Jennifer Government

By: Max Barry

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

The irreverent author of the cult classic Syrup hits his target in this satire on the wages of big capital. In Max Barry's hilarious vision of the near future, the world is run by giant American corporations, and employees take the last names of the companies they work for; The Police and The NRA are publicly traded security firms, and the U.S. government may only investigate crimes if they can bill a citizen directly. When lowly Merchandising Officer Hack Nike unwittingly signs a contract that involves shooting teenagers to build up street credibility for Nike's new line of $2,500 sneakers, he goes to The Police, only to be pursued by Jennifer Government, a tough-talking agent with a bar-code tattoo under her eye, the consumer watchdog from hell.

©2003 Max Barry (P)2003 Books on Tape, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Wicked and wonderful....[It] does just about everything right. Fast-moving, funny, and involving." (The Washington Post Book World)
"Funny and clever....A kind of ad-world version of Dr. Strangelove. [Barry] unleashes enough wit and surprise to make his story a total blast." (The New York Times Book Review)

Not bad, but it's no Snow Crash.

This is an enjoyable story, but the theme of capitalism and marketing taken to the nth degree and even the idea of privatized governments and police services were all done first, better, and with much more humor in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash.
Nearly every single character is taken advantage of in some way and most are so beaten down and pathetic that it almost doesn't seem to matter who wins in the end. I had no sympathy whatsoever for Jennifer herself. Sure she gets the bad guys, but only because she makes that goal a higher priority than her own child.
I'm not saying Jennifer Government isn't worth the listen, but if you like it then I highly recommend Snow Crash.

Clever and Interesting Plot

The plot is clever and fast-paced. The narrator was very good but the female voices sounded a bit funny. Overall, I would recommend this book. I work on the computer most of the day and this was an enjoyable audiobook to listen to. I work in the marketing field and it's not too far off the mark on how bizarre advertising think can get!

Always love This book

Now my third time through this book and I still love it
One of the only books that compels me to keep listening until it's done.

So much meh

I don't remember why I ever thought I'd be interested in this book, but it didn't deliver anything I could consider to be value.

It starts with the premise that government completely turns a blind eye to whatever companies want to do, mischaracterizes that as something libertarians or somebody near the right end of the political spectrum wants, and then builds a world around it only deep enough to tell a forgettable story.

The characters were flat, and the dialogue wasn't believable. The profanity was unnecessary and excessive, and seemed only to show when the author was trying to make a character unrelatable, which wasn't a problem because none of them would have been, even without the profanity and other verbal abuse.

I don't think this was Michael Kramer's best narration work, but he did an admirable job of trying to salvage the story.

Great idea, poorly executed

The topical premise of corporations taking over and running society with the goal of profit above all else, including human life, should have been quite intriguing. The book's presentation of privatized police and schools was utterly horrifying, but the story didn't really put forth much of a message to me. Although not quite as blatantly presented in this novel, corporations have already taken over, and it doesn't take much research to find out what many of them are doing out in the world when it comes to human and environmental exploitation (and, yes, even the taking of human lives). Another reviewer said it was preachy, but in a failed effort to be funny and absurd I found it didn't go far enough with it's message of the possibilities of all-powerful corporations.

Of course, that in and of itself wouldn't make for a bad book; however, it was just plain boring. Don't get me wrong: I was looking for a prophetic, cautionary tale delivered in an entertaining and humorous style, but this was a cheesy detective style potboiler with a tedious plot and uninteresting characters with little or no redeeming qualities. No one was likable or sympathetic (except perhaps Jennifer's daughter), and the humor fell flat. I'm giving it two stars for a good idea and the attempt (albeit, a failed one) of it's message.

A Great Premise that Loses its Direction

Jennifer Government has a great premise that gets lost along the way, devolving into a mostly disappointing cops-and-robbers fantasy.

Max Barry is a gifted and highly imaginative writer, no doubt about it, and, I thoroughly enjoyed a more recent novel of his, "Machine Man," about a man who replaces his own limbs with supercharged prosthetics, but this novel, "Jennifer Government," although it comes highly recommended (and even spawned interest from Hollywood) unfortunately left me disappointed and shaking my head at a missed opportunity.

Don't get me wrong: the premise is great. Set in a dystopian world where corporations rule practically every aspect of one's life, where even one's surname reflects employment rather than heritage, "Jennifer Government" stimulates the imagination. Yet it squanders this initial effect, in my opinion, quickly becoming lost in good-guys-vs-bad-guys, slapstick comedy, and oddball characters. The result is disorienting. What started out as P.K. Dick becomes something akin to a Carl Hiassen novel.

Fortunately Max Barry does give us a few glimpses into his strange capitalistic vision---consumers lumber about so extremely jaded that they are unable to distinguish terrorist attacks from new ad campaigns. And sad sack employees are so desperate to stay employed (since unemployment is tantamount to losing one's identity), that they are willing to murder if necessary. When these all-too-brief moments appear in the novel, they are indeed fascinating, so much so that one has to wonder what this novel might have been like had it gone in another direction.

Ridiculous

So dumb and a waste of time Predictable. Simpleminded. Misogynistic at its core as is most in this genre. Dissapointing

bad story

Novel and plot is like used empty Saran Wrap. Yuk!! A waste of time.

God-awful accents, unexamined anti-capitalism

What disappointed you about Jennifer Government?

The story was pretty basic. This guy is like reverso Ayn Rand... has bad feelings about capitalism and monopolies so he wrote a boring story with one-dimensional characters so he could move them around and go, "see?"

Would you be willing to try another book from Max Barry? Why or why not?

I am so confused... I loved Lexicon so much. I guess I would try again, but now I'm all nervous. Thank goodness for Audible returns...

Would you be willing to try another one of Michael Kramer’s performances?

Not even ever. That guy needs to find a different job.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Discomfort and boredom. Sometimes annoyance.

Robo Cop without the Robots

Very strong plot.