Coupland - The Poll

[girasol]

i think Generation X might be a bit like Catcher In The Rye in that respect, you know.. i think there is an optimum AGE as well as an optimum ERA to read it

Absolutely... I was way past the optimum age/era when I read them...

 

[mrkikiet]

read some and thought they were excellent and read some which seemed gimmicky (microserfs in particular).
I think i've had this discussion on here before though.

 

[akirajoel]

Read Microserfs last month. First one I've read of his. Thought it was fecking excellent. My suspisons early on was that it was all hype and that he didnt really have anything to say or - worst - he didnt have anything to make anyone feel. Yeah? But - i thought it was bloody great. Really, erm, solid writing.

Got Girlfriend In A Coma from the library. Its sitting upstairs waiting to be read........... I hope its good.

 

[milesy]

i've read girlfriend in a coma and miss wyoming some time ago, but up until two weeks ago it was years since i actually read and enjoyed any books. i picked up "eleanor rigby" and rocketed through it, and then got hold of "hey nostradamus" which i found very difficult to put down, and i have "shampoo planet" at home waiting to be read.

i think he's on the verge of pipping ben richards to the post as my favourite author. he can be quite deep in the ideas he tries to explore in his work, but still very approachable, and i find it easy to relate to his main protagonists.

 

[Dubversion]

i think he's on the verge of pipping ben richards to the post as my favourite author

i've only read the one about throwing something out the window?

 

[Divisive Cotton]

Does anybody remember the review that Tom Paulin gave Girldfriend in a Coma on the Late Review? I rushed out the next day to buy it.

 

[milesy]

i've only read the one about throwing something out the window?

that's a very good one, his first. my favourite is his second, "don't step on the lines".

 

[ICB]

started reading all families are psychotic and it got on my tits so I stopped

 

[Divisive Cotton]

started reading all families are psychotic and it got on my tits so I stopped

That's not his best book though

 

[trashpony]

read mine and dub's post: perhaps the explanation. i too will get it out this weekend.

I did. What confused me is that I think that Dub and I are a similar age. Oh well ...

Went to the library and they didn't have Generation X so got Shampoo Planet instead.

Any good anyone? I'm not clear from silentNate's post if he liked it or not ...

 

[Divisive Cotton]

I did. What confused me is that I think that Dub and I are a similar age. Oh well ...

Went to the library and they didn't have Generation X so got Shampoo Planet instead.

Any good anyone? I'm not clear from silentNate's post if he liked it or not ...

No, it's not particularly very good I'm afraid... I don't remember it as such anyway.

 

[Ich bin ein Mod]

Haven't read one of his that I disliked, and upon re-reading there's always something new to pick up on I feel.

 

[undercover]

Girlfriend in a Coma was excellent (one of my all time best books), as was Miss Wyoming, but like a few others, just couldn't get into "Hey Nostrodamus". Probably should give it another chance though, may just have been in one of those non-book phases.

Much as I liked those two though, never read Generation X, maybe because it is such a famous (modern) book and that can often put me off. Illogical as that may sound, especially as I'm in the right age group to get it!!

 

[pootle]

I love Coupland. No other writer seems to touch me in the same way.

Some of the issues about identity and going through day after day after day with no percieved purpose are dealt with brilliantly. "Hey Nostradamus" made me weep.

Couldn't get on with Generation X though, and I felt totally cheated by the ending of Girlfriend in a Coma.

Easily one of my favourite writers.

 

[kyser_soze]

Probably my fave writer, and certainly the only one who can reliably bring a tear to my eye and make me feel like I'm having a conversation with the characters he writes - Life After God got me through some very dark points of my life and for me it's still his most emotionally affecting work - he gets loneliness in modern society in a way that no one else does for me.

Fave book would be between Mircroserfs and Miss Wyoming - and controlversially I'm not a fan of Girlfriend...I seem to be the only Coupland fan who doesn't rate it...

Gen X...well, it's a toughie really. I loved it when I read it and still loved it when I re-read it 6 months ago. Everything about it from the jargon ('Options Paralysis') and the slogans ('Use Jets while you still can') for me are as relevant now as they were 14 years ago , and the stories that Dag, Claire and Andy tell each other still make me smile (I also downloaded a Texlahoma story from his website too...how tragic am I?). Dag's comment about being able to deal with the aftermath of a nuclear war OK but freaking out if he saw a jet pushes buttons in my head for some reason.

But is it of it's time/era...I reckon you have to be a media junkie to really enjoy it, and it's probably the most US culture-specific of his work and yeah, it is very much a book that talks to a very specific group of people at a certain point in lives and the early 90s...

But then I also still really love BEE whom I started reading at the same time (American Psycho and Gen X were published about the same time IIRC) and there are lots of peeps who love/hate the other one...it's interesting to see how they've both changed, and the themes or the books and stuff tho - both explore contemporary alienation and loneliness through very different prisms.

Or something.

Oh yeah, and the first section of Nostradamus scared the shit out of me the first time I read it. Genuinely brilliant descriptive writing and it made Coumbine a lot more real to me.

 

[pootle]

Very well say KS.

Have you read Eleanor Rigby? I

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Wow, lots of compliments here, I think I'll actually go and read some of his stuff.

I have to admit, in the past I've been put off just by the title 'Generation X' and his seemingly being followed around by awful words like 'zeitgeist.'

 

[Maggot]

Girlfriend in a coma is one of the best books I've ever read, liked Miss Wyoming, think Microserfs is overrated.

Haven't read the others yet.

 

[chilango]

Brilliant writer. read and reread them all.and passed them all (aprta from the signed hardback 1st edition ) on to friends.

Looking forward to jPod coming out next year.

 

[Blagsta]

I've read Life After God and Generation X. Can't say I remember anything about them, apart from a vague feeling of "is that it?" when I finished.

Very overrated IMO.

 

[Looby]

i've read girlfriend in a coma (my favourite coupland book), all families are psychotic and hey nostradamus and loved them all.

this thread has made me want to re-read them and i must get around to reading gen x as dub lent it to me about 8 years ago.

 

[akirajoel]

felt totally cheated by the ending of Girlfriend in a Coma.

Finished reading Girlfriend - and I think that I might have to agree with the comment above. The first two parts were really really good - with some really touching scenes and nice characters...

But the last part felt a bit flat and it just got really preachy.

Maybe I'm just too young to really "get" it?

Perhaps I should waste more of my life and then read it again...

 

[blamblam]

Read a fair bit, enjoyed it a lot, but he's a lot like Palahniuk really and it's all a bit samey. Thought the ending of Girlfriend was great. I always think of it when I see the "Winner or sinner" guy.

 

[CharlieAddict]

Good writer, the character Liz in his last book was so sad.

Miss Wyoming is his true underrated classic.

 

[kyser_soze]

...

Miss Wyoming is his true underrated classic.

You're just an old softy at heart, same as me. It's his most romantic book by a long way.

 

[CharlieAddict]

You're just an old softy at heart, same as me. It's his most romantic book by a long way.

Y'know I didn't think of that. This is probably why I like Eleanor Rigby so much and so glad (SPOILER ALERT), Liz got on that plane with the dentist in the end. Man, I'm getting gayer in me old age.

 

[Here we go]

I couldn't finish girlfriend in a coma when I read it but I decided to have a go at generation x and thought it was magic. Might try and read girlfriend in a coma again now.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

I've got and have read everything he's done - except Life After God, for some reason - and love them all. Microserfs is one of my top 5 books of all time (probably because of all the geeky references), but Girlfriend, All Families, Nostradamus are all great. I really liked Shampoo Planet as well; quite surprised at some of the negative comments about it.

I agree that Gen X has to be read when at the right age and mindset; I definitely don't enjoy it as much as the first time on re-reads. Think I'll re-read Miss Wyoming next (when I've finished Shogun...)

 

[milesy]

bumpity bump.

i got Jpod on sunday as a father's day gift, and rocketed through it, finishing it yesterday evening. a very funny and clever book indeed. very much a douglas coupland book, you'd easily know it was him if you read an extract without being told who is (well, if you'd read stuff of his before, that is) but that's not a bad thing IMO. i think it's the best one of his that i've read yet.

5 thumbs out of 5

 

[milesy]

i want to change my vote to "consider him my favourite author" now, please.

can somebody see to it, please?

NOW?!?!?