Company [Paperback]

I was in the middle of reading The Kite Runner when this one finally arrrived (I preordered it months ago), but I immediately dropped everything else to read it.

It's got a great plot twist early on, so I can't say too much about the story. It's about a guy who gets a job at a company and realizes soon after he begins that he has no idea what the company does. He begins a quest to understand the enigmatic mission of Zephyr Holdings, and that's when things turn a little strange.

As in his others novels, Max Barry uses over-the-top parody to satirize the corporate world. This one's mainly about general management and office politics, so most everyone will see elements that they recognize. When you're not frightened by how familiar these characters and situations are, you'll be laughing.

For anyone looking to comparison to his other novels: I think it's better than Jennifer Governement, but probably not quite as good as Syrup. It shares their theme of corporate satire but with more focus on general management.

It's a quick read and a lot of fun, and I have a feeling it'll be one that I think about for a long time in the future.

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, golf-playing, Porsche-driving cold-hearted power grabber, the book would have been more memorable. Another reviewer compared this type of corporate satire to the movie "Office Space" and to the TV series "The Office." The reason "The Office" (US version) is so entertaining is that the characters are well-developed and likable. The boss, while giving the outward appearance of the crude, boorish status-seeker, is also genuinely concerned about his employees and strives to be well-liked. In Max Barry's story, we don't get to know any of the characters enough to care about them.

And I have to agree with what other reviewers here have pointed out, that use of the word "sacked" instead of "fired" is bizarre for a story that takes place in Seattle. It also seemed strange for the setting to be Seattle when no features of the city are incorporated into the story. It would have been better not to mention the city and keep the story generic.

I think Max Barry has a lot of skill as a writer, enough to keep my interest despite the flaws. I wish that he, like Chuck Palahniuk, would put his talents to better use.

Max Barry is the literary equivalent of Dilbert creator Scott Adams. Starting with Syrup, Barry's novels are both humorous and ruthless in their send-ups of the corporate world, satires that juggle biting wit with suspense. With Company, Barry skewers companies that reorganize with a regularity that rivals Old Faithful. Protagonist Jones is a newly hired sales assistant at Zephyr Holdings, a company whose employees are not exactly sure what the company does, although all are sure that the best way to survive is not to question the orders coming from Senior Management. The Training Sales Department, where Jones works, is embroiled in controversy because one of the reps did not get his morning donut, and there's talk of sabotage. When top-performing Wendell is fired for being "involved in some irregularities concerning morning snacks" and for having commissions that the unit wants to use for its own solvency, the reps realize that the company has begun to punish good results. The panic that ensues has sales reps scrambling to sabotage their own accounts so they can keep their jobs.

In Barry's hands, the destruction of a company has never been so tongue-in-cheek. Here, a series of forwarded calls lead to the crash of the entire computer network, and, because someone must be blamed, the entire tech staff is ousted. Without a viable computer network, employees can't work, although, after the initial panic subsides, they are all too happy to pretend to be working without actually accomplishing anything. Mini-dramas erupt like pimples. As friends disappear from their cubicles, abruptly escorted off the premises by security, people willingly sever all ties with them. Conclusions, often based on nonsense, are whispered. In the midst of all this is Jones: fresh-faced, idealistic, ethical, and determined to do a good job despite the advice he receives from his co-workers.

Barry's strength has always been in his absurdist touch, with individual scenes meaning much more than the characters that propel them, and Company does not divert from this winning formula. This novel's unrelenting mockery of American business practices will have readers alternately smiling and grimacing, especially if they have had even a small glimpse into today's corporate America.