Syrup

In conclusion, then: BUY THIS BOOK!


awesome   October 5, 2004
 3 out of 5 found this review helpful

This is probably the funniest book i have ever read, loved it, i even ordered it from the USA after reading it as i had borrowed a copy from a friend there who recomended it and it wasnt out here in the uk. Just by it and see how good it is for yourself!!! i strongly recommend it, and his other book jennifer government! i have a signed copy of both!


An Overnight Sensation!   June 2, 2004
 13 out of 13 found this review helpful

Maxx Barry, author of "Syrup" has written a brilliant, satirical novel of marketing. Maxx or Max ( he added an extra "x" to make his name look more worldly) was a teacher of marketing back in Australia. He used to work for Hewlett Packard, and he has imagined life in the US-he has never visited us.

Scat, also know as Micahel George Holloway, wants to be famous. He could be an actor, but he can't act. He does have one option: he can be very young, very cool, and very, very rich. This line of fame is open to everyone. All he has to do is find something he is so good at that he can make a million dollars by the time he is twenty-five.

Scat has read somewhere "that the average adult has three million-dollar ideas per year. Ideas are cheap, what you need is the conviction to follow through!" Scat's life started at ten past two in the morning of January 7th. He got THE IDEA.

Scat developed the idea for a new cola drink with a name so smooth all the "x" generation would drink it up. Scat got the inside scoop and developed a meeting with a representative of a cola company. The rep who's name is 6, was quite interested and brought Scat into the company. Unfortunately, someone stole the idea and Scat and 6 are left to reclaim their careers. Scat and 6 have energy, imagination, ambition and just enough of a work ethic to follow through. The novel follows their paths as they heed the underhandedness of the Black Hats.

The brilliance of Maxx Barry is evident in his writing. His humour and intelligence bring us through LA, Hollywood, corporate America and Madison Avenue and into the marketing world. Marketing is the biggest industry in the world, and it is invisible. "Marketing is like Los Angeles. It is a gorgeous, brainless model on cocaine having relations, drinking Perrier."
The characters that Maxx Barry has developed, Scat, 6, @, Sneaky Pete more than live up to their names. They are cool, charming and hilarious. This novel is a must read- move on over Seinfeld- Maxx has arrived.
prisrob


Not quite LA, but close enough   August 12, 2003
 4 out of 6 found this review helpful

As a Southern California resident, I can appreciate the jabs Max makes at us, where even the illiterate can get into most of the 23 Cal State Universities. While he doesn't set his novel in the real LA, he places it into the glossed over, gen X, media hyped image that most people think the town is. Inaccuracies aside (it takes 1.5 hours to get across LA, not 20 minutes) this odyssey through corperate America and marketing mayhem left me in stitches from the first chapter. A must read for anyone who has ever bought name brand merchandise.