funny, cool, witty, karmic! generation-x vibes. fun read

Such a disappointment from an author that has written so many great things.

3.5/5

This was a readable version of the hero's journey. The hero here is Tyler Johnson who wants to work at Bechdal, a mysterious company that makes chemicals. He drifts all over CA with a French girlfriend, even meets up with his hippie burned out dad and saves his hippie mom from domestic violence. This book is well written in that it keeps your interest and does create good characters. It builds on a lot of similar ideas from generation X, even quoting it on occasion.

It was a good book with a good story. It wasn’t convoluted, it didn’t drag on, it was entertaining and I enjoyed it.

verrebbe quasi da vederlo come il prequel di "generazione x": tyler -il protagonista- sembra vivere quella crisi che porterà alla scelta di vita dei protagonisti di quel fortunato libro. e poco importa che alla fine almeno uno dei suoi sogni arrivi: il tyler delle ultime pagine è diverso, in un contesto diverso da quello in cui era all'inizio del libro, forse meno "rampante anni '80" e più vicino allo spirito della madre hippy (magari in una versione più "apocalittica", come le scritte che lascia sulle banconote lasciano intuire). non il coupland migliore, ma uno di quei libri che fa davvero piacere leggere.

sorry: not even "OK;" i just can't recommend this buk. HOPEFULLY there are OTHER Coupland buks which are gud.

It took me a while to get into this and it's definitely not a favourite of mine but overall I quite enjoyed this. Not much of a plot, mostly unlikeable and unremarkable characters but also an endlessly quotable and deeply insightful book. One of those few books that I knew about halfway in that I would probably get a lot out of a second read though I'm still not planning on it anytime soon. A pretty good installment from Douglas Coupland, especially for a second novel. Worth checking out if you're a fan of his for sure.

This Coupland book was like comfort food for me. Others have commented on his writing, and I have to agree that there are some excellent passages in the book--there were several chunks that I had to read aloud to my wife because I enjoyed them so much.

Really, though, I enjoyed the growth and interaction of characters most. I appreciate the way he blends the sort of hyper-consumerism of his characters with personality traits to make them likable hypocrites. Flawed, but not hated. You get the same detached lack of emotion you'd find in a Bret Easton Ellis book, but the added connections between characters, especially where he shows them caring for one another, adds reality. Coupland doesn't judge his characters, he doesn't make them evil. I am most impressed with his ability to make them human.

Maybe I needed to still be in my 20’s to have this mean something to me. I found the whole thing boring I’m afraid, might be the cynicism that comes with age.

I love DC. but for some reason this early novel had passed me by, never got around to reading it. I found it interesting having read his later novels as they are better and it shows how he has improved his craft.

A delightful little cultural and social snapshot of the 90s, more quaint than Coupland’s other books that I’ve read but enjoyable nonetheless