Jennifer Government

A Novel

De: Max Barry

Narrado por: Patrick Frederic

Jennifer Government is Here to Help!

In Max Barry’s twisted, hilarious vision of the near future, the world is run by giant American corporations (except for a few deluded holdouts like the French); taxes are illegal; employees take the last names of the companies they work for; The Police and The NRA are publicly-traded security firms; the U.S. government may only investigate crimes if they can bill a citizen directly. It’s a free market paradise!

Hack Nike is a lowly Merchandising Officer who’s not very good at negotiating his salary. So when John Nike and John Nike, executives from the promised land of Marketing, offer him a contract, he signs without reading it. Unfortunately, Hack’s new contract involves shooting teenagers to build up street cred for Nike’s new line of $2,500 sneakers. Scared, Hack goes to The Police, who assume he’s asking for a subcontracting deal and lease the assassinations to the NRA.

Soon Hack finds himself pursued by Jennifer Government, a tough-talking agent with a barcode tattoo under her eye and a rabid determination to nail John Nike (the boss of the other John Nike). In a world where your job title means everything, the most cherished possession is a platinum credit card, and advertising jingles give way to automatic weapons in the fight for market share, Jennifer Government is the consumer watchdog from hell.

Jennifer Government is the kind of novel that can become a byword--a Catch-22 for the New World Order, a satire both broad and pointed, deeply funny and disturbingly on-target.©2003 Max Barry; (P)2003 Random House, Inc., Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"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

“May be the most fun you’ll find in a bookstore this year. . . . Full of wit, humor and imagination, Jennifer Government ultimately pulls off its over-the-top conceit.”—Time Out New York

“A riotous satirical rant. . . . [Its characters’] excesses . . . make Barry’s world of unregulated corporate greed and unrelenting consumerism so frightening and funny.”—Entertainment Weekly

“The plot rockets forward on hyperdrive . . . fresh and very clever.”—The Boston Globe

“[A] devilish satire that made me laugh out loud.”—Dick Adler, The Chicago Tribune

Worth a listen

Max Barry has a wonderfully cynical view of the future. The story unfolds in the world he foresees as the public's religion, politics and patriotism meld into the corporate identity. I found it to be a fun story that plodded along a bit. I found no real fault with the narration but rather Barry's writing style. A great story lacking only a more published author.

Stick with it

The story gets better as it goes on, so don't give up when you first start this book. The narrator is the biggest problem at first, he sounds like someone doing a poor Phil Hartman imitation, but by the end you realize he was perfect casting. Enjoyable and entertaining.

Hilarious and captivating

'Jennifer Government' is by no means a great book, but it sure is an entertaining one. Max Barry takes us on a great ride through a bitterly absurd future where corporations are so influential as to virtually replace governments.
The story is generally well paced. My only complaint would be that I didn't find out as much as I would have liked to know about Jennifer. However, I just saw that there is an unabridged version. Had I seen this earlier, I would have bought it instead.
For fans of fiction and action alike, Max Berry provides good, solid, and not-so-deep entertaining read.

Take Off Your Blinders

This book is a great story with fun characters and a twisted sense of humor. The basic plot becomes pretty believable when corporate competition turns ugly and companies like Nike, IBM, the NRA, Mitsui, McDonalds, Burger King, the government, and others will do anything to capture the customer's dollar.

Like most good science fiction, it gives you a new way to look at a twisted future.

Fun!

It was a fun listen. The tongue-in-cheek satirical style was reminiscent of Neal Stephenson. What depth was lacking in character building was more than made up by the hillarity of the writing. I didn't find the narration all that objectionable, though it certainly doesn't standout. The delivery was excellent, and certainly goes well with the tone of the book. I'm a little disappointed that this wasn't the unabridged version, though.