June 1, 2010 • THE ARROW
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FEATURE
Barry Follows in Futuristic Tradition Zak Kukoff Staff Writer
I magine a world where taxes have
been abolished, government has been privatized, and credit card ownership is compulsory. Sounds good, right? Wrong. In Max Barry’s 2003 novel Jennifer Government, the protagonist deals with these issues and more, leading to a series of misadventures that eventually refocus the protagonist’s view of society. Jennifer Government takes place in the near future. The United States has taken over the entire Western Hemisphere and no longer deals with “non-US nations.” Two mega-conglomerates, US Advantage and Team Alliance, vie for prominence in consumer’s hearts and pocketbooks. Schools are sponsored by corporations, and people take the last name of their employer. Within this backdrop, Hack Nike, our protagonist, gets an unexpected
Karisma Nagarkatti
promotion within Nike. After signing an employment contract (without reading it), he learns he has been hired to kill Nike customers after they buy new shoes.
After the job goes wrong, Hack is placed on the run from both government agents (led by Jennifer Government, the title character of the book) and rouge Nike agents. Elsewhere, the NRA assassinates
the President, stockbrokers cave under pressure, and single parents struggle to stay employed. Jennifer Government is the rare book that both captivates and educates. Despite its preachy overtones, the book manages to maintain a satirical edge without crossing over fully into sarcasm or comedy. Characters are developed admirably and with depth, and the book over presents a very compelling story. While reading Jennifer Government, the book that constantly springs to mind is Ray Bradbury’s classic Farenheit 451. The two books share many of the same motifs, themes, and setups. The coincidence does not go unnoticed. Commenters on Barry’s website have pointed out the similarities, and Barry has agreed. Jennifer Government is a unique satire and science fiction novel that continues the tradition of classic Orwell or Bradbury. Not only is Jennifer Government a highly entertaining read; it’s one with a moral, too.
Memory Keeper’s Daughter Captures the Meaning of Redemption
Feature Editor
A ward-winning
writer Kim Edwards’s book The Memory Keeper’s Daughter is a brilliantly crafted family drama. It explores the life of a family that became dysfunctional due to one occurrence. The novel begins in the year 1964 when Dr. David Henry is forced to deliver his twins in the midst of a blizzard. His wife gives
birth to a son who is perfectly healthy and a daughter who David realizes has Down syndrome. After contemplating, it as a means of protection for his wife Nora, Dr. David Henry makes a split second decision which will alter the course of his family’s life forever. He asks his nurse, Caroline to take the baby to an institution so that he can feign the death of his daughter. Caroline upon arriving at the institution is unable to leave the child and so she decides to move out of the city to care for the child as her own. And so begins the brilliantly told story of the two families both ignorant of each other and are yet bound by that Dr. David Henry’s decision that long ago winter night. The Memory Keepers Daughter is a rich and deeply moving book of love, loss, and redemption as it captures the way life takes unexpected turns. Kim Edwards wrote the book so that the reader can watch the progression of the
two families throughout the years. Several news publications and authors praise Edwards for her writing technique and the way in which she connects with the reader through an insight intothe lives of fictional families with realistic traits. Sue Monk Kidd stated “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter unfolds from an absolutely mesmerizing premise, drawing you deeply and irrevocably into the entangled lives of two families”, also Jodi Picoult and acclaimed author wrote “Kim Edwards has created a tale of regret and redemption, of honest emotion, of characters haunted by their past.” Though written a while back Kim Edward has written a novel that can connect to any person whether it is a teen or a person of old age. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter should be on everyone’s summer reading list because of it is an enthralling page turner that will fill your head with controversy and mystery.
Readers Travel to the Mission Jose Ermac Opinion Editor
T
he Mission, the sophomore effort by California native Jason Myers, is a novel that details the debauchery that occurs when one fifteen-year-old Iowa farm-boy takes a week-long trip to San Francisco in a last-minute attempt to honor his dead brother, and inevitably, find himself. Self-described high school loser Kaden Norris’s small world in rural Dysart, Iowa is turned upside-down when his brother Kenny, his best friend and hero, is killed while on active duty in Iraq. In a final letter written to him before his death, Kenny introduces Kaden to Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club and Kenny’s favorite author. After reading Fight Club and being inspired at how much Palahniuk changed his brother’s life, Kaden manages to convince his parents to let him go to San Francisco for a one week mini-vacation to go see Chuck Palahniuk and get an autographed copy of his book at an author meet and greet. While in San Francisco, Kaden stays with his older cousin James, a self-cen-
tered, egotistical author and hard-partier, and James’s girlfriend Caralie, whom Kaden describes as “the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen who’s ever said a word to me.” Kaden’s week in San Francisco is filled with a plethora of hard-drugs, alcohol, sex, indie-music, gangsters, the “Whip Pad,” pretty Bay Area girls, Amoeba Records, and The Mission neighborhood (the novel’s namesake), just to name a few. In many ways The Mission is a parallel to author Jason Myer’s life. The novel’s protagonist is from a small town in Iowa called Dysart, the same small town where Myers was born and raised. Myers also traveled to San Francisco when he was younger, to attend college at the Academy of Art University. Perhaps this novel should also be placed in the autobiography section of the bookstore, as it is suggested that the novel is a glimpse into Myer’s growing up and moving-out. Kaden’s hopes are finally realized at the end of a long and strange week of mayhem when he gets his brother’s copy of Fight Club signed by Palahniuk. Kaden also finds that by the end of the long week, he is a different person.
A more grown-up, realistic, and version of the small town Iowa farm boy he was a week ago. In this way, The Mission is the quintessential coming-of-age story, with a 21st century modern-day Bay Area spin to it. At its best, the novel is a memorable, yet exciting story filled with unique characters, an unpredictable plot, and entertaining dialogue. However, this novel probably won’t appeal to the more socially conservative. San Francisco is one of the most liberal cities in the world, and that liberalism is reflected with frequent swearing, and graphic yet predictable scenes of drug abuse and sex. But still, this novel, all mature and graphic content aside, is an entertaining capture of a boy becoming a man and honoring a loved one he held near, all while trying to be himself in a world surrounded by people who hate all that he is and all that he stands for. This novel will satisfy the child growing up in all of us, all while making us laugh, wince, cry, and smile at the same time.
Early King Novel Delivers David Samuels Staff Writer With Stephen King’s recent publication of Under the Dome, interest in the author’s other work has steadily increased. Avid readers have been exploring from shelf to shelf for more macabre novels, like the ones that King penned in his younger days. Many of these enthusiasts find solace in one of King’s most praised masterpieces: The Stand. With plenty of correlations between The Stand and Under the Dome, those who like the latter will definitely enjoy The Stand with zeal. Nothing is more frightening than a worldwide epidemic. In King’s work, a military testing facility accidentally unleashes a deadly virus onto America and ultimately the entire world which eliminates nearly every human being on the planet. Readers can expect to explore this barren world alongside the few survivors who remain. The depth of these characters is definitely profound; each person involved in the story line has his or her own intricate background and logic. This novel is not for those who enjoy reading about pleasant pastures. King maintains a completely apocalyptic environment which is gruesomely explicit; no gory detail is left behind. There is absolutely no doubt that The Stand is one of the best pieces of American literature of the 21st century. It was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1979 and was eventually adapted to a graphic novel and television miniseries. Suspense overwhelms the reader as he or she peruses through the novel and he or she reads over the dry, cynical, yet slightly humorous tone of King’s novel. Though at times the novel my seem to drag on at certain periods of time (which can attribute to the whopping 1,163 page count), it makes for fantastic recreation. To sum up this enormous novel, it has every necessary aspect of literature which a piece of prose can possibly have. Do not miss out on your opportunity to read The Stand because the future is a frighteningly unpredictable thing.
2010’s Beach Reads
• One Ray by David Nicholls • The Passage by Justin Crown
• Cecily Von Ziegesar by Cum Laude • Anthropology of an American Girl: A Novel by Hilary Thayer Hamann