List Books During Company
| Original Title: | Company |
| ISBN: | 1400079373 (ISBN13: 9781400079377) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Max Barry
Paperback | Pages: 338 pages Rating: 3.74 | 5780 Users | 508 Reviews
Representaion In Pursuance Of Books Company
Stephen Jones is a shiny new hire at Zephyr Holdings. From the outside, Zephyr is just another bland corporate monolith, but behind its glass doors business is far from usual: the beautiful receptionist is paid twice as much as anybody else to do nothing, the sales reps use self help books as manuals, no one has seen the CEO, no one knows exactly what they are selling, and missing donuts are the cause of office intrigue. While Jones originally wanted to climb the corporate ladder, he now finds himself descending deeper into the irrational rationality of company policy. What he finds is hilarious, shocking, and utterly telling.
Mention Regarding Books Company
| Title | : | Company |
| Author | : | Max Barry |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 338 pages |
| Published | : | March 13th 2007 by Vintage (first published January 17th 2006) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Humor. Contemporary. Business |
Rating Regarding Books Company
Ratings: 3.74 From 5780 Users | 508 ReviewsAssessment Regarding Books Company
With Company, author Max Barry, writes a fine entry in contemporary satirical business writing. As silly a genre as that sounds like it is a well populated one, with The Office (both versions) and Parks and Recreation and even The Crimson Permanent Assurance (the short film in front of Monty Pythons The Meaning of Life about a company in the middle of a takeover which suddenly turns into a pirate ship/building and assaults their new bosses with the weapons available to any average office worker)I wanted to like this book, just like I wanted to like Jennifer Government but ultimately it fails and for the same reasons. There's just no depth here. Maybe I shouldn't look for any, just accept it as light-hearted satire. Still, the entire story line feels contrived, existing only to point out truths that we all know anyway: big corporations don't care about their employees. Maybe if just one senior manager was given a small amount of depth, rising above the expensive suit-wearing,
Not bad - just kind of loses momentum in the second half. It was a funnier novel before you learn the twist.
I really enjoyed it. It falls into my Fun/ Fluff/ Vacation read category. I found it very entertaining and perhaps in part since I work for a STATE Government... Part of me frankly wondered if I in fact actually do have a real job. Reorganizations are par for the course as are unexplained and bizarre mandates for no apparent rational reason (in the book, as at my job). Management is removed and out of touch with the peons... Is this what people with "real jobs" experience? Portions of the book
Max Barry's Company is a corporate satire for those that might find Douglas Coupland a bit too challenging. One of the many problems with humorous satires (oh there are many, the number one problem being tied between them not being very astute and not being funny) is that once the premise (joke, social observation) is set up then the author has to make a book out of it. Like just about every movie made that is based on a Saturday Night Live skit, there is painful a realization, which comes about
The problem with employees, you see, is everything. You have to pay to hire them and pay to fire them, and, in between, you have to pay them. They need business cards. They need computers. They need ID tags and security clearances and phones and air-conditioning and somewhere to sit. You have to ferry them to off-site team meetings. You have to ferry them home again. They get pregnant. They injure themselves. They steal. They join religions with firm views on when it's permissible to work. When
2.5 stars. I didn't hate it, but I expected more. Cynicism towards the absurd norms of corporate and bureaucratic institutions should be right up my alley, but I wanted it to go further--more humor, more satire, something. In the end it didn't do much to make me feel anything nor challenge the status quo at all. (It was also published in 2007, so work life has changed quite a bit in light of technology and social media, making the book feel quite dated and some of the plot implausible.)
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