I was looking for information about an upcoming interview subject on the internet last night and I stumbled onto a site called "Good Reads." It's basically a book review site.
Imagine my surprise when I found twelve reviews of $everance. They were all good reviews. Here are a few from the last few months (remember, it came out two years ago):
From Sarah Gorr...
"As a public over-saturated with exposure to the media and information being beamed to us from all directions, Rick Kaempfer’s latest book, $everence, provides a hilariously entertaining inside look at the world of politics, persona and media consolidation. Kaempfer doesn’t just ask the question, “What happens when it all goes too far?” but suggests the outcome and it is not pretty.
One of $everance’s greatest advantages in delivering its message is its use of humor and avoidance of dry political and corporate jargon. While an inside term or two might pop-up, Kaempfer’s book doesn’t seem to be preaching to the choir; it’s an open invitation for even those with little or no knowledge of the media’s inner workings or its political wheelings and dealings to join the conversation. Whether you’re news junkie, undecided, uninformed or just plain apathetic, $everence is a clever and enjoyable read for anyone exposed to the media; and that’s everyone."
From Tisbutehname...
"Severance: an indictment of spurious journalism? Check! Severance: a Laodicean account of the annoying nature of political zealots? Check! Severance: a hilarious satire about the trials and tribulations that accompany…trying to get fired? Check!
It’s a battle of attrition for Chicago radio DJ Tom Zagorski and long time on-air partner Richard Lawrence. In a vain corporate attempt to get the duo to quit, relieving the company of their fat severance checks, the once prominent talk radio show now features less talk and more commercials, as well as news read from day old papers. Zagorski’s atomic bomb of insubordination backfires and in no time he ironically becomes a Wall Street golden boy and big shot for the second largest media conglomerate in the world.
As Zagorski and Lawrence navigate their way through New York City’s maze of CEOs, conservative hotshots, bad journalists, liberal loudmouths, and vomit inducing cab drivers, trying to piss them all off and play them against one another isn’t as easy as it seems. Every absurd scheme the two come up with—from redecorating an office to resemble an epic Hollywood movie, or completely destroying what was left of objective reporting (and a lot in between)—their plans only result in more praise and more unwanted attention. Author Richard Kaempfer mixes humor with sadism to great result: each success, when Zagorski only wants failure, brings with it bigger laughs, more outrageous characters, and ‘nothing-good-can-come-of-this’ situations.
Severance is a carefully balanced satire about the post-deregulation liberal and conservative on-air personalities, as well as the behind the scenes puppet masters, that saturate the media with their opinions, but don’t be surprised when you see animal rights activists, film producers, and Celine Dion dressed as nun. You name it, Severance has got it, and Kaempfer, through the admirably indifferent Zagorski, exposes the weakness, hypocrisy and foolishness in each and every one of them.
By staying objective, Severance does not crumble under the weight of its observations on the degradation of journalism into a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ profession. It does not, like so many of its characters, become hypocritical or biased; on the other hand, it remains satisfyingly ambivalent, and genuine all the way to its final sentence. As good satire can, Severance will make you laugh, but just as quickly it can scare the pants off of you. Though some of the characters are absurd, the novel is not. Severance is an accurate appraisal of the ongoing mutations happening to a very crucial industry, and a highly recommended read."
From Jennifer...
"It all started with an office prank—a memo radio DJ Tom Zagorski i sends out from his station’s office in Chicago to the entire Sierra Megamedia Corporation (a media giant that owns not only Zagorski’s radio station, but many others, along with television networks, movie studios, and publishing houses). The memo suggests techniques to save money—like installing security guards to keep employees from stealing office supplies—as well as techniques to raise money, like Nascarization, which basically encompasses stamping everything visible with some sort of advertisement during news broadcasts. To Zagorski and his fellow employees, the memo is an obvious farce. Its suggestions are so ridiculous that Zagorski hopes he’ll be fired from the job he’s grown to hate, and gain him the only thing he really wants: his severance pay. To his (and my) very great surprise, his memo lands him the COO position of the entire Sierra Megamedia Corporation.
Many others would run with a position like this. After all, it allows use of the company credit card, the company Jet, suites in the best hotels all over the country, and dinner in the best restaurants (all of which author Richard Kaempfer describes enough to make Zagorski’s sudden rise pretty enviable). The world is virtually at Zagorski’s fingertips. So what does he do? He sticks to his original plan, now on a much greater scale: he sets out to destroy the company & everything it represents. He wants the company’s stock to plummet so badly that they will have no choice but to fire him—which means he’ll still get his severance pay. It doesn’t hurt that in the meanwhile, he’ll be hurting a pretty corrupt organization.
Which is why Zagorski is ultimately so likeable. Even when he’s handed everything, he doesn’t sell out. He sticks to his convictions with a sort of bumbling, sarcastic grace. He remains loyal to his friends and always has a kind word for the otherwise ignored. Kaempfer does an excellent job in drawing out each of his characters—even the ones I hated—into very realistic, vivid, three dimensional people.
My biggest problem with $everance was situations where I ended up thinking, “that wouldn’t happen!” But $everance’s biggest fault is also one of its strongest qualities. The over-the-top scenarios Kaempfer creates serve as satire of social issues—they prove a point. By putting them in such an exaggerated context, Kaempfer grabs our attention; then, with unrelenting honesty, he drives the matter home.
$everance is one of the few books that made me laugh out loud several times. It’s enjoyable for all of the normal reasons—an interesting plot, good writing, great characters, thoughtful symbols—but also serves a greater cause. I highly recommend picking it up."
