Company

Max Barry

Stephen Jones has just started a new job in Training Sales at Zephyr Holdings, a large company in Seattle. He quickly finds himself in a cubicle farm and is surprised to learn that Training Sales only sells to other departments with Zephyr. Nobody in his department is certain what Zephyr does, but it doesn't matter to their work. They are an internal support department.

The Training Sales department is full of angst over company policies and their work. If they don't work hard enough and sell enough training, they could get fired. But if they're too productive, they could get sacked to save on commission costs. Then there is the missing doughnut...

Jones needs to know more about Zephyr. The Training Sales employees are content with their own corner of the company. They don't know or care what the company does to maintain itself. What does Zephyr produce or sell? Who are its customers? Jones decides to find out.

Company is supposed to be a witty, satirical novel about the American business in this first decade of the 21st century. But I found it just dumb. The characters are stereotypical and shallow - they're supposed to be for Max Barry to make his point. But they are so stereotyped that I couldn't identify with them at all. I have worked at jobs where I felt like my small contribution didn't really matter in the overall scheme of things. But Company's satire falls short in identifying them.

I got over a third of the way through the book, learning Zephyr's true purpose. I had already figured out who the CEO was of the characters. I'll admit, I did enjoy the scene of Jones escaping Security up the stairs to the 1st floor (at the top of the building, not the street level) and his discovery there. But I gave up shortly after that as he accepted his new position. I couldn't see the point in continuing.

Notice: Suggestive dialogue or situations