English 110 Novel Synopses

The following are synopses that are printed on the back (or inside cover) of each of the books you may choose to read for this course. Use the synopses to choose which book you will read this quarter; each of them is in some way related to the theme of this course: personal identity and the media (specifically, music and consumerism/ advertising). The CSUB bookstore has ordered multiple copies of these books, but be sure you get yours soon so that you can be sure that you get the novel you want to read and begin reading it. If you run into any difficulties, please see Darren Ewing at the CSUB bookstore. You must have your novel by January 8th.

Jennifer Government by Max Barry (Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Drama)

Taxation has been abolished, the government has been privatized, and employees take the surname of the company they work for. It’s a brave new corporate world, but you don’t want to be caught without a platinum credit card—as lowly Merchandizing Officer Hack Nike is about to find out. Trapped into building street cred for a new line of $2500 sneakers by shooting customers, Hack attracts the barcode-tattooed eye of the legendary Jennifer Government. A stressed-out single mom, corporate watchdog, and government agent who has to rustle up funding before she’s allowed to fight crime, Jennifer Government is holding a closing down sale—everything must go.

Cross Dressing by Bill Fitzhugh (Comedy)

When his do-gooder Catholic priest of a twin brother, Michael, comes home with a Third World bug, conspicuously consumptive ad-exec Dan Steele sends him to the hospital— on his own insurance company’s dime. But no good deed goes unpunished…Michael’s disease turns fatal, and suddenly Dan is facing prison for fraud. And then there’s that enraged copywriter whose brilliant idea he stole. Ever the marketer, Dan devises an ingenious escape: masquerade as his brother, the Father.

Now a man of the cloth, Dan must play it close to the vestment, for the world of organized religion is even more wily than his own. It’s also more cutthroat, for a dangerous figure from Michael’s past is on his cassock tails too. And then there’s the tempting Sister Peg, a nun with whom Dan would love to get biblical. It’ll take nothing short of a miracle to get the counterfeit cleric out of this sinfully funny jam…

Survivor: A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk (Drama)

Tender Branson—last surviving member of the so-called Creedish Death Cult—is dictating his life story into the flight recorder of Flight 2039, cruising on autopilot at 39,000 feet somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. He is all alone in the airplane, which will crash shortly into the vast Australian outback. But before it does, he will unfold the tale of his journey from an obedient Creedish child and humble domestic servant to an ultra- buffed, steroid- and collagen-packed media messiah.