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  • A satirical look at consumerism run amok. But the phrase "run amok" doesn't describe the world Barry creates nearly well enough. Imagine a world where not countries go to war against each other, but corporations. Where there aren't military goals, but marketing goals. The government will only invest ... Continue

    A satirical look at consumerism run amok. But the phrase "run amok" doesn't describe the world Barry creates nearly well enough. Imagine a world where not countries go to war against each other, but corporations. Where there aren't military goals, but marketing goals. The government will only investigate a crime if funded by the victims, ambulances require an Amex card to come to your aid and workers take on the name of their company as their surnames. It's all rather far fetched... or is it? Perhaps the satire works so well because it's all so plausible. An often hysterical and thought provoking read.

    

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• ― Cuzzin Todd said on Apr 8, 2008 | Add your feedback

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  • Disappointing

  • Intriguing premise, which unfortunately was paired with mediocre writing and storytelling.

    

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• ― Psilotum said on May 28, 2007 about the Hardcover edition| Add your feedback

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.


From the Hardcover edition.

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