Reflections On Water (Vol. 4, No. 1) - Reviews

Mungo City

Imagine a world where even the woods have a trademark, multinational corporations are more powerful than governments, and citizens never get "second chances." Sound far fetched? Not really. Sound a bit on the far side? No. Readers who love Gary Larson's Far Side and Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy will enjoy Mungo City, aptly subtitled A Novel about Globalization. This new satire by talented St. John's, Newfoundland writer, Rutiger Knox (Daniel Brown's pen name) is one that will echo in readers' minds long after they have closed the book.

In Mungo City, everyone drinks Mungo Cola, "megaphone men" humiliate the homeless and anyone else who doesn't follow the dictates of the capitalist Multinational Corporations, Life Unscrewers remind those they counsel that there are no second chances, and bed racing is a sport carried out by 900 pound bedridden men. What lies outside the cities, controlled by corporations, are The Woods ™ and The Abyss.™

Enter Jimmy Doodle, a naïve citizen of Mungo City who is easily comforted by soft pillows and warm cocoa. When his intelligent friend Hector, leaves college and goes into The Woods ™, Jimmy follows him. Sponsored by the Global Preservationists of Semi-natural Nature "Because Green Is A Pretty Color," The Woods ™ contain life forms that "were artificially grown from DNA preserved in the DNA Banks." The Woods ™ have hazards, namely maintenance workers who, in a not so veiled allusion to Monty Python, disguise themselves as trees and shrubs and engage in cannibalism. While Hector reads the Corporate Declaration of Disillusionment and the Life Form Handbook, Jimmy Doodle, ironically, is a resident in the Deep-thinker Shack Place, but not for long. Briefly, Hector imagines that Jimmy, away from the Corporate controlled city, might "think for himself," but soon realizes that he is hoping for too radical a transformation of his friend. Eventually, Hector decides he's had enough of The Woods ™and leaves. Still a sheep, Jimmy also leaves The Woods ™ only to find himself outcast. Alienated, he seeks help from the Life Unscrewers. The counselor, however, reminds Jimmy that when "You turned your back on Mungo Cola" then "we turn our back on you." Set free in The Abyss ™, Jimmy attempts to listen to his inner voice, Reflection Man, but soon ends up being a puppet of mobsters. He's informed that "as long as you're in Mungo City, there are two possibilities: you can either play the game of capitalism as designed by the Corporations--which, as we've already said, is inherently unfair--or you can play our game, the game of organized crime."