The premise of this novel is an interesting one and certain passages are so achingly sad that you can't help but admire Coupland's writing.

That said, the novel is another one of those books about middle class kids living aimless lives and not knowing what to do with themselves into adulthood. For Gen X it might be a classic tome but if you came to adulthood in the oughts, and the crap we have been going through the past decade it seems like almost unbearable whining most of the time.

Also, Coupland is one of those writers who is self-consciously clever and likes to call attention to his own cleverness. He isn't as bad as Dave Eggers or Chuck Palahniuk at their worst, at least not in this novel, but it gets old very fast.

From what I've read, this seems to be the least popular of Coupland's novels. (Although Coupland fans are weird: among his devotees, there's the least amount of agreement about what constitutes a good Coupland book that I've ever seen.) I can definitely see why, although there were things I enjoyed about it. The problem, I think, is that it feels like several books mushed together: there's the Jared-the-ghost plot (similar but less effective than dead!Cheryl's narration in  Hey Nostradamus!), the late '70s vs. '90s plot, the actual girlfriend-in-a-coma plot...and just when you're adjusting to all of that, there's the post-apocalyptic plot. It's too much, and it really fails to come together, not just logically (not something I'm looking for in a Coupland novel) but emotionally—and that is something at which he normally excels. So, yeah: it's a mess. Not a "I regret reading this" mess, but as all of the really good bits are pretty much replicated in his other works, it does feel kind of extraneous. I mean, Coupland's written something like ten novels and a bunch of non-fiction, so unless you're a completist (which I am) there's really no reason to read this particular book.

This prolific Canadian novelist is well known not only for his words but for his artistic ventures as well. I can't believe I've been ignoring his novels on my numerous trips to the bookstore. I'm glad I finally cave.

While this book didn't necessarily wow me, I've grown to like his style of writing. Girlfriend in a Coma started out as an un-put-downable read; the ending, though, got a little out of whack for me. And I don't know why I'm surprised to be honest, since the synopsis already hinted on what was to happen after the girlfriend woke up. Surreal is a bit of an understatement to describe how it all played out. And then it got "preachy", convenient and just plain…weird.

This book had a very interesting beginning: Karen (the girlfriend) had just given her virginity to her boyfriend on the same night that she goes into a coma. A combination of valium, a couple of sips of alcohol on an empty stomach did her in. The odd thing about it was that she seemed to have an inkling of what was to happen. She had visions and dreams of the future. Anyway, weeks after she fell asleep, the doctors found out she's pregnant. She carried the baby full-term and gave birth via C-section. Years go by; the world around her continued to revolve while the boyfriend never did move on. The whole time she was in a coma, Richard went about his business without really pursuing any real relationships. He reluctantly assumed the "father in the background" role to their daughter, had careers, became an alcoholic - seemingly biding his time until Karen wakes up.

There is a multitude of characters here with stories of their own. But the main focus was about Karen and Richard. In the seventeen years that Karen was in a coma, she was like a background music in everybody's lives. Or like one of those ginormous elephant that followed them around. If there's one thing they all had in common (besides Karen, that is) was how unhappy they've all become. Their lives didn't turn out as great as they'd hoped.

The second-half of the book dealt with sleeping beauty waking up. And this is when things got weird. Basically, her waking up became the catalyst for the apocalypse. Don't ask me how because to be honest, all the BS about the meaning of life is somehow related to Karen. People started dropping off the face of the earth, and I mean that literally. They all fall asleep - all except for Karen, Richard, Megan (daughter), and their friends. The longer I sit here and try to compose this review, the more I'm coming to realize how ridiculous the whole thing was. If I'd care enough to figure it all out, I'd have paid more attention to all the mumbo-jumbo about the meaning of life. It was a long narration that I read once and couldn't, for the life of me, remember.

In any case, this book is something that you could probably read in one sitting.

Why is there no option for zero stars?
More like “reader in a coma”, AMIRIGHT?? badump-CHaaaa......

This book started out well enough. The premise was interesting, and I enjoyed the characters, but the whole thing went off the rails in part three. I'd be okay accepting the bonkers third act if only the payoff wasn't so disappointing. It plays out like a bad episode of Star Trek TNG, where the holodeck malfunctions and sends everyone into medieval times, embarrassingly goofy hi jinx ensueing.

For a book whose deus ex machina was for the characters to spend their lives asking blandly unspecific existential questions, it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Sure, if you're going to write a novel with weird metaphysical stuff, it's best not to longer on the details and just confidently put the weirdness out there. I can suspend disbelief for all kinds of insane things, as long as it's internally consistent, and makes sense within the story. In this book, I felt like the parts that really drove the plot forward, like Jared's involvement with putting the gang through the end of the world, were flimsy and made no sense. At the same time it felt like Coupland really wanted it to make sense, and wanted to sell me on the technical details of how the system worked, but every time he got halfway through explaining it, he gave up and just said it's a mystery because it really doesn't make any sense. I think this story might have worked if he just embraced the fact that none of if makes any sense at all.

From the beginning with Karen's letter, the ending is built up do be some sort of grand revelation, but ends up being a letdown. Near the end, they compare their situation to It's A Wonderful Life, but where George Bailey is put through a crisis and has to grow because of it, the gang here has all of their problems removed by ghost-power rather than having to actually overcome them. The first two thirds of the book focused on how they were all wasting their lives in one way or another, and how they felt like their lives had no meaning, so to have all of those things whisked away by Jared just felt anticlimactic. After that, and out of nowhere, the big mandate that they're given at the end, is to spend the rest of their lives asking questions. Vague quasi-philosophical questions, and to dismantle the "system". And that's the big reveal.

Mi ha lasciato un po’ perplessa, mi attendevo decisamente molto di più avendo cercato questo libro per anni sperando in una sua ristampa, finalmente reperito in biblioteca.
Genere apocalittico, visionario, ma soprattutto un romanzo sull’amicizia dove i protagonisti, sebbene diventati adulti e a causa di un trauma che li ha colpiti collettivamente rimangono marmoricamente bloccati in una eterna adolescenza, giocosa, deresponsabilizzata, ma travagliata e contradditoria come tutte le fasi adolescenziali che ben si rispettino.
Interessante l’opportunità offerta ai protagonisti di sfuggire alla fine del mondo dando una svolta redentrice alle loro esistenze.
Tre stelle scarse o due stelle abbondanti, deciso per le tre stelle perché l’autore mi piace comunque assai.

Ok...what can I saw about this book. I guess it's one of those mixed feelings books. The beginning I thought started off great, after Karen falls into this mysterious coma and then they find out she has become pregnant, the time literally flies by. It has a lot of I guess dark themes to it, and you get to see Seventeen year old Richard and his friends grow up(or not quite) after this traumatic event, and Richard tries to become a father. Although he does not completely fail at it he isn't very good at either. Anyway. We go through seventeen years in no time and before you know it Karen has mysteriously woken up from her coma. After that it turns very strange, our dear Kare predicts the apocalypse and it isn't all burning and mayhem and chaos. Everyone falls to sleep and then dies. The way I am describing it doesn't really do it justice but after the world ends, Karen Richard and their friends are the only ones left and in the wake of the apocalypse they do everything wrong, and while you can tell there is fear there,because the world is now completely strange and unknown, they are also on top of the world technically... and then it starts getting even weirder with the ghost of their friends appearing with god like powers.

I've pretty much summarized a lot of the book, it was very um...Vonnegut I would say, not what I was expecting at all, what I liked about this book was I thought the characters were great. I mean real lovely and well drawn characters who some despite their insane flaws you still really liked them. I love that about a book, a great character and this one was packed with them.

Had het vroeger al eens gelezen en vond het destijds beter, het boek krijgt een onverwachte wending die de geloofwaardigheid onderuit haalt, of ik ben te nuchter geworden...

"Girlfriend in a coma, I know, I know. It's really serious."

Liked this much better than Generation X. 17-year-old Karen goes into a 17-year-coma after having sex with her boyfriend. Talk about ways to scare you into not having sex. Well, she didn't go to sleep immediately afterwards, but she was really insistent on the two of them having sex. Before she slips into her coma, Karen tells her boyfriend, Richard, that she saw the future. Karen goes into a 17-year-coma, and wakes up to find her boyfriend still waiting and a daughter. She seems perfectly normal when she wakes, except she talks about the world coming to an end.

The first half of the book basically revolves around the people in Karen's life after she goes into the coma, the second part deals with life after her reawakening, and the third part, well, you don't want me to give that away do you?

This still had the same "what is the meaning of this sad, sad life?" theme, but I think it was much better presented in this book. And if you've read GenX, you'll notice some parallels with some of the characters (Hamilton equals Dag, Richard equals Andy, and Pam equals Claire), but all-in-all the story is pretty good. I like how Coupland manages to make you think without overwhelming you or depressing you.

What I didn't like was the fact that book was somewhat anticlimatic. Well, it's one of those endings you'll love and hate, and I'm sure, after mulling over it a few days, I'll like it better. And two points for Coupland for the Morrissey, the Smiths, and X-files references.

i wasn’t really sure what to make of this, but i think it’s extraordinary in its own way. although written over 20 years ago it seems so relevant, maybe even more so, to the world today and the idea that we’ve all lost sight of our convictions and have accepted the ‘end of the world’. the characters seemed to lack a depth necessary for the message of the book (that people are blindly accepting of inevitable disaster and fail to find meaning to their existence), and so i found they weren’t the most likeable, but i think deeply relatable to me as people struggling to find a place for themselves in their own lives.

it didn’t move me in the way that i was expecting but i do think, as dramatic as it sounds, it’s given me a new, more hopeful, outlook on the future. would really recommend and i look forward to reading more of Couplands work (Polaroids from the Dead is next on my list of his).

I loved this book.

I liked the characters, although at the start of the novel I thought they would be too brattish, their 1970s teen culture too crass, but Coupland (deftly in my opinion) moved us along from this period and the characters developed. Sort of. And now it gets tricky, so here's the SPOILER ALERT.

Cut to the end, and the book is about truth; making a difference; looking wider. I happened to read the second half of this book on Guide camp. The lack of meaning in the Rabbit Lane Group's lives and the consequences of their navel-gazing resonated with me. Guides (and me as a leader) take a promise, a promise that has recently been altered. It now goes:

"I promise that I will do my best,
To be true to myself and develop my beliefs
To serve the Queen and my community,
To help other people
And to keep the Guide Law"

It seems as though all the Group, (save Wendy, perhaps), are living a life devoid of these aims. At least Wendy is helping other people (albeit for the wrong reasons, and therefore not being true to herself). Also whilst reading it, my husband's grandfather lost his battle with cancer and dementia. This death also focussed my mind and chimed with the book in respect to using the limited time we have on this earth to good effect: not just for ourselves, but for our communities, both locally and looking wider, into a global community. Our environment is precious and in a precarious state and we cannot afford to exploit it continually.

Is my generation doing its best to push agendas towards making the future a better place? Or are we lining our friends' (and our own) pockets at the cost of the earth and poorer communities miles away?

So, yes, this book doesn't get many favourable reviews, but I loved every minute. I was hooked and tried to read more whenever I could. It was my first Coupland book and I'll visit his mindscape again.

Douglas Coupland has the ability to always write about the same thing, yet always end up with something different. As a writer, he is able to talk about life by coming at it sideways through larger-than-life characters in insane situations.

Coupland sets much of the story during the end of the world, but it's not about the end of the world so much as it's about the characters. His impressive voice allows you to immerse yourself and get to know each of the characters. They are all round, three dimensional people who undergo great changes, both prior to the world's end and after it. Coupland doesn't mind invoking the paranormal here, but that doesn't turn this into a paranormal romance. The characters at its core are ordinary. Their lives suck.

Girlfriend in a Coma starts off strange--then gets stranger, culminating in the end of the world. The moral of the story is clear: never stop questioning. Don't accept the world for the way it is. Challenge the status quo and seek to change it. This is a worthy message. As usual, Coupland communicates it in style.

On another level, the book is a character study of a man, his daughter, and his girlfriend. When Karen McNeil slips into a coma at seventeen, the doctors reveal that she's pregnant, and her boyfriend Richard decides to raise the baby. Karen wakes up seventeen years later--which means that she and her daughter are the same mental age. The family awkwardness that ensues is hilarious and heartbreaking