coupland

[Wayne Cunningham]

>Having never posted to the list in some 5 months of reading it, I feel much
>like a child among giants, but last night I read a book that I found quite
>enjoyable, if not of the complexity of much of what's discussed here.  The
>book was microserfs, by Douglas Coupland, and I was wondering if anyone
>else had picked up any books by him, and what the consensus might be.
>(lots of stuff discluded) Coupland
>seems somewhat concerned with this "energy," but moreso in chronicling how
>america has grown beyond the scope of its great novel of today, if not in
>the sophisticated manner of GR.
>jonathan shainin.
>shainin at worldweb.net
I've read Generation X, Coupland's first major book, and I must say that,
while I enjoyed it, I didn't think it really captured the spirit of the
20-nothings, of which I was a part at the time.  The plot of the book was 3
friends hung out and told stories to each other, then moved to Mexico to
open an artists hotel.  I thought the ending was kind of lame.

I've read excerpts from microserfs, and it does seem like Coupland's
writing style is influenced by Pynchon.  There's a short story by Pynchon,
I think its called Death and Mortality in Vienna, which has the same kind
of tone as the stuff I've read by Coupland.  The main character in the
Pynchon short has a lost, yet reflective quality like many characters in
Coupland's writing. Of course, maybe Pynchon was predicting my generation,
and Coupland is reporting on it.

Regards,

Wayne

========================================================
Wayne Cunningham                 wcunning at thenet-usa.com
Associate Editor                    slothrop at holonet.net
415.696.1688 x169                      fax: 415.696.1678
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