Jennifer Government [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Max Barry states on his website that in the final edit, he cut about three-fourths of what he had written for this book, including one major character. After reading Jennifer Government, one wishes that he had not edited it so heavily. The book is a quick read - I finished it in about 5 hours - which is a shame for a novel which deals with such a heavy subject.

Character development is minimal - not surprising in such a relatively short book. True, Hack Nike develops a spine, and Jennifer gets even tougher than she was. But it would have been nice to have seen more.

Some plot points make little sense and/or could be developed better. For instance, why is Hack Nike such a sop? What is Buy Mitsui's background? If the Government is so ineffectual, why was John Nike (the one who didn't get crumpet-toastered) so keen on getting rid of it once and for all?

Also, it would have been interesting to see Barry bring what appeared to be a nascent anti-corporate movement to a bit of closure. The guerilla-style attacks on billboards and McDonald's restaurants seem to do little for plot development except to throw in some routine leftist slogans. I would have enjoyed seeing how this movement would have disrupted (or lent to) the growing intra-corporate battles.

All this aside, the book made me consider my libertarian/free-market principles in a way I had never done before. Science fiction is full of anarcho-capitalist fantasies (viz. L. Neil Smith's "The Probability Broach") which portray such a society as more or less Utopian.

Even Stephenson's "Snow Crash", which is a darker book than "The Probability Broach", doesn't really seem to have a problem with a government-free society. "Jennifer Government", obviously, does. It certainly got me thinking about the proper role of government in society.

Barry claims that this book does not intend to portray a futuristic society, but rather is an alternate history of what could have been. I disagree; some of the geopolitical and corporate changes set forth by Barry could easily happen in my lifetime.

If one looks at the growing dominance of global corporate power - and whatever one's political orientation, one cannot deny that this is occurring - it's not difficult to envision a future in which schools are funded by McDonald's and Mattel, or one in which 911 will not send out an ambulance without guarantee of payment.

I can't be too disappointed with the book. Barry has a fiendish sense of humor and a keen eye for the excesses of corporate America. I look forward to his future novels in the same way that Neil Stephenson's early books made it clear that a great author was about to be born.

The book itself is organized in very short chapters (2-5 pages each, typically) and Max Barry's prose is a bit plain, but it gets the job done. As I said, the book is very plot-driven, and it moves quickly. The book will be easily adapted to become a big-time blockbuster movie, if it ever comes to that -- it's filled with the requisite shoot-outs, superficial dialogue, an cliche'd characters. But it's all in good fun. Overall, I'd recommend the book as a light summer read. I polished it off on a long plane ride, and it made the trip pass quickly & enjoyably.

Given Barry's level of wit, as seen on his site maxbarry.com, I expected a lot more from the book than it delivered. There's a lot of cool ideas that don't really go as far as you'd hope, and though that may leave us wanting more (the key to good writing, according to Dickens) we don't want to pay hardcover prices for it. Still, it's worth having this one in your collection, and encouraging worthy Oz writers, so buy the paperback. Look for more from Max Barry, I have a hunch his next will be better yet.