Max Barry. (2007). Jennifer Government. Unabridged Books on Tape.

Max Barry. 2007. Jennifer Government. Books on Tape.

Max Barry, Jennifer Government. Books on Tape, 2007.

Max Barry. Jennifer Government. Unabridged Books on Tape, 2007.

OverDrive Product Record

images

• cover:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/1191-1/{F83C54B9-9C50-478B-A3EC-2A483D07A464}Img100.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• thumbnail:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/1191-1/{F83C54B9-9C50-478B-A3EC-2A483D07A464}Img200.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• cover150Wide:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/1191-1/F83/C54/B9/{F83C54B9-9C50-478B-A3EC-2A483D07A464}Img150.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• cover300Wide:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/1191-1/F83/C54/B9/{F83C54B9-9C50-478B-A3EC-2A483D07A464}Img400.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg

formats

1. • identifiers:
     1. • type: 8
        • value: penguinrandomhouse_audio#9780736696975
     2. • type: ISBN
        • value: 9781415950937
   • name: OverDrive MP3 Audiobook
   • id: audiobook-mp3
2. • identifiers:
     1. • type: 8
        • value: penguinrandomhouse_audio#9780736696975
     2. • type: ISBN
        • value: 9781415950937
   • name: OverDrive Listen
   • id: audiobook-overdrive

otherFormatIdentifiers

1. • type: ISBN
   • value: 9780736692311

mediaType

Audiobook

primaryCreator

• role: Author
• name: Max Barry

title

Jennifer Government

dateAdded

2017-04-07T14:04:00-04:00

contentDetails

1. • href: https://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=141&titleID=150817
   • type: text/html
   • account:
     • name: Sacramento Public Library (CA)
     • id: 1151

sortTitle

Jennifer Government

crossRefId

150817

id

f83c54b9-9c50-478b-a3ec-2a483d07a464

starRating

3.3

OverDrive MetaData

isPublicDomain

False

formats

1. • duration: 09:09:36
   • fileName: JenniferGovernment_9780736696975_150817
   • partCount: 8
   • fileSize: 263877294
   • identifiers:
     1. • audience: retailer
        • type: 8
        • value: penguinrandomhouse_audio#9780736696975
     2. • audience: library
        • type: ISBN
        • value: 9781415950937
   • rights:
     1. • type: PlayOnPC
        • value: 1
     2. • type: PlayOnPCCount
        • value: -1
     3. • type: BurnToCD
        • value: 1
     4. • type: BurnToCDCount
        • value: -1
     5. • type: PlayOnPM
        • value: 1
     6. • type: TransferToSDMI
        • value: 1
     7. • type: TransferToNonSDMI
        • value: 1
     8. • type: TransferCount
        • value: -1
     9. • type: CollaborativePlay
        • value: 0
     10. • type: PublicPerformance
         • value: 0
     11. • type: TranscodeToAAC
         • value: 1
   • name: OverDrive MP3 Audiobook
   • isReadAlong: False
   • id: audiobook-mp3
   • onSaleDate: 10/17/2002
   • samples:
     1. • source: Part 1
        • formatType: audiobook-mp3
        • url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-425/1191-1/150817-JenniferGovernment.mp3
     2. • source: Part 1
        • formatType: audiobook-overdrive
        • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=F83C54B9-9C50-478B-A3EC-2A483D07A464&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
2. • duration: 09:09:39
   • fileName: JenniferGovernment9780736696975
   • partCount: 0
   • fileSize: 263837357
   • identifiers:
     1. • audience: retailer
        • type: 8
        • value: penguinrandomhouse_audio#9780736696975
     2. • audience: library
        • type: ISBN
        • value: 9781415950937
   • name: OverDrive Listen
   • isReadAlong: False
   • id: audiobook-overdrive
   • onSaleDate: 10/17/2002
   • samples:
     1. • source: Part 1
        • formatType: audiobook-mp3
        • url: https://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-425/1191-1/150817-JenniferGovernment.mp3
     2. • source: Part 1
        • formatType: audiobook-overdrive
        • url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=F83C54B9-9C50-478B-A3EC-2A483D07A464&.epub-sample.overdrive.com

creators

1. • role: Author
   • fileAs: Barry, Max
   • bioText: Max Barry is the author of numerous novels, including Company, Machine Man, and Lexicon. He is also the developer of the online nation simulation game NationStates. Prior to his writing career, Barry worked at tech giant HP. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife and two daughters. To learn more, visit maxbarry.com or follow @MaxBarry on Twitter.
     
     Michael Kramer is an actor, director, and narrator. He has recorded more than 100 audiobooks, as well as titles for the Library of Congress Talking Books program. Among the recognition he has garnered for his narration are AudioFile magazine’s Earphones Award and the Torgi Award. Mr. Kramer lives in Washington, DC, where he is active in the area’s theater scene, and has appeared in productions at the Shakespeare Theatre, the Kennedy Center, and Theater J.
   • name: Max Barry
2. • role: Narrator
   • fileAs: Kramer, Michael
   • name: Michael Kramer

imprint

Random House Audio

publishDate

2007-12-04T00:00:00-05:00

edition

Unabridged

isOwnedByCollections

True

title

Jennifer Government

fullDescription

A wickedly satirical and outrageous thriller about globalization and marketing hype, Jennifer Government is the best novel in the world ever.
"Funny and clever.... A kind of ad-world version of Dr. Strangelove.... [Barry] unleashes enough wit and surprise to make his story a total blast." —The New York Times Book Review
"Wicked and wonderful.... [It] does just about everything right.... Fast-moving, funny, involving." —The Washington Post Book World
Taxation has been abolished, the government has been privatized, and employees take the surname of the company they work for. It's a brave new corporate world, but you don't want to be caught without a platinum credit card—as lowly Merchandising Officer Hack Nike is about to find out. Trapped into building street cred for a new line of $2500 sneakers by shooting customers, Hack attracts the barcode-tattooed eye of the legendary Jennifer Government. A stressed-out single mom, corporate watchdog, and government agent who has to rustle up funding before she's allowed to fight crime, Jennifer Government is holding a closing down sale—and everything must go.

gradeLevels

1. • value: Grade 1
2. • value: Grade 2

reviews

1. • premium: False
   • source: The Washington Post Book World
   • content: "Wicked and wonderful. . . . [It] does just about everything right. Fast-moving, funny and involving."
2. • premium: False
   • source: The New York Times Book
   • content: "Funny and clever. . . . A kind of ad-world version of Dr. Strangelove. [Barry] unleashes enough wit and surprise to make his story a total blast."
3. • premium: False
   • source: Time Out New York
   • content: "May be the most fun you'll find in a bookstore this year. . . . Full of wit, humor and imagination, Jennifer Government ultimately pulls off its over-the-top conceit."
4. • premium: False
   • source: Entertainment Weekly
   • content: "A riotous satirical rant. . . . [Its characters'] excesses . . . make Barry's world of unregulated corporate greed and unrelenting consumerism so frightening and funny."
5. • premium: False
   • source: The Boston Globe
   • content: "The plot rockets forward on hyperdrive . . . fresh and very clever."
6. • premium: False
   • source: Dick Adler, The Chicago Tribune
   • content: "[A] devilish satire that made me laugh out loud."
7. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content: Max Barry's satire is set in a Ralph Nader nightmare. It's the near-future in the Australian Territories of the U.S. The government has been privatized. The entire world (except France) is run by Big Business, and the term "corporate conscience" remains an oxymoron. In Barry's world, hostile takeovers mean real war between rival companies. His highly original characters are the comic book equivalent of American consumerism. Michael Kramer gives a terrific performance. He makes Buy Mitsui, millionaire nice-guy, sound like a gentle bear. Jennifer Government, federal agent with a barcode tattooed on her cheekbone, sounds steely and paranoid. Hack Nike, hapless pawn in a game of Ultimate Chess, is convincingly bewildered. Kramer gets right into the wacky sensibilities of the author, and the results are tremendous fun. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
8. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     January 6, 2003
     Free enterprise runs amok in Barry's satirical near-future nightmare: the American government has been privatized and now runs most of the world, including "the Australian Territories of the U.S.A.," where the book is set. American corporations sponsor everything from schools to their employees' identities, and literally go to war with one another. By taking a drink at the wrong water cooler, Hack Nike, a merchandising officer at the athletic shoe company whose name he bears, is coerced into a nefarious marketing plot to raise the demand for Nike's new $2,500 sneakers by shooting teenagers. Hank becomes responsible for the death of hapless teen Hayley McDonald's; he and two top Guerrilla Marketing executives, both named John Nike, are soon pursued by the ruthless Jennifer Government, a former advertising executive who is now a federal agent with a personal ax to grind—and preferably to sink into the cranium of her hated ex, one of the John Nikes. Barry tosses off his anticorporate zingers with relish; his sendup of "capitalizm"—a world where fraud is endemic and nearly everyone (except the French) is a cog in vast wealth-creation machines—has some ingenious touches. The one-joke shtick wears thin, however, and is simply overdone at times ("I'm getting rid of Government, the greatest impediment to business in history," says John. "Yes, some people die. But look at the gain!"). Barry's cartoonish characters and comic book chase scenes don't allow for much psychological subtlety or emotional resonance. Still, if it's no 1984, this breezy, stylish read will amuse the converted and get some provocative conversations going. (On sale Jan. 21)Forecast:Doubleday promises a "guerrilla marketing" campaign, and the book's weird, eye-catching title should help grab readers' attention. Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney's Section 8 Films have optioned film rights, and foreign rights have been sold in Australia, Finland, Germany, Japan, New Zealand and the U.K.

9. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content: In the near future, giant corporations rule the world, and governments are but competing firms, and by no means the most powerful ones. Instead of family names, workers take on the names of their employers. In this mega-industrialized world, the swashbuckling cop of the title, the one with the barcode tattoo under her eye, must bring to justice executives who have ordered random murders in order to boost the price of their top-of-the-line sneakers. This satiric thriller from down under draws a Yankee narrator, Patrick Frederic, a very capable Yank who delivers all the thrills and chills and humor we could wish. Y.R. 2005 YALSA Selection (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
10. • premium: True
    • source:
    • content:

      May 5, 2003
      The most unnerving thing about Max (formerly Maxx) Barry's new novel is that its hyperbolic vision of the not too distant future doesn't seem too far out there at all. The world is run by giant corporations who literally go to war with one another; Australia and the U.K. are annexes of the United States; the police are for sale to the highest bidder; and employees take the last name of their employers. Thus, the cast of characters includes John Nike, Georgia Saints Nike (she volunteers at the Church of Latter-Day Saints), Billy NRA, Buy Mitsui, Hayley McDonalds, and so forth. Jennifer Government, a former advertising executive turned government agent, is hot on the trail of the villainous John Nike for murder. As the mastermind of the latest Nike campaign, he planned the murder of 14 teenagers in order to build up the street reputation for Nike's new $2,500 sneaker, Mercurys. Frederick's reading of this wacked-out morality play is first-rate. His obvious enjoyment of the satire fuels his performance. Especially entertaining are his stereotypical foreign accents, which would seem out of place under most circumstances, but they fit the comic book–type characters waging chaos in this saga like an Aris glove. Simultaneous release with the Doubleday hardcover (Forecasts, Jan. 6).

popularity

118

links

• self:
  • href: https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L1BWwAAAA2I/products/f83c54b9-9c50-478b-a3ec-2a483d07a464/metadata
  • type: application/vnd.overdrive.api+json

id

f83c54b9-9c50-478b-a3ec-2a483d07a464

starRating

3.6

images

• cover:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/1191-1/{F83C54B9-9C50-478B-A3EC-2A483D07A464}Img100.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• thumbnail:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/1191-1/{F83C54B9-9C50-478B-A3EC-2A483D07A464}Img200.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• cover150Wide:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/1191-1/F83/C54/B9/{F83C54B9-9C50-478B-A3EC-2A483D07A464}Img150.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg
• cover300Wide:
  • href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/1191-1/F83/C54/B9/{F83C54B9-9C50-478B-A3EC-2A483D07A464}Img400.jpg
  • type: image/jpeg

isPublicPerformanceAllowed

False

languages

1. • code: en
   • name: English

subjects

1. • value: Fantasy
2. • value: Fiction
3. • value: Literature
4. • value: Historical Fiction

publishDateText

12/04/2007

otherFormatIdentifiers

1. • type: ISBN
   • value: 9780736692311

mediaType

Audiobook

shortDescription

A wickedly satirical and outrageous thriller about globalization and marketing hype, Jennifer Government is the best novel in the world ever.
"Funny and clever.... A kind of ad-world version of Dr. Strangelove.... [Barry] unleashes enough wit and surprise to make his story a total blast." —The New York Times Book Review
"Wicked and wonderful.... [It] does just about everything right.... Fast-moving, funny, involving." —The Washington Post Book World
Taxation has been abolished, the government has been privatized, and employees take the surname of the company they work for. It's a brave new corporate world, but you don't want to be caught without a platinum credit card—as lowly Merchandising Officer Hack Nike is about to find out. Trapped into building street cred for a new line of $2500 sneakers by shooting customers, Hack attracts the barcode-tattooed eye of the legendary Jennifer Government. A stressed-out single mom, corporate...

sortTitle

Jennifer Government

lexileScore

480

crossRefId

150817

awards

1. • source: Young Adult Library Services Association
   • value: Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults

publisher

Books on Tape

bisacCodes

1. • code: FIC040000
   • description: Fiction / Alternative History
2. • code: FIC052000
   • description: Fiction / Satire
3. • code: FIC055000
   • description: Fiction / Dystopian