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Loading... Jennifer Governmentby Max Barry
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. libraryofus | May 15, 2009 |   Pre09: Characters: She's got a barbie doll upc on her face! Of course I love her. Plot: It's pure cyberpunk, but at least it's put together pretty well. Style: Modern pop cyberpunk all the way. Easier to follow than most though. (  )Isamoor | May 8, 2009 | I read this book over the course of one Sunday back in 2003, in between the Sunday newspaper, bouts of websurfing, laundry and other housework, and finished it up just prior to the season finale of "Andromeda" (AKA "Hercules In Space"). All this extraneous detail to say it's a fast read and not one that requires intense concentration. And it's FUN! What a loopy world Max Barry created (the seeds of which are currently being sown): one where an individual's surname is that of his employer and the free market is god. Where capturing more market share is the Holy Grail, and all efforts in pursuit of that goal are permissible. Written in an easily accessible, almost neo-punk, style. Hilarious and terrifying all at once. Gosh, I'm glad I read this! (  )avanta7 | Apr 25, 2009 | All three of the science fiction books I read recently had an excellent premise or set of premises upon which they were based. However all three books managed to put books of varying quality around those ideas. In my opinion the most successful was Jennifer Government. It isn't just an entertaining and at times funny look at brand identity taken to 11 on the dial, it is also an interesting read from beginning to end. I recommend this book pretty highly. ( )JohnMunsch | Apr 10, 2009 | I remember the hype around this and NationStates (the accompanying game). I focused more on the NationStates (I was probably penwingland or somethign similar) and never got round to reading the book (poor at the time). I received this book as my SantaThing gift and have only recently picked it up. It's not exactly been screaming at me to read it. I was surprised at how little the book has to do with the game. In the game you make political decisions based on scenarios and options. The scenarios are very widely spread and allow your country to develop in many different directions. The book is about only one direction - unbridalled free trade and minimal government interference. Where Murder is a calculated business risk (will the fine outweigh the profit) rather than a moral issue. Overall this was an enjoyable conspiracy/scifi/actioner with some agreeable social-politcal commentary. Glad I've finally read it, but wouldn't list it anywhere in my greatest books of all time. (  )penwing | Apr 7, 2009 | 0.047 seconds to build listing  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com (ISBN 0385507593, Hardcover)In the horrifying, satirical near future of Max Barry's Jennifer Government, American corporations literally rule the world. Everyone takes his employer's name as his last name; once-autonomous nations as far-flung as Australia belong to the USA; and the National Rifle Association is not just a worldwide corporation, it's a hot, publicly traded stock. Hack Nike, a hapless employee seeking advancement, signs a multipage contract and then reads it. He discovers he's agreed to assassinate kids purchasing Nike's new line of athletic shoes, a stealth marketing maneuver designed to increase sales. And the dreaded government agent Jennifer Government is after him.Like Steve Aylett, Alexander Besher, Douglas Coupland, Paul Di Filippo, Jim Munroe, Jeff Noon, and Chuck Palahniuk, Max Barry is an author of smartass, punky satire for the late capitalist era. It's a hip and happening field; before publication, Jennifer Government (Barry's second novel) was optioned by Stephen Soderbergh and George Clooney's Section 8 Films for a major motion picture. However, the level of literary accomplishment varies wildly among practitioners, from brilliant (Di Filippo and Palahniuk) to amateurish (Besher). This field is so hot, its writers needn't be nearly as accomplished as they'd have to become to break into any other form of fiction. That said, like many of his fellow turn-of-the-millennium satirists, Barry is uneven. He has a lively imagination and a sharp eye for the absurdities and offenses of hypercorporate capitalism. But, with its sketchy characters and slow dialogue, Jennifer Government will disappoint anyone who believes the cover copy's grandiose claim that this is "a Catch-22 for the New World Order." --Cynthia Ward (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:18 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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I am entirely unenthused by the prospect of explaining why I think this extrapolation is a load of baloney, however. Please note that I don't think that anarchocapitalism is The One True Way, or even a good idea; however, I am fairly certain that this would not be its failure mode. Still, the story was amusing enough, even if it seemed to have been constructed entirely to first show up and then topple the house of cards in which it took place.
In short: Good for an occasional eye-roll, but not particularly recommended.
( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/ze... ) (