Company
Max Barry
Joint winner, State Library of Victoria Summer Read 2007;
Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist
'Max Barry is one of the sharpest, hippest and funniest authors writing in Australia today.'
Matthew Reilly‘So funny that it's serious. No cubicle should be without a copy.’
Gideon Haigh'Company is a must-read and should be a required text in every business management course in the country, if not the world.'
Steve Woodman (Newcastle Herald)When is physical violence an appropriate response to management policy? Why is that one reserved parking space always empty? And when does helping yourself to an extra doughnut at morning tea become a criminal act?
At Zephyr Holdings, no one has ever seen the CEO. The floors are numbered in reverse, the Mission Statement could mean almost anything, and the beautiful receptionist is paid twice as much as anybody else, but appears to do no work. One of the sales reps uses relationship books as sales manuals, and another is on the warpath because somebody stole his doughnut.
In other words, it’s a typical big company. Or at least, that’s what everyone thinks, until fresh-faced employee Jones—too new to understand you just don’t ask some questions—starts investigating. Soon Jones uncovers the company’s secret: the answer to everything, what Zephyr Holdings really does, and why every manager carries a copy of the Omega Management System. It plunges him into a maelstrom of love, loyalty, management, and corporate immorality—and whether he can get out again. Now that’s a good question.
In the tradition of William Gibson, Joseph Heller, and Douglas Coupland, Company is a biting, incisive, and delightful satire of corporate culture.
‘Hilarious ... Barry underscores his credentials as both satirist and saboteur ... Company is Mr. Barry's breakout book.'
(The New York Times)'The beauty of Company is that it really is gasp-inducingly recognisable.'
Marieke Hardy (The Age)'Company would do Evelyn Waugh proud.'
(The Economist)'Fans of The Office and Dilbert - and anyone else who considers corporate life insane - will recognize the buttoned-down absurdities that Barry spoofs in this biting, hilarious novel.'
(People)'With the release of Company ... Australian novelist Max Barry establishes himself as fiction's most insightful and devilish satirist of corporate culture.'
Michael Maiello (Forbes)Max Barry
Author photo
Jennifer Barry
Max Barry began removing parts at an early age. In 1999, he successfully excised a steady job at tech giant HP in order to upgrade to the more compatible alternative of manufacturing fiction. While producing three novels, he developed the online nation simulation game NationStates, as well as contributing to various open source software projects and developing religious views on operating systems. He did not leave the house much. For Machine Man, Max wrote a website to deliver pages of fiction to readers via e-mail and RSS. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife and two daughters, and is thirty-eight years old. He uses vi.
www.maxbarry.com
Website: http://www.maxbarry.com
Buy from Readings
Extent: 352pp
Size: 210mm x 135mm
ISBN (13): 9781921215643
RRP: $29.95
Pub date: March 2007
ANZ
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