From Publishers Weekly With broad strokes, Barry once again satirizes corporate America in his third caustic novel (after Jennifer Government). This time, he takes aim at the perennial corporate crime of turning people into cogs in a machine. Recent b-school grad Stephen Jones, a fresh-faced new hire at a Seattle-based holding company called Zephyr, jumps on the fast track to success when he's immediately promoted from sales assistant to sales rep in Zephyr's training sales department. "Don't try to understand the company. Just go with it," a colleague advises when Jones is flummoxed to learn his team sells training packages to other internal Zephyr departments. But unlike his co-workers, he won't accept ignorance of his employer's business, and his unusual display of initiative catapults him into the ranks of senior management, where he discovers the "customer-free" company's true, sinister raison d'être. The ultracynical management team co-opts Jones with a six-figure salary and blackmail threats, but it's not long before he throws a wrench into the works. As bitter as break-room coffee, the novel eviscerates demeaning modern management techniques that treat workers as "headcounts." Though Barry's primary target is corporate dehumanization, he's at his funniest lampooning the suits that tread the stage, consumed by the sound and fury of office politics that signify nothing. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From School Library Journal Adult/High School–By turns amusing and wry, this novel is a pleasure to read. It opens with a view of a large corporation as seen by a new employee whose first day on the job is one of high suspense–one of the doughnuts for a staff meeting is missing. Moving beyond the usual cheap but funny shots taken at corporate life, Barry takes his tale to the next level. What if this giant maze for laboratory rats in which so many people work was actually just that? The characters are stereotypes but readers will sympathize with them, nonetheless.–Ted Westervelt, Library of Congress, Washington, DC Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. See all Editorial Reviews
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这本书的语言风格极其冷峻而精准,几乎没有一句废话,每一个词语都像是经过精心打磨的宝石,闪烁着独特的光芒。作者的文字功底令人惊叹,她擅长使用意象和象征,构建出一个个令人过目不忘的场景。比如对于城市景观的描绘,不是简单的写实,而是融入了强烈的主观情绪,那些冰冷的钢筋水泥仿佛成了人物内心荒芜的投射。我喜欢这种克制的美学,它将情感的力量蕴藏在文字的张力之中,让读者必须主动去挖掘和感受。阅读的过程,更像是一次智力上的探索,需要不断地去解构作者留下的线索和隐喻。这种阅读体验是极其私密的,它强迫你慢下来,去体会文字背后的潜台词。我很少遇到一部作品能将叙事技巧和哲学思辨融合得如此天衣无缝,它不提供简单的答案,而是提出更深刻的问题,让人在合上书本后,依然在脑海中反复咀嚼,探寻存在的意义。
评分从人文关怀的角度来看,这部作品触及了一些极其敏感和边缘化的议题,而且处理得极其审慎和富有同理心。它没有陷入廉价的道德审判,也没有过度渲染苦难以博取同情,而是提供了一个冷静的观察窗口,让读者得以窥见在巨大社会压力下,个体是如何努力维持其尊严与身份认同的。书中所刻画的那些边缘人物,他们的挣扎并非孤立的个体悲剧,而是时代洪流中普遍存在的困境的缩影。作者的笔触充满了对弱势群体的深刻理解,她不试图扮演救世主,只是忠实地记录他们的生存状态,将选择的权利和最终的评判留给了读者自己。这种尊重读者的态度,使得作品的力量更加持久和深远,它激发了我对现实世界中不公现象的再思考,无疑是一部具有社会责任感的杰作。
评分我得说,这本书的结构设计简直是鬼斧神工,它采用了多重视角叙事,但处理得非常高明,避免了叙事混乱,反而增强了故事的立体感和层次感。每一个视角都有其独特的音色和局限性,通过不同人物对同一事件的描述差异,读者得以拼凑出一个更加完整、也更加模糊不清的真相全貌。这种碎片化的信息呈现方式,极大地调动了读者的参与感和主动性,我们不再是被动的接收者,而是积极的重建者。特别是其中穿插的一些非线性回忆片段,看似打乱了时间轴,实则巧妙地揭示了人物的创伤历史,使得后来的行为逻辑变得清晰可辨。这种叙事上的大胆尝试,无疑是需要极高掌控力的,稍有不慎就会功亏一篑,但很显然,作者在这方面展现了大师级的掌控力,使得复杂的结构成为作品的亮点而非负担。
评分这本书的叙事节奏简直让人欲罢不能,作者仿佛是一位技艺高超的指挥家,将故事的各个声部巧妙地编织在一起,时而急促如暴风雨骤临,时而舒缓如夏日微风拂过脸颊。我尤其欣赏它对于人物内心世界的细腻刻画,那些隐藏在日常对话和微小动作之下的挣扎、渴望与恐惧,都被剥茧抽丝般地呈现在读者面前。主角在面对道德困境时的那种犹豫不决,那种左右为难的痛苦,读起来让人感同身受,仿佛自己也身陷其中,需要做出艰难的抉择。情节的推进并非一味地追求戏剧性,而是扎根于现实逻辑,即便在最意想不到的转折点,回想起来也会觉得合乎情理,是人物性格和前期铺垫的必然结果。至于对社会背景的描摹,更是入木三分,它不仅仅是故事发生的舞台,更是塑造人物命运的无形力量,其复杂性和矛盾性,通过一个个鲜活的个体得到了淋漓尽致的展现。读完后,那种意犹未尽的感觉久久不散,总想找人交流一下自己对某个情节的看法,可见其思想深度和艺术感染力之强。
评分我必须承认,初读这本书时,我被其开篇的晦涩和略显疏离感的语调吓退过,它的门槛似乎比一般的小说要高一些,要求读者投入更多的专注力去适应作者构建的独特世界观。然而,一旦跨过那个初期的适应期,你会发现自己被一种强大而古老的力量深深吸引。它探讨的议题具有极强的普适性,关乎权力、记忆的不可靠性、以及时间对人心的侵蚀。这本书更像是一部思想的寓言,披着小说的外衣,内核却远超故事本身。它不迎合大众口味,拒绝走捷径,坚持自己的艺术追求,这一点非常难得。读完后,我感觉自己的思维被拉伸、被拓展了,仿佛经历了一场智力上的马拉松,虽然过程艰辛,但终点带来的视野开阔感是无与伦比的,强烈推荐给那些寻求深度阅读体验的读者。
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