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Monday, January 3, 2022

Jennifer Government

 Fiction by Max Barry


In this story, the US has taken over Australia and the UK, and Big Business Capitalism rules in all USA countries. People are literally identified by their jobs, giving us characters with amusing names like John Nike, Haley McDonalds, and Nathan Exxon-Mobil.

Hence, "Jennifer Government" is a woman called Jennifer who works for the government. In this extreme-capitalist world, the government has very little power; for example, if a person is murdered (and of course in this story several folks will be murdered) then his or her surviving family members must pay for the investigation into the crime and monetarily punish the perpetrators.

This author seems to be trying to make a social commentary on the evils of capitalism, but the book is so hyperbolic that it doesn't quite do that job. It is still an interesting and fun story, however, although it's not without some problems.

I think this review on audible.com by Steven Giovanni sums it up well:

Perhaps Max Barry might think that he has written a brilliant social commentary disguised as a crummy adventure story. It is actually the reverse -- a brilliant action adventure story masquerading as a clumsy social protest.

I also read by this author: Discordia

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