Douglas Coupland

I just bought Microserfs but haven't jumped into it yet. I don't really know what Coupland's work/style is like (having bought the book strictly to compare it to my day-to-day geeky job).

That's too bad about you leaving the book on the bus. I've heard good things about Hey, Nostradamus.

I enjoyed Microserfs, even moreso in hindsight since I've started working in an office. I've never felt really inspired to pick up any of his other ones though.

I loved Generation X, Microserfs, Shampoo Planet (which for some reason seems to be much maligned), Life after God, Girlfriend in a Coma. I liked All Families are Psychotic. I have a copy of Miss Wyoming that I've never managed to get through--I'm not really sure why, just one of those things--I'm sure I'll get back to it eventually. One of my best friends in college was a big Coupland fan and we made a habit for a while of giving each other his books for birthdays and Christmas, which probably explains why I've read so much of his stuff.

He's definitely gone more Vonnegut in his more recent books, and I've yet to decide whether or not that's a good thing. I think he has moments of brilliance and moments that flop, but on the whole I'm a fan.

Shampoo planet is perhaps my favourite, it's a good story, when it all boils down to it

I think he's great at coinage - Generation x is virtually a compendium of such - and is skilled at pop culture usage and light analysis (Microserfs really seems to have a truth if you work in an office environment, but it doesn't really say anything about it beyond its cute observations and funny jokes).

But his characters seem thin to me, and his plotting is weak. The way Girlfriend In A Coma starts off as his best book - his most adult and real and best-observed - and ends up as his worst - a vague, pretentious, new age piece of fluff - really disappointed me.

But I bought Hey Nostradamus (cheap in Borders) and I'll give it a try. Interesting how the UK edition has what basically amounts to "Extras" (like on a dvd) at the back of the book - an interview with Coupland etc....

Yeah, I've got that copy (I bought it again after leaving the first copy on the bus).

Coupland can construct the odd killer sentence. Usually a kooky killer sentence, with a nod and wink to pop culture, but still a joy to come across.

I agree totally with David (above) about Girlfriend in a Coma. One of those books with a great concept but missing the ending it deserves.

I looooove him, but somewhat less than when I was an impressionable teen reading Microserfs for the first time and marvelling at its hipness. That one in particular has dated a wee bit, simply because the subject matter is largely them there computer things, but the relationship/societal stuff still stands up well.

Still haven't read my copy of Hey Nostradamus, but then I've got a backlog of new books to get through. Curse the well-stocked public library!

He's very self-conscious about his writing (the structure of sentences and exactly what, err, mood and persona they convey, linked to his general use of first-person narrative/characterisation), I think, which could explain why some people loathe him. I like things that are assembled carefully.

My favourite line from Girlfriend in a Coma. About two friends (I've forgotten their names), who get it together. "She sat in his lap and smiled love's smile."

Then he goes and spoils it by listing 97 Smiths' songs.

My problem with nearly all of his books is the ending. I can't figure out if the corny New-Agey stuff in Girlfriend in a Coma and the awful deus ex machina ending from All Families are Psychotic are supposed to be some sort of amusing pisstake of people's expectations of the end of a novel, or if he really is totally unable to take the plunge and have his stories come to their logical conclusions. That said, I love reading his prose. His books about Canada, particularly City of Glass, his book about Vancouver, make great reading.

Finished Hey Nostradamus! Pretty good. Apart from the ending of course.

I love the phrase "ahh wine, Vitamin W"

I've used it four times already.

I loved his 'Souvenir of Canada'; has anyone outside Canada read it? what's your take?

I didn't like his Vancouver book, 'City of Glass', much at all. He grew up in a suburb north of Vancouver, and I grew up in one south of Vancouver, though, so it's logical for us to have very different views of the city. Skytrain, for example, has a far greater impact on the region coming from Surrey than from North van. Some of his comments were spot-on, though, esp. on Japanese Hipsters.

Generation X and Microserfs are the only fiction I know well. They were fun enough, but not earth-shaking. They are marvellous cultural artifacts at this piint, though.

I thought S of C was a p of c.

I love him too, I especially like "the feeling" I have after reading
the last sentence of his books. I cannot name "that feeling" though,
so I am not sure if it is going to make any sense to you. It is something inbetween hope, despair and jealousy.. anyways ..
A great reading for summer ..

girlfriend in a coma, I know

The first half of Hey Nostradamus it's so beautiful it made me cry... not so sure about the second half... Microserfs is incredibly funny, and Girlfriend On A Coma it's a masterpiece (starting with the title, off a Smiths' classic song)...

Generation X changed the view I think of the world...

I really enjoyed PX and SP. I didn't care at all for the New Agey stuff, as elucidated above.

I should give him another try, but I'm afraid Po Bronson put him out of my mind for the moment. The First $20 Million etc.