would Fritz do and if the Captain returns, would he be in a position to take the Titanic ashore?

[Josie Ingall]

I loved this. Humor and real, close observation of How people are. Sheed is part of the suite of moralistic Catholic comedy-of-manners novelists of the middle twentieth century I love so much. I read the richly deserved (if unfortunately typo-ridden — “Brain” for Brian? really?) McNally Editions reprint.

Ella recently reminded me of a Marilynne Robinson quote (the origin and exact verbiage of which is lost to me) to the effect of “don’t attribute to some atrophied ‘culture’ what can be explained by people being people.” Extremely apt thematic tagline for this novel. It is also an excellent account of the self-involved, self-serious New York lit mag world of the ‘60s for which many of us now long.

[Adelaide Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Corporate America! Soulless, trivial, necessary, and full of the biggest bunch of grown children known to man. This book’s social politics have not aged well, but it’s office politics haven’t moved an inch since the day it was written.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s very hard to judge this satire of a world that no longer exists. Like Mad Men without relatable human emotion or much in the way of plot. On a literary critique level, maybe I can give it credit for doing that intentionally? Like the experience of reading this book (an endless, mind-numbing, repetitive slog) is analogous to the office experience it depicts. But as an enjoyable work of fiction, it falls far short of the mark.

Office Politics aspires to satirize the inner workings of a small New York magazine, The Outsider, but the novel’s humor and insight into office life often feel dated and repetitive. The story centers on George Wren, who leaves his more lucrative job at CBS for the supposed prestige of working at The Outsider (P.S. this prestige is nowhere demonstrated, we just have to take George’s word for it), only to find himself navigating petty rivalries and convoluted office dynamics under the magazine's Svengali-esque editor, Gilbert Twining. While Sheed’s prose is witty in places, the plot lacks the momentum needed to sustain interest, often bogging down in overly detailed descriptions of minor grievances that make the novel feel more laborious than entertaining.

Sheed’s characters are (I assume) intended to be flawed and relatable, and maybe they were at the time? But for readers of a very different era, they come across as one-dimensional and tedious, making it difficult to invest in their struggles or sympathize with their plights. The novel's humor, while occasionally clever, often feels muted and fails to deliver the pointed critique one might expect from an office satire. Office Politics lacks the vitality to make the reader care deeply about the characters’ fates, as they all feel like very thin stock figures representing some dull corporate archetype. Glad to be done with it.

[Courtney Fortin · Rating 2 out of 5]

this took me 2 months to get through because I simply could not get into this. made myself finish it to prove I did not just pick it based on the cover. but alas, cute covers don’t mean good books😔 my fault.

[Ines Kortebi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Various notes kept throughout my reading experience:

“At this pressure one had to choose between the cheap pleasure or the most fantastic pain”

Each chapter is about a different character - the narration follows their thoughts intermixed with dialogue of their interactions. Cleverly crafted to suit each character (eg George’s thoughts are so very different from Twinning’s). You are immersed into the lull of office life and power dynamics, the hypocrisy of Twinnings wanting to get a say with the big dogs with money when he runs a dictatorship in his own office, the editors staging a coup for a legendary publication that has become mediocre at best. So much beating around the bush about how they feel about their boss.

Despite following the inner workings of the characters minds, the novel is in the third person (close 3rd person). You have to really clue into that for a moment … but the sarcastic undertone and the irony of their situations at times is what brings you out of if and you realise that this is a glimpse into someone else’s life.

A subtle sense of humour that relies on finding the irony of the characters’ situations. This book was supposedly funny and, admittedly, I didn’t see it. Not until I got about a 1/3rd of the way through. Then the suggested irony turned full on comical.

Not something you can binge. Take your time. Appreciate it for what it is.

After a while, you kinda figure out whose perspective you’re following when you start a new chapter before it is explicitly stated. Another good example of how to use close 3rd person.

The moral of the story (imo) is to rethink your contributions (to your work, personal life, whatever it may be) and find purpose and meaning in it.

[Kyle Magin · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a former magazine editor myself, this perfectly captures the business. Balancing egos (including, crucially, your own), being excited about new talent until you discover their limits, and the constant worry that the thing you really love doing might be hopelessly compromised by uncaring owners and fickle advertisers. Also really gets to the weird coddling/adversarial relationship editors have with their writers, and the mental energy it takes to really edit an article.

[kate]

So damn funny. Satires and comedies usually dont cut it for me but someone up high decided to give me a break on that front

Also—apparently reading books about paranoid and anxious people at work will make you a slightly more paranoid and anxious person at work

[Riley N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid, good satire of office culture. Couldn’t finish though :(

[Colin Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny if you work an office job. Last 100 pages are really good.

[Nathan Turtledove · Rating 2 out of 5]

The reviews and description seemed interesting enough to hook me in, but 200 pages in, it still felt like it wasn’t going anywhere. The last hundred pages could have been the entire book and it would have sufficed.

Ultimately, it wasn’t terrible, but I can’t see myself ever recommending this book to anyone, hence the 2 stars.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Affecting. No, that’s not quite the word. Certainly thought-provoking, and a great character study of affectations.

I thought Office Politics extended its scope beyond its title and was an insightful exploration of (in)sincerity, hypocrisy, interpersonal relationship dynamics, the roles people adopt, and how they get there.

I found it interesting that the characters given the most interiority (i.e., Twining, Fine, George, Fritz) are found at perhaps their lowest after long-since having followed their own worst instincts, almost archetypally. The only characters who retain any luster of “goodness” or sincerity are Polly and Matty (who could be reduced to the descriptor “the wives” — framing this book in terms of the Bechdel test is as futile/irrelevant as would be for Mad Men or the Godfather).

The men of Office Politics represent different routes to a corrosion of integrity/sense of self (daresay sense of proportion) that can come through petty office squalls and power plays. Several references by George of how inconsequential the events of the plot really are, as well as characters finding themselves suddenly tired after verbal chess matches, were quite poignant.

Deeply cynical, a cautionary tale. One hopes one doesn’t relate too closely to the ensemble of combatants (who are all, in their own ways which is somewhat the same way, the worst), but one can see how these own dynamics can come to bear in one’s own petty kingdom.

TL;DR (though a moderate length which I did in fact read): work sucks and it shouldn’t be the most important source of your sense of self. Don’t take it personally/too seriously, lest you become a different, and worse, person.

[Iris Carlson]

Absolutely loved it. Had a surprisingly profound impact on my way of thinking lately. Finished it at work which felt fitting and fun. Weirdly made me think about Sophie's Choice often.

Copy and pasting from that accidental status update forgive me but I want all my reviews in one place why is goodreads the worst app of all time

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not much happens for most of the book except a lot of character development which makes for a great ending. Timeless workplace relationships and cool NY setting.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked up randomly and ended up looooving it. Very funny and horrific and sort of like a slow car crash. Also a little romantic if we’re being honest!!

Reading very deeply into every other person’s slightest comment or gesture and getting irritated at what you find and being deeply self centered and neurotic and thinking that Other People Just Don’t Get It and maybe it’s because you’re more clever than they are and maybe it’s just because you’re deeply insecure and getting carried away by your relationships with others. The charm and sway that a certain routine or place or person can have over every part of you. The need to ignore everything and just go on a long walk where you abstractly think about killing yourself and about how sad it is that babies will one day be old. Wanting to humiliate others and wanting to do anything to stop them from being humiliated when the moment finally comes.

Great book!!

[Lynda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I made it to page 80 and realized that I didn't care about the characters or the story, so I gave up.
The book was written in the '60s, and takes place in the '60s publishing world. I should've liked it, but didn't.

[Matt Rodbard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Need more Sheed in my life

[Ken Ryu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The world of the New York -based "Outdoor" magazine is dominated by the editor-in-chief Gilbert Twining. Twining, an Englishman, has a genius for handling the different personalities required to put out the niche, respected left-leaning publication. His style of management is hands-on and detail-oriented. With this approach, the ability for others to expand their roles and own spheres of influence are limited, as is the growth and reach of the publication.

Our main character is a 30-something editor named George Wren who Twining has taken under his wing. Most of the staff have stayed on with "Outdoor" for many years, but George has only been with the magazine for 3 months. Unlike the others who have been condition to Twining's system and have accepted their limited growth opportunities, George is seeing the office dynamics with fresh eyes.

When Twining suffers a heart attack and is forced to recover away from the magazine in California, a crisis of leadership hits the magazine. The three editors are faced with the question of who will step into the massive void that Twining's absence creates. George is too new to the magazine to assume the head role and the other two editors, Fritz and Brian face off to see who will take the lead. The two editors are different in temperament and strategy. Wren watches as the power struggle plays out and wonders if losing the domineering Twining will lead to a rapid collapse of the magazine.

The second half of the book deals with the return of Twining. Wren alerts Twining to his concerns and witnesses Twining's tour-de-force as the two visit the key players in the magazine. Twining's rapid fire meetings showcase his genius and ability to dominate others. The future of the magazine is uncertain, but it is clear that Twining does not believe his two veteran editors are up to the challenge of replacing him.

The book is interesting. We get a view of a office dynamics. The viewpoint of George Wren works. He is close and distant enough from the various players to provide a fly-on-the-wall view, while also injecting critical and moral judgements at appropriate intervals. He objectively understands the strengths and weaknesses of the various people. He is self-aware and understands how the sometimes toxic actions of his various colleagues and especially Twining impact his attitude, behavior and mood. Besides the leadership question, the other key question the novel addresses is whether George Wren should accept or reject the world of the "Outside" magazine with all its charm and flaws. Wren's decision is a struggle. He had left his job at a larger news organization, CBS, to join "Outside". He is learning that no matter the size of the organization; self-importance, internal power-struggles, and dishonest dealings are universal.

[Taylor Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pettiness, if you observe it in the wild, is pretty bloody hilarious. Making a hullabaloo over nothing, doing so clumsily, exposing your own festering insecurity - well, the jokes write themselves really.
But the office is the collesium of pettiness, glorious home to the gladiators of the pathetic. Gather a hoard of overthinking pen-pushers in a confined space for 8 hours 5 days a week and they'll internally and collectively combust.
This novel pops open the psychology of that sad little place. The paper thin ideals, the alliances, the wierd trysts, the paranoid egos. In that environment no perspective can settle. One minute you hate you're colleague, the next you're desperately sorry for them. Everyone's humanity is just barely concealed, and you can't get a handle on who's at the core of all this malcontent. George flipflops on whether Twinning is a master manipulator about a thousand times. Fritz can't decide if he's disgusted or enamored with Harriet. Brian can't tell if everyone sees him as a foul or a hero.
It's also great at showing the unshakeable natter that office politics plants in the head. George is constantly questioning why he gives shit about all these people but can never escape for very long.
The prose is so clean and spoken with that clever little bite you find in privileged people who are adamant they're being oppressed: 'Nanny Renfrew suddenly had some of the charm of a stuffed bear'.
Not sure why this book isn't more popular, maybe cause it leaves your cheeks sore from grinning.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nominated for a National Book Award in 1966, Sheed's thoughtful workplace satire transfers that truism about the most vicious infighting being over the lowest stakes, from academia to the drab Manhattan offices of The Outsider, a small fortnightly magazine with large pretensions. Sleek, donnish chief editor Gilbert Twining presides over a cadre of disaffected staff who perpetually maneuver and connive in pursuit of tiny increments of power and status. Newest member George Wren is now rethinking his recent decision to leave lowbrow CBS, sacrificing pay for prestige, only to find himself in a petty purgatory of thwarted ambitions and unhappy happy hours sure to wring shudders of recognition from any white-collar worker. A keen but sympathetic observer, Sheed invests his malcontents with intelligence, and vulnerability. When Twining is sidelined by a heart attack, the dog finally catches the car, unleashing a scrimmage of shifting allegiances and abortive power grabs that crystallize for Wren his place on a playground of jockeying egos, suggesting a means of transcending banal discontent for a more meaningful existence. With a pitch-perfect ear for inner and outer dialogue and a searching wit as hilarious as it is humane, Sheed illuminates the dingiest and most discomfiting corners of that curious home away from home known as the office.

[Mahinder Kingra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rescued from oblivion by McNally Jackson publishing imprint, this bitter comedy — though one that provokes winces of recognition rather than laughs — autopsies the staff at a small politics-and-culture journal in the early 1960s, when such “little magazines” meant something to the larger culture. Having been around such journals and book publishers (albeit more than three decades later), Sheed is depressingly on point in his assessment of the meaningless office politics and the way that passion curdles into self-doubt and then self-loathing. At the same time, however, it’s a deeply romantic depiction of both New York on the cusp of yet another transformation and a time when intellectual pursuits were valorized, no matter how small (and never declining) the readership. Thatbtime now seems as remote as the coffeehouses of 17th-century London and the salons of 18th-century Paris.

[Kidlitter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like so many I read about this chestnut in the Times, thought I'd give it a go and simply found it unbearable. The smell of mothballs is overwhelming from the collective opinions of the entitled, smug, immature and tedious bunch of dull men from 60s New York. Ok, let's just say for once I couldn't put the misogyny and hatred of women aside in this time capsule, perhaps because the author didn't try very hard to either. Yes, I'm sure many a literary magazine's fate was decided during literally years of petty corporate shenanigans and even more likely, at the local bar night after night - but what a waste of time for everyone.

[Glenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The travails of a young and initially idealistic American editor at a literary magazine overseen by a British lion who's no longer what he used to be. Surrounded by losers, misfits and boozers — oh no, those are the Slow Horses. There is a certain structural resemblance here, I have to say. But at least int he Slow Horses books there are guns.

This is fine a "proper" novles go and it also reminded me why I don't read "proper" novels all that frequently. I am still pondering whether part of my "meh" response has to do with the introduction being by Gerald Howard, who I've disliked ever since his glib performance at one or another David Foster Wallace memorial I attended.

[Martha Paola]

Sátira (publicada en 1966) de la vida oficinesca en una revista literaria de los cincuenta (que no pierde vigencia).
- De la importancia de trabajar en un sitio en el que las ideas importan.
- De revistas consideradas ya una "máquina de opinión averiada".
- De instalaciones en decadencia que remiten a las de los agentes de ‘Slow Horses’: habitaciones despintadas, sin ventanas, parecidas a una morgue; archivadores mal colocados, salida de emergencia bloqueada, etc.
- De dejar un trabajo rentable en la CBS por la devoción a una revista de izquierdas.
- De las dinámicas laborales como impulsoras de lo mejor y lo peor de la personalidad.