Jennifer Government

Rating:
Summary: Fast-paced, fun read
Review: Fast-paced book that can be read in small chunks -- perfect for a busy person. If you ever get depressed about how bad things are, this book will remind you how much worse it could be -- especially when Jennifer Government has to hit up the crime victims for funds to conduct the investigation.

In all, a snappy tale about greed, corporate ethics and the fool (Hack Nike) who gets caught up in their machinations.

Rating:
Summary: 1984 for the Corporate World.
Review: This is the new vision of the near-future. It's a scary, but logical look at what may happen as corporations control more and more of our lives. In this future, people take the name of their corporation as their last names. It's corporate ownership of people with no apologies. So, we meet Hack Nike, John Nike, Hayley McDonalds, and Jennifer Government. This book is darkly humorous and will find itself up there with 1984, Brave New World, Catch-22, and Farenheit 451 for predicting a darkly possible future. Read this book!

Rating:
Summary: 'No Taxes' Might Not Be A Good Thing
Review: I always enjoy taking a stroll through the madcap adventures of nihilistic, over the top, futuristic dream worlds. Whether it is anti-utopias or dystopias does not matter in the least to me. Give me a world teetering on the brink of collapse and I am there. Having said that, Max Barry's 'Jennifer Government' ought to bring a smile to my face and a spring to my step. Alas, 'tis not so, although this stroll through a future world where corporations control ninety percent of the world should have done the trick.

The map on the back cover of the book gives you some idea of where you are about to go. Most of the globe is slathered in green, which means these areas are members of the United States Federated Economic Blocs. Is it a time when the American Empire has finally come to fruition? Well, yes and no. Barry, an Australian living in the comfy confines of 'Down Under,' has merely taken the present trends in economic globalization and extended them to their logical conclusions. In other words, while the United States government is still around, shoe companies, fast food joints, and advertising agencies are now in charge. Wearing cheap suits, working out of rundown office buildings, and needing to shake down victims in order to get money to track down criminals, the government cannot even collect taxes anymore. They still have a few go getters, such as agent Jennifer Government, a lady with a shady corporate past who sports a bar code tattoo under her eye. Working with her partner Calvin while trying to raise her daughter Kate, Jennifer keeps busy by tracking down bad guys. A recent fiasco at the mall, where some teenagers took a dive while trying to pick up a pair of the latest trendy shoes, has Jen boiling mad.

During the course of the investigation, Jennifer hooks up with Buy Mitsui, an unsettled stockbroker and potential love interest. Throw in Billy NRA, a guy who loves to ski but never seems to get anywhere, a ruthless executive named John who wants to rule the corporate world, and Hack and Violet, a couple who give a new meaning to the word 'incompatible,' and you have the essence of Barry's world. Every character accepts without question the world they live in, a world where everything from roads to medical services carry a stiff price due to ubiquitous free markets. Corporations run the show, and they are not about to let anyone get in the way of their plans, which includes the movement towards a sort of super monopoly based on a customer bonus buy program.

'Jennifer Government' is enjoyable, but I discovered several problems that left a bad taste in my mouth. One was the continuity errors in the book. I have no idea why I even noticed them, but there they were for all to see. Example: someone already sitting on a bed suddenly sits down on the same bed a few lines later. Now, I suppose this is metaphysically possible but something tells me this isn't the case here. A knottier problem occurs with the relationship between Buy and Jennifer. Does anyone buy (no pun intended), for one second, that a man who wants to take his own life suddenly finds himself entrusted with a little girl while Mom goes out of town? The snort of derision I made after reading this section shook the rafters. These problems do not plague the whole book, but they stuck out like a sore thumb whenever they appeared.

Still, Max Barry writes an entertaining story that has some good scenery even if it does come at the cost of character development. I would have liked to see some background on how the world got to this sorry state, but the author keeps his secrets close to his vest (or in a jar of vegamite?). Ultimately, 'Jennifer Government' is a moderately satisfying and quick read, a good way to pass a Saturday afternoon when you have nothing else to do. Perhaps this book will make a better movie. I think four stars is acceptable for this cantankerous Aussie's second outing.

Rating:
Summary: Falls short of SYRUP
Review: But with such a strong freshman showing, Max Barry had a hard time following up with JENNIFER GOVERNMENT.

Set somewhere on a fine line between sci-fi and marketing extremism, JENNIFER is a story of ... Nike -- again Barry uses interesting naming processes to keep the reader in some sort of hook.

While the references and the storyline sustains a relatively interesting persona, the book can get lost at times, with the subplots losing track of the overall picture.

Not a super sophomore effort, but strong nonetheless. Unless Barry finds his SYRUP charm, he may need to seek new hooks for his third novel.

Rating:
Summary: Great Idea, Page-turning Book
Review: Jennifer Government is a book about a near future in which corporations have almost all of the power in the United States (expanded to include the whole Western Hemisphere, the British Islands, Australia, Japan and maybe Russia) and the government relies only entirely on private support because taxes have been abolished. The book has some extremely fun and provocative ideas. People now take the last name of the company for which they work, schools are privatized and run by fast food or toy companies that see the kids as future customers.

If this seems like a pretty obvious attack on libertarianism and free markets, of course it is. But the plot is enjoyable and will keep you turning the pages of this short book whether you agree with the political statement or not, although for people who disagree with the politics, you may end up throwing the book against the wall a few times.

In the book, Hack Nike is a low-level office worker at Nike. He is peer pressured into signing a contract to do marketing work (a big step up for Hack) without reading the contract first. The contract says that Hack has to kill some kids who buy Nike's newest shoes so that it will look like the shoes are so popular that kids are killing for them. Unfortunately for Hack, contracts seem to be ironclad these days (although how this is possible in a society with almost no functioning government, and therefore, probably a dysfunctional court system, the book does not explain).

Luckily for Hack, a government agent, Jennifer Government, has a tip that Nike is planning to kill kids who buy the new shoes, and she is out to stop it. There are suggestions that her motives aren't too pure. She appears to have a past that is driving her to act.

The plot goes through many twists and turns, many betrayals by everyone, but it is easy to understand and quick reading.

My one complaint is that, with 2-3 page chapters, tons of characters and so much action packed into a 300 page book in large print, there is not much time to learn more about the characters. Hopefully, Barry is thinking of a sequel in which we will learn more about Hack and Jennifer and the rest. Hopefully the lack of character development was just marketing so that people will want to know more about the characters.

Rating:
Summary: Clever, quick satire
Review: I bought this book after playing Max Barry's online "Nationstates" game. I pretty much only bought it to support the guy since he'd put a lot of work into the game, but after I started reading it, I really got into the book itself. It's almost an anti-1984, where instead of the Government being all powerful, it's an impotent little organization, the real power lies within the mega-corporations. The story almost reads like *Dave* Barry's Big Trouble, with a large, large class of characters with many stories that all intertwine. I also like that even though it's set in the near future, The Author chose to keep the technology pretty low, as if it could easily be our current society just around the corner

My only real problem with the book was that it is rather anticlimactic at times, especially dealing with the issue of Jennifer's barcode tattoo, it's such a significant detail that it's on the book's cover, but in the end, the story behind it is kind of a let down.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, but entirely too possible!
Review: Set in the future, where capitalism is king and people are required to take on the name of their company as their last name, Jennifer Government is the story of a government agent (Jennifer) out for revenge against John Nike, who decided to hire out the NRA to assassinate people who bought their newest shoe - in the hopes of creating more demand for the shoes.

Bitingly sarcastic and fast-pased, Jennifer Government is an all-too-possible look at the future, with psychotic characters and even more psychotic corporations. Go out and buy this book NOW...let's make sure the future doesn't end up looking like Jennifer Government.

Rating:
Summary: Well Balanced
Review: The cover caught my eye and the idea drew me in.

A Capitalist WORLD? No way! That's not where we're headed!

Capitalizm is how most of the world is run in this parallel/futuristic world. The stakes have risen higher than anyone would have imagined, but that's life. The United States has stretched its imperial hands and doubled in size. The Government has taken a back seat to big-time corporations.

Barry is insightful, creative, and fun. This was his story to tell. At times the writing is a little simple, but it's polished, concise, and doesn't take away from the idea presented, which I consider to be a little more relevant. A very good read.

Rating:
Summary: Glimpse into the not to distant future
Review: After studying Marketing for four years I was intrigued by this second novel by Max(x) barry, and from the front page, to the very end it had me on the edge of my seat. The suprising thing is that many executives in big corporations would actually support the ideas held by John Nike.

Rating:
Summary: Book shelf filler
Review: Barry's book is an intersting look st where we are heading. While the book itself is 1984esque in nature, it fails to have any real drive. I found myself saying that the book was about fifty pages too long, with certain characters being a waste to the book itself. I felt the character of John Nike could've been used better to show the heartlessness and ruthlessness of big business (granted he did a great deal of underhanded and diabolical things in the book, but he could've done more). It was a good read, but nothing that you'll pick up and read a second time.