I found this book to be less than memorable. I don't see how anyone can find the characters in this book interesting, let alone compelling. Coupland needs to abandon the quest for "quirk" and try maybe writing something effective, or at least memorable.

di per se non è un brutto romanzo, ha i suoi momenti (sia comici che -soprattutto- tragici), ma manca quel qualcosa che rende coupland un autore così speciale: al momento il peggiore tra i suoi romanzi (o almeno tra quelli che ho letto), ma potrebbe piacere a chi non ha mai letto nulla di suo...

I read Life After God for a humanities class last semester, and loved it so much I gleefully chose to write my final paper on it, which ran hundreds of words over the limit. After finals were over, I went back to my local library, and found this was the only Coupland novel on the shelf. Good enough, I suppose. What I found was a book slightly ridiculous in plot, and not quite profound enough in message. There were several concepts I gathered from this book, the largest being that death should ideally motivate us to improve our short, mostly sad lives. I don't disagree with this message, but I found our protagonist to be much more of a victim of fate than this theme would have you believe. The two best events in her life happen by chance. I'm all for a dark writing style, but Coupland's idea of her writing came off more dreary and unfocused than I would have preferred. I liked this book, but if this was the first of Coupland's novels I picked up, I'm not certain I would have reached for another.

Hot damn... I am ripping through books in my sobriety! I absolutely plowed through this and my last two books, enjoying them more and remembering more of the details throughout. I gotta admit, post-weed Zack is really enjoying being a bookworm again! I feel like some part of my personality has been restored.

This book is often about loneliness and explores the depths of loneliness through a strange, upbeat, sad, and – this is almost a compliment – boring character, Liz Dunn. Liz is an oddball, but in a way familiar to fans of Douglas Coupland, her relatively flat life encounters new peaks of joy and valleys of despair as she encounters new frontiers of possibility. I found the book highly readable and engaging, though the main character largely embodies some of the toughest aspects of being alive. The book would've been a perfect accompaniment to self-isolating during the pandemic; alas, I enjoyed it without feeling connected to the underlying loneliness.

It's a very enjoyable read, though I'll admit I'm glad I found it for free at the end of someone's driveway. I saw it there, in a book bin being donated to the world, and saw the names, "Douglas Coupland" and "Eleanor Rigby"... "I like both of those things!" I thought to myself. I didn't totally expect what I got, but then again, when does anyone ever receive what they expect from a really good book? The variable rewards on the situation were a jackpot, though I wouldn't recommend this book to everyone. It's a little bit surreal and unusual, uniquely mundane, and very entertaining, but I wouldn't say everyone would enjoy reading it. The loneliness can be a little much at times, though it was to my tastes and I liked it.

I'm afraid I've long since passed my peak of patience with Douglas Coupland. I guess this isn't so much a review of Eleanor Rigby, as it is a review of anything I've read by him. I must have read at least 6 or 7 of his books and I think I could equally apply this review to most of them.

The first of his I read was Jpod and I still enjoy that. I then read Generation X and I enjoyed that too. But with each passing book of his I've read, I've enjoyed them less and less. I don't know if that's a sign of age (mine, since Generation X and Generation A are around 20 years apart and feel largely the same) or whether it's the books which are the issue.

Initially, Coupland's novels seem witty, irreverent and somehow holding a deeper meaning in amongst the pseudo spiritual Armageddon scenarios he's been selling for years. The thing is, I find now that most of the characters are interchangeable. As are the plot lines. I cannot distinguish one story from another now. They're just so similar in so many ways.

As a 19 year old I loved that intellectual bent his novels seemed to hold, but now I can't see it any more. I no longer believe that they are as smart as they believe they are. It all feels like posturing. Reading multiple Coupland books erodes any sense of weight you initially applied to his thoughts.

I'd still recommend Jpod and Generation X to people who haven't touched anything by him. Especially if you work in software. However, I'd say pick three of his and leave it at that. Read any more and you'll ruin it for yourself.

As for Eleanor Rigby, it's just pointless. Normally (I say normally, I mean every time) Coupland novels tend to weave their way to a bit of a non-ending. That's quite charming in most cases, but I just don't follow it here. This story never really has any satisfying moments to it. Some interlinked events happen. Some Coupland characters say some Coupland-ish things. At some arbitrary point, it ends.

If you choose to read a book by Coupland, don't choose this one.

I read this book at least once per year. It's not my favorite Coupland book, but it puts me in the mood to write.

All the lonely people
Beginning with the era-defining Generation X, I've read almost all Douglas Coupland's books, greatly enjoying his quirky, sympathetic take on the human condition. However, I've been somewhat disappointed with the last few I picked up (specifically Miss Wyoming, All Families are Psychotic and JPod), which felt a little too formulaic here and there. Whilst all the standard traits - the discovery of hope and redemption in unlikely places, the introduction of unlikely coincidences that verge on magic realism, and a view of modern life that veers between amusement and horror - are present and correct in this story as well, they're blended together in a more rewarding way.

As the title suggests, this is a tale about loneliness, as crystallized in the life of Liz Dunn, the self-styled "loneliest girl in the world". She's the narrator here, with the gift for a memorable - even shocking - turn of phrase [e.g. (p139) "What if God exists but he doesn't really like people very much?"] that Coupland gives to his best characters. Associated with this are some startlingly apt insights - for example (p61):

"[T]hat's what family members are for. We crave them and need them not because we have so many shared experiences to talk about but because they know precisely which subjects to avoid."

And whilst you're nodding your head in agreement (or at least pausing in thoughtful consideration), Liz wastes no time getting into it in order to burnish your deepest fears about the subject of the story (p10):

"You're here. You're reading these words. Is this a coincidence? Maybe you think fate is only for others. Maybe you're ashamed to be reading about loneliness - maybe someone will catch you and then they'll know your secret stain. And then maybe you're not even very sure what loneliness is - that's common."

Maybe it is, but Liz tells her tale - by turns sad, funny and moving - in such an assured fashion that you'll know a lot more about it by the time you put this book down. Whether you want to or not is - of course - up to you, but I found the experience a greatly enriching one.

Originally reviewed 11 March 2011

I picked this book up at the bookstore. This book follows a not-young woman who lives in Canada and lives alone. We meet her family, her co-workers, and we experience some of her past. There were some really good moments and interesting plot twists, but the ending kind of unraveled for me. This book deals with loneliness, relationships, medical illness.

Non sono ancora sicura di cosa penso di questo romanzo. Sicuramente la narrazione in prima persona di Liz, che ci parla dal futuro e ha l'abitudine di evitare completamente un argomento fino a quando non è più possibile farlo, e quindi ci catapulta all'improvviso nel bezzo di un evento inaspettato, a volte anche estremamente surreale (sto pensando all'episodio dell'aeroporto in particolare), è avvincente, ma a tratti le sue riflessioni sulla solitudine e sulla mortalità (o semplicemente la morte) riescono ad essere vagamente noiose. Nel complesso una storia di evoluzione personale che nonostante la trama e il finale riesce ad evitare del tutto la svenevolezza grazie ad una profondissima e dolentissima tristezza che risulta piuttosto affascinante.

http://robertabookshelf.blogspot.it/2...

I loved this one. As could probably be inferred by the title, this is a book about loneliness—a reoccurring theme for Coupland. The narrator, Liz Dunn, is the type of anonymous, forgotten woman described in the Beatles' song, wonderfully fleshed out—I found her incredibly believable and moving. (Coupland in general writes women very well—in other words, like any other character, male or female.) Aside from a bit of weirdness involving some radioactive material and a German prison, this is actually an incredibly realistic, plausible narrative, which, as much as I enjoy wackiness, was much more appropriate to the subject matter (thus making the pair of weird events I mentioned above seem somewhat inappropriate and out of place, but it's a relatively small misstep, so whatever). There's a very deep undercurrent of tragedy in this book, but still hope, still wonder—Coupland does bittersweet amazingly well.

I picked this book up used, it's dust jacket missing. So I knew nothing about the book or the author.
This was a different read for me. Not the kind of book i usually read. i liked the short snappy dialogue.
It's a fun, light, quirky read.
Never quite sure where it was going. So it was a nice break from heavier reading.

I was expecting a light, entertaining read, that I would enjoy but probably wouldn't contemplate much after reading, based on my previous experience with Douglas Coupland years ago. Picking up after the first several pages, which were a cliche depiction of lonely Liz Dunn, this was the case. However, the book inexcusably ended like Coupland needed to tidy up quickly and move on or else. I re-read the last pages, thinking maybe I'd fallen asleep and missed a transformation of events; I hadn't.