Anybodybutbushia
16-01-2006, 17:09
Max Barry's new book Company received and A- by Entertainment weekly. I scanned in the review but I keep receiving errors when I try to upload the attachment (Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /newattachment.php on line 545 - whatever the hell that means). Even the site itself thinks my arguements are invalid. :)
Here are some excerpts:
If Max Barry's Company were an actual company, it would be massively in debt - to The Office, Lost, The Truman Show, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Animal Farm, The Wizard of Oz, The Fountainhead, the Declaration of Independence, and, for a paragraph or two, even Pretty Woman.
The novel's main cog, Stephen Jones, is Dilberting his way through the strange world of Zephyr Holdings. "You could argue that [the building] has a certain neutral understated charm, but only if you are willing to apply the same logic to prisons and 1970's Volvos." Among its oddities: Floor No. 1 is the top of the building, a stolen doughnut is cause for termination, employees sell training sessions to each other instead of outside clients, and the receptionist, Eve (oh yeah, I forgot: Barry finds inspiration from the Bible, too), drives a flashy Audi. The whole premise is amusing enough, but it's nothing that'd compel you to turn off Steve Carell.
Then, like this review is about to do, Barry throws a mother of a twist...it's that twist that saves Barry's third novel from becoming as drab as the office he describes and establishes him as one of the keenest and shrewdest minds in corporate satire. Rarely has a novelist borrowed from so many sources and come up with something so utterly original.
(I just about typed up the entire review)
Anyway, how many have read Jennifer Government and Syrup and what did you think? Are you planning on reading Company?
I have yet to read a Max Barry book but I will have to make one of them my next purchase. I am looking for feedback as to which one to get first. I may start at Company and work my way back.
Here are some excerpts:
If Max Barry's Company were an actual company, it would be massively in debt - to The Office, Lost, The Truman Show, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Animal Farm, The Wizard of Oz, The Fountainhead, the Declaration of Independence, and, for a paragraph or two, even Pretty Woman.
The novel's main cog, Stephen Jones, is Dilberting his way through the strange world of Zephyr Holdings. "You could argue that [the building] has a certain neutral understated charm, but only if you are willing to apply the same logic to prisons and 1970's Volvos." Among its oddities: Floor No. 1 is the top of the building, a stolen doughnut is cause for termination, employees sell training sessions to each other instead of outside clients, and the receptionist, Eve (oh yeah, I forgot: Barry finds inspiration from the Bible, too), drives a flashy Audi. The whole premise is amusing enough, but it's nothing that'd compel you to turn off Steve Carell.
Then, like this review is about to do, Barry throws a mother of a twist...it's that twist that saves Barry's third novel from becoming as drab as the office he describes and establishes him as one of the keenest and shrewdest minds in corporate satire. Rarely has a novelist borrowed from so many sources and come up with something so utterly original.
(I just about typed up the entire review)
Anyway, how many have read Jennifer Government and Syrup and what did you think? Are you planning on reading Company?
I have yet to read a Max Barry book but I will have to make one of them my next purchase. I am looking for feedback as to which one to get first. I may start at Company and work my way back.