Jennifer Government

ETA: We finished the audiobook this weekend. I think that it was a really great book. The characters really drew me in and I love a good story with multiple (likeable) characters to follow. It starts strong and keeps going throughout the novel.

We're listening to this on audiobook and it's awesome. The stories in the book really draw you in. Attention-keeper.

I remember reading this when it first came out and really liking it. It had a great Chuck Palahniuk kind of feel to it, some really well-developed characters, and a futuristic world that terrified my inner socialist - one where taxation had been abolished and the government privatized, allowing corporate interests to exert themselves to their fullest authority.

At the same time, though, there were elements of it that seemed somewhat far-fetched. The US government at the time seemed to be growing stronger at the time, claiming powers and authority that could be described as “extraconstitutional”. The idea of it being completely emasculated by business seemed somewhat quaint, like a leftover from the anti-globalization movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Having been following the rhetoric and “debate” surrounding health care reform in the US in the past year, however, it doesn't seem to far-fetched any more; I could see someone like Sarah Palin or Glen Beck advocating for the tax-free, corporate dominated society that is depicted in JG.

Continuing my cyberpunk kick! I thought JG was so much fun from start to finish. Corporate dystopia straight from SNOW CRASH, a bit of perverse wacky fun with the upside down incentives of the world from SIDEWAYS STORIES FROM WAYSIDE SCHOOL, and the big guy vs. pathetic little guy dynamics from George Saunders' short stories. Highly recommend.

In some ways I enjoyed Jennifer Government and certainly the dystopian message of the novel, however, I found it drove the message home so much that by the end of the book I just wanted it to be done. I needed to connect with the characters more and I didn't feel as though I was doing that. Maybe because of the superficial nature of the time they were living in, I also felt like most of the characters were very superficial as well. We didn't get a lot of insight into what made them the way they were and why they made the decisions they did.

Hack Nike (people in this future
world take their last names from
the company they work for) is
ordered to kill people to
increase demand for Nike sneakers.

The story was a bit on the simpler side, and the character's rationals seemed off. And not because it's how people are in the future, or maybe it is but it made the story kind of suck for me.

I'd give it 2 stars but I like the story's setting. It's pretty much a straight forward crime novel, almost boring, but the theme and flavor gives it a little bump.