Jennifer Government

English language

Published Dec. 30, 2004

ISBN:: 978-1-4000-3092-7

(1 review)

Jennifer Government is a 2003 dystopian novel by Max Barry, set in an alternate reality where most nations in the Americas and Oceania are dominated by powerful corporations and corporate coalitions, and where government power is extremely limited. It was a finalist for a Campbell Award in its year of eligibility, but did not win, and was included in The New York Times' annual list of notable books. The novel was retitled from Jennifer Government to Logoland in its German and Italian editions. In its Brazilian edition it was retitled to EU S/A, an abbreviation of Estados Unidos Sociedade Anônima, which roughly translates to United States, Inc.To help promote the novel, Barry created a browser game titled Jennifer Government: NationStates (later shortened to NationStates). In the game, players make choices which are inspired by the novel and which affect the economy, society, and culture of their countries. NationStates launched alongside …

Jennifer Government is a 2003 dystopian novel by Max Barry, set in an alternate reality where most nations in the Americas and Oceania are dominated by powerful corporations and corporate coalitions, and where government power is extremely limited. It was a finalist for a Campbell Award in its year of eligibility, but did not win, and was included in The New York Times' annual list of notable books. The novel was retitled from Jennifer Government to Logoland in its German and Italian editions. In its Brazilian edition it was retitled to EU S/A, an abbreviation of Estados Unidos Sociedade Anônima, which roughly translates to United States, Inc.To help promote the novel, Barry created a browser game titled Jennifer Government: NationStates (later shortened to NationStates). In the game, players make choices which are inspired by the novel and which affect the economy, society, and culture of their countries. NationStates launched alongside the book and remains active as of December 2022.

2 editions

Thom reviewed Jennifer Government by Max Barry

Review of 'Jennifer Government' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

This story takes place in an alternate universe where corporations are way stronger than the government, which is essentially its own company. The characters lack a family name, using their employer instead. How various individuals named John Nike or Mike McDonalds aren't often confused is not explained.

Max Barry has created an interesting world, as least in the places he explored. The rest feels like a thin facade with no internal logic. The nonexistent character growth is barely overshadowed by the arbitrary changes to character motivations. And yet...

The book has been quite successful, and reads fairly quickly. The author has created a web game loosely based on the book (at Nationstates.net). I also felt drawn to read to the conclusion - though I am now happy to put this book in my past. Perhaps [b:Lexicon|16158596|Lexicon|Max Barry|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356080172s/16158596.jpg|20077336] will be a better example of his writing.