DISAPPOINTING RETURN FROM MY FAVOURITE AUTHOR, 27 Sep 2001

The sweeping statement of the title encapsulates the new style that Coupland now seems to have adopted. Gone are the days of little plot and deep philosophical ponderings, of Generation X, Shampoo Planet and Life After God, and in comes the new, too much plot and all trivial questions answered, with quick opinion.

Coupland struck a fine balance between plot and philosophy in Microsurfs and particularly in his masterpiece Girlfriend in A Coma. After the later's success he seems to have concentrated far too much on plot, weaving disaster after improbable disaster, to character's from a trailer-park world, that Coupland has little knowledge of. There is no warming to these character's, and the author's disdain for them seeps slowly through each page.

The genius of his earlier books was the synergy the reader had with the characters' deepest thoughts, they left us thinking, " I thought I was the only one who felt like that" and confirm a community of people like "me". AFAP detaches you from all the characters, abruptly revealing scattered detail throughout the book, of each character's age, illnesses and history, and acts as a barrier which constantly pushes you away from them. The characters in AFAP are perhaps, the antithesis to earlier Coupland characters, baring Miss Wyoming, whereby they are overly self-concerned and fail to have a global awareness of their insignificance. A theme which was the strongest characteristic of Coupland's earlier style.

Coupland remains my favourite author, but I do wish he would return to his original style and stop emulating Chuck Palahniuk.

 Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)

Not all readers are impressed ...., 16 Nov 2001

To me, it smacked of Ben Elton rather than Douglas Coupland, nowhere near the quality of "Girlfriend In A Coma" or "Generation X".

 Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)