So Brad snagged me a copy of "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit" and I burned through it over the weekend.

It's a great book, yet it doesn't instinctively rebel against the 50's any more than it embraces that period. Instead, it does a good job at examining a way of life that seems to have disappeared.

I cannot relate to the idea of the "mega-corporation" in which there are thousands of striving middle managers. Almost every firm I've worked for has had a three-tier structure of upper and middle management, and the actual workers beneath them. I've never had to deal with vice-presidents or division heads or section leaders to any extent. As companies continue to flatten out, I can only expect that this trend will continue.

The book clearly doesn't idolize that corporate culture, and it certainly doesn't wax nostalgic about the main couple's home life. We're treated to a view of a somewhat violent father and a naive wife. Early in the novel, when the wife decides to make a change she declares that she'll start to serve "real meals" rather than hamburgers and hot dogs, and that the children will start going to church.

I wonder if, in our current generation, the idea of growing-up has been completely abandoned. There's no need, seemingly anymore, to stop eating the foods we wish, or to have to knuckle down and act mature. Thirty year old childless men with ten year relationships sit down on their couch and fire up video-games for fun. Why should one bother spending two hours creating a meal when one could simply go out to eat?

Of course, I'm not saying that this is bad, by any means. Just that our image of the martini-soaked, white-bread, racists fifties may be somewhat mistaken: perhaps they were just fooling themselves at the same time. Certainly the desire for money, for material goods, has gotten even stronger in the intervening years. When the main character, Tom Rath, muses about getting his children life-insurance, I couldn't help but think that I'd have to be incredibly rich to think about such a mature concept. Who can afford to sock money away for an event one will never be around to see?

My mistake, in hindsight, was transitioning straight from The Man... to American Psycho which describes perfectly the exact same sort of rat race in the 80's. At some point, most people, including myself, will have to slow down or risk burning out. Rath manages to make the transition well. I assume I can do better.