Ooof, not sure if it was starting this book on the dawn of my mid twenties or the ennui of 2020 but this struck a chord. Sublime and perhaps embarrassingly relatable.

Katrā paaudzē ir tas bariņš kas īsti nekam neredz jēgu, raud par senajām labajām dienām(lai gan tur nav dzīvojuši) grib aizbēgt no sabiedrības un dzīvot savā utopiskajā pasaulē. Tas nav nekas unikāls X paaudzei.
Interesanti tā laika mini trendu un ideju apraksti. Šis tas ir izdzīvojis un iekļaujas pasaulē 30 gadus pēc šīs grāmatas izdošanas.

Maybe Douglas Coupland can come up with a cool catch phrase for pompous, boring, stilted detritus.

Charming book with some interesting cultural insights throughout.

I think the two running themes that keep this book from really resonating with me are 1. The idea that nothing of historical significance happened in the 80s and 90a and this was bad somehow 2. The idea that you can choose to escape life’s drudgery by becoming a poor person with a service industry job. You bump up against these ideas a lot in this book and that’s the main thing that kept me from really loving it.

I'm nearly 25 years late reading the book that literally defined my generation. One reason is that I often mistrust generational labels. Around 84 million people were born between 1961 and 1981. They weren't all slackers. They weren't all disillusioned. I bristle when someone tells me that you have to treat millennials in such and such a way. As a teacher, I've found the best way to respond to millennials is to simply treat them like human beings.

So maybe I needed a quarter-century of distance to appreciate a story of three people nearing 30, lacking in happiness and trying to find it in a cheap Palm Springs bungalow. They eschew most material things, have strained relations with their families and seek lives that are more basic and unique. Much of the book comes from the characters relaying stories to one another.

Despite the stereotype, there's a lot of heart to this story. I'm glad I finally read it and appreciated for what it is, not what it's purported to be.

héél aangenaam verrast

This started off a binge on Coupland novels, and Generation X turned out to be my favourite.
Both touching and hilarious, Coupland shines as a storyteller here, and although I found things dull to
start of with, in the end, I was surprised by just how much I liked it. The set up is quite simple - three Gen-Xer friends - Andy, Claire, and Dag - tell elaborate sometimes wacky stories to each other in regards to the spirit of their times, whilst also dealing with issues in their own lives. Tales like a man trapped on his library ladder for ten years and the one of an asteroid were a couple of really good highlights. No doubt one of the seminal works of the early 90s.

I think reading this in the week after I turned 25 was the best time I could have chosen. I don’t think I’ve ever felt the simultaneous sense of validation and chagrin that this book gave me - outside of half drunk conversations with my friends always soaking in pretension. Romance in disillusionment

Το βιβλίο της γενιάς μου. Το διάβασα στην ηλικία που έπρεπε και, ναι, μου άλλαξε μυαλά, τρόπο σκέψης, στάση στα πράγματα. Προσωπική υπόθεση βέβαια.

I picked this book up at precisely the perfect moment in my life for a book that questioned the entire concept of what most people considered to be the right path to take in life. Suddenly, I didn’t feel alone, like I was the only person who wasn’t all giggly over the idea of work, marriage, family, home ownership, etc.

It’s not that I had anything in common with the kids in this novel who seemed nice enough, but weak and stinking of privilege, but I think we would have got along well enough.

This novel was for hipsters before that was even a thing, at least not like it is in the current incarnation of the word—today “hipster” seems to be a fashion statement more than anything. How boring.

I was much cooler than the characters in this novel. I wouldn’t have been caught dead in the cesspool where they lived. Why would anyone choose to move there? I won’t mention the name of the place so as not to offend anyone. You’ll have to read the book to find out. Happy reading!

Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture is the first novel published by Douglas Coupland in 1991. It follows the lives of three friends - Andy, Dag, and Claire - who live in rented bungalows in Palm Springs, California. They all work 'McJobs' - jobs that are underpaid, that they are over-educated for, and that have no real prospects - and spend the rest of their time drinking and telling each other stories, in order to vent their frustrations with the current climate.

I enjoyed this read, although I don't think I ever became fully immersed in it. I've read two books so far by Douglas Coupland (I'm not counting Girlfriend in a Coma here, which I never finished), and this has definitely been my favourite of the two, but both times I have found Coupland's writing style a little alienating. I can't quite put my finger on why this is - at times his writing seems almost clinical, like you will never truly be accepted into his characters' worlds, but at others his writing is very beautiful and you can really become deeply involved in it. So to me, there is always the oddly jarring feeling of going between these two extremes.

There was no real plot to Generation X - just Andy and his friends going through the motions of their everyday lives, venting over their various annoyances and telling each other the aforementioned odd stories. There was also the inclusion in each chapter of footnotes of a sort - they weren't directly tagged onto any words or phrases from the chapters in particular, but were just there. They tended to be little catchphrases that fit in with the characters and the 90s time period they embodied and lived in. There was also sometimes the odd slogan or pop art Lichtenstein style picture included here and there. Although I sometimes found the 'footnotes' distracting (as I never knew when to detach myself from the narrative to read or look at them), I enjoyed their inclusion for the most part as they were often insightful and/or humorous.

It wasn't a difficult book to read, but if you are a fan of fast-paced novels with lots of action, I would avoid this like the plague. However, if you like droll, witty penmanship and novels where there is more thinking than doing, I would easily recommend this. I will still be reading more of Coupland's work in the future.

Still the definite 90s novel. Obviously, we all adopt to changing times, knowing deep down how hopeless and sentimental picking favourite decades is. But, the 90s defined me in such a way that I still long for it. Rereading the book solidified this notion even further. The faith in the future of civilisation combined with the Gen X distrust of the system may be a paradox, but works great still with this Coupland classic. Reality Bites, but it’s a love bite.