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MADMAN: Love. War. Retail.
What if you lived in the world's largest retail store, a place where you couldn't dream any higher than the warehouse ceiling? That's the crumbling world that Alex Gabriel lives in. But when Management threatens to shut the entire Midwest down, he and everyone he knows are willing to do what it takes to prevent the world from flushing away altogether. Love will be made, war will be fought and retail will be plundered in this dark tribute to the tepid life of customer service.
459 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 14, 2015
This is the kind of thing I want to see more of from the author publishing world.
MM:LWR is set in a future where America is under the control of a megacorporation of retail department stores. Whole sections of the country have been "boxed up," their populations relocated or exterminated and the neighborhoods abandoned, because the stores there were no longer profitable. The class system is a giant gap between minimum wage employees and management (and higher up, the executive level). There are communities living under the threat of being boxed up, whispers of brutal prison camps out west, walled-in communities where managers and office workers are guarded by machine guns, terrorist cells who want to put and end to the whole thing, and our characters, who are trying to eek out a living and find a place in this world.
What I Liked:
The world building. I've always had a fondness for megacorporations in sci-fi, and I'd rank this one up there with Weyland Industries from the Aliens films. I'm serious. The concept is brilliant and the author packs in all these odd details about the operations and structure and organization. This is also done on a much smaller scale, when you visit characters' apartments and houses and you see the stuff they own, how they live day to day.
I also love how all the places that are mentioned in the early parts of the novel become the locations in later parts. The story doesn't leave much at the periphery. You're reading and you think, "Oh, that's a neat idea" and a hundred pages later, you're there.
There's plenty of TV-MA content in here too, though the story isn't gratuitous. But when sex happens, it's awkward and messy but still fun. And the violence is often times ugly and unheroic.
What I Didn't Like:
The punctuation and grammar is not standard, but I'm all for creative license and I got used to it after about fifty pages. The plotting is sometimes too convenient for my taste, events happening to jump forward to something else. The protagonist, Alex, frustrated me at times, but his behavior is always true to character.
All of this was easy to forgive, though, because the book was so interesting and entertaining.
Final Thoughts:
I read this about six months ago, and what I'm remembering as I think back is that this book gives your brain a lot to chew on. About economy, relationships, friends, lousy low-wage jobs, promotions. I spent my early twenties in retail and a low-wage office job, and this book manages to encapsulate a lot of stuff I was thinking about during that time in my life. Definitely recommend if you're a fan of dystopias, megacorporations, or did any time in retail.
MM:LWR is set in a future where America is under the control of a megacorporation of retail department stores. Whole sections of the country have been "boxed up," their populations relocated or exterminated and the neighborhoods abandoned, because the stores there were no longer profitable. The class system is a giant gap between minimum wage employees and management (and higher up, the executive level). There are communities living under the threat of being boxed up, whispers of brutal prison camps out west, walled-in communities where managers and office workers are guarded by machine guns, terrorist cells who want to put and end to the whole thing, and our characters, who are trying to eek out a living and find a place in this world.
What I Liked:
The world building. I've always had a fondness for megacorporations in sci-fi, and I'd rank this one up there with Weyland Industries from the Aliens films. I'm serious. The concept is brilliant and the author packs in all these odd details about the operations and structure and organization. This is also done on a much smaller scale, when you visit characters' apartments and houses and you see the stuff they own, how they live day to day.
I also love how all the places that are mentioned in the early parts of the novel become the locations in later parts. The story doesn't leave much at the periphery. You're reading and you think, "Oh, that's a neat idea" and a hundred pages later, you're there.
There's plenty of TV-MA content in here too, though the story isn't gratuitous. But when sex happens, it's awkward and messy but still fun. And the violence is often times ugly and unheroic.
What I Didn't Like:
The punctuation and grammar is not standard, but I'm all for creative license and I got used to it after about fifty pages. The plotting is sometimes too convenient for my taste, events happening to jump forward to something else. The protagonist, Alex, frustrated me at times, but his behavior is always true to character.
All of this was easy to forgive, though, because the book was so interesting and entertaining.
Final Thoughts:
I read this about six months ago, and what I'm remembering as I think back is that this book gives your brain a lot to chew on. About economy, relationships, friends, lousy low-wage jobs, promotions. I spent my early twenties in retail and a low-wage office job, and this book manages to encapsulate a lot of stuff I was thinking about during that time in my life. Definitely recommend if you're a fan of dystopias, megacorporations, or did any time in retail.
June 1, 2014
4.5 Stars
Okay despite the fact that I'm really not sure what genre this book counts as, I really did enjoy it. The blurb does not do it justice. Oh no, there is much more to this world than it seems. Management has taken over the United States. That's right, imagine your worst manager...ruling the US. Terrifying, yes? I know I had some awful managers during my time of retail, but here's the thing. This world is stuck in the early 90's. Think cassette tapes, old tube tvs, got it? Good. This is the world that Alex Gabriel lives in and works at The Mart. He's moved up to supervisor of electronics! Good for Alex, but his life gets turned upside down. His friends and family work for for a militia to take down the Management...the end is coming for the Midwest.
This book had a great plot to it, something I haven't seen before and it was a nice change. We have a dystopian like world based in the crazy world of retail. It's not just a store, Mr. Pfeifer takes it to a whole new level and creates a world out of it. He's created a master piece from it. His characters are believable and react correctly under situations handed to him. It had a bit of everything in it, even sex. (I'm not giving it a heat rating since it wasn't a romance.) A couple things...it is dark, there are some graphic scenes probably not for the light of heart and you will not find your HEA. The end is well worth it, even if I did cry. There was enough thrill to keep me on the edge of my seat, but enough light hearted moments to keep it balanced well.
Review originally posted on The Self Publishing Experiment on May 30th, 2014
Okay despite the fact that I'm really not sure what genre this book counts as, I really did enjoy it. The blurb does not do it justice. Oh no, there is much more to this world than it seems. Management has taken over the United States. That's right, imagine your worst manager...ruling the US. Terrifying, yes? I know I had some awful managers during my time of retail, but here's the thing. This world is stuck in the early 90's. Think cassette tapes, old tube tvs, got it? Good. This is the world that Alex Gabriel lives in and works at The Mart. He's moved up to supervisor of electronics! Good for Alex, but his life gets turned upside down. His friends and family work for for a militia to take down the Management...the end is coming for the Midwest.
This book had a great plot to it, something I haven't seen before and it was a nice change. We have a dystopian like world based in the crazy world of retail. It's not just a store, Mr. Pfeifer takes it to a whole new level and creates a world out of it. He's created a master piece from it. His characters are believable and react correctly under situations handed to him. It had a bit of everything in it, even sex. (I'm not giving it a heat rating since it wasn't a romance.) A couple things...it is dark, there are some graphic scenes probably not for the light of heart and you will not find your HEA. The end is well worth it, even if I did cry. There was enough thrill to keep me on the edge of my seat, but enough light hearted moments to keep it balanced well.
Review originally posted on The Self Publishing Experiment on May 30th, 2014
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews