Company-Max Barry

I don't know if you are familiar with this amazing writer of joy, love and happiness. Allright, he doesn't write about joy, love and happiness but that's what he inspires in me so that's the same thing. Practically.

Max (allright, I'll just call him Max) has written three novels to date: Syrup, Jennifer Government, and Company. I confess that I have not been able to locate Syrup as of yet. Yes, I know. But I did find Company this weekend and was able to appreciate it as the gorgeous dreamrabbit I know it is.\

This is going to be hard to describe: Suffice it to say that Company is essentially a hybrid of, oh, Tom Holt's Paul Carpenter novels, Hunter S. Thompson (or Robert Sapolsky while not sounding like he's high) and Dilbert. I loved the whole thing: the subplots, the style, the odd [sur]realism, the metaphors, the character of Jones (who was kind of a dick, frankly, but oh well, it worked) and the idea of the company.

The novel starts out with Jones (no first name, until we find out it is Stephen) starting a job at Zephyr Holdings. He finds out fairly quickly that his coworkers (and his boss, Roger, in particular) are insane and impossible to work with. About halfway through the book, he learns that the company is just a cover for a weird social experiment run by certified nutcases, and things really start to get interesting. I would tell you more but a) plot summary is boring and b) you need to read the book.