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The vampiric supply chain

Amazon’s experiment in literary populism
by
April 2022, no. 441

Everything and Less: The novel in the age of Amazon by Mark McGurl

Verso, $39.99 hb, 333 pp

The vampiric supply chain

Amazon’s experiment in literary populism
by
April 2022, no. 441
Amazon president Jeff Bezos with stacks of books inside huge warehouse in Seattle, 1998 (Worldfoto/Alamy)
Amazon president Jeff Bezos with stacks of books inside huge warehouse in Seattle, 1998 (Worldfoto/Alamy)

On 21 July 2021, one of the world’s richest men, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, staged a press conference in the small town of Van Horn, Texas, the purpose of which was to boast about his recent ten-minute joy ride into space atop a rocket so comically penis-shaped that one could be forgiven for thinking that the whole exercise was intended as an outrageously expensive joke, albeit one that Mel Brooks would likely have rejected for its lack of subtlety. Dressed in matching blue jumpsuits and looking thoroughly pleased with themselves, Bezos and his three fellow space cadets sat in a row on their wooden highchairs, framed by an enormous set of thrusters, while a lickspittle with the unnaturally thick hair, glittering dental work, and unctuous demeanour of a game-show host lauded them as great heroes and benefactors to humankind.

James Ley reviews 'Everything and Less: The novel in the age of Amazon' by Mark McGurl

Everything and Less: The novel in the age of Amazon

by Mark McGurl

Verso, $39.99 hb, 333 pp

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