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Douglas Coupland
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Microserfs Paperback – 7 Oct. 1996

by Douglas Coupland (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 27 ratings
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This novel takes the reader on-line into the brave new world of computer giant, Microsoft. There they meet the lost generation, struggling to get a life within a high-speed corporate environment.
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  1. Print length
    384 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Flamingo
  4. Publication date
    7 Oct. 1996
  5. Dimensions
    13 x 2.2 x 17.8 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0006548598
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0006548591
  8. See all details
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Product description

Amazon Review

Microserfs is not about Microsoft--it's about programmers who are searching for lives. A hilarious but frighteningly real look at geek life in the nineties, Coupland's book manifests a peculiar sense of how technology affects the human race and how it will continue to affect all of us. Microserfs is the hilarious journal of Dan, an ex-Microsoft programmer who, with his coder comrades, is on a quest to find purpose in life. This isn't just fodder for techies. The thoughts and fears of the not-so-stereotypical characters are easy for any of us to relate to, and their witty conversations and quirky view of the world make this a surprisingly thought-provoking book.

"... just think about the way high-tech cultures purposefully protract out the adolescence of their employees well into their late 20s, if not their early 30s," muses one programmer. "I mean, all those Nerf toys and free beverages! And the way tech firms won't even call work 'the office,' but instead, 'the campus'. It's sick and evil." END

From the Back Cover

At computer giant Microsoft, Dan, Susan, Abe, Todd and Bug are struggling to get a life in a high-speed high-tech environment. The job may be super cool, the pay may be astronomical, but they're heading nowhere, and however hard they work, however many shares they earn, they're never going to be as rich as Bill. And besides, with all the hours they're putting in, their best relationships are on e-mail. Something's got to give…

"Coupland is the crowned king of North American pop culture."
NME

"Cool irony and hipster cynicism are clearly not Coupland's intentions here: from beneath the sleek, wipe-clean prose of 'Microserfs' slowly emerges a yearning for spiritual depth and permanence in a world of random misfortune and economic turbulence. Coupland has grown up with his readers, finally living up to his early promise. His most satisfying and substantial novel yet."
STEPHEN DALTON, 'Vox'

"The kooky aphoristic ripeness of Coupland's writing almost succeeds in making us forget the hollowness of these live-to-work lives. In the first 50 pages, there are more one-liners than in a decade of Woody Allen films."
ROBIN HUNT, 'Guardian'

"A funny and stridently topical novel. Coupland continues to register the buzz of his generation."
JAY McINERNEY, 'New York Times'

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Flamingo; New edition (7 Oct. 1996)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0006548598
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0006548591
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13 x 2.2 x 17.8 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 27 ratings

About the author

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Douglas Coupland

Douglas Coupland

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Since 1991 Coupland has written thirteen novels published in most languages. He has written and performed for England’s Royal Shakespeare Company and is a columnist for The Financial Times of London. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, e-flux, DIS and Vice. In 2000 Coupland amplified his visual art production and has recently had two separate museum retrospectives, Everything is Anything is Anywhere is Everywhere at the Vancouver Art Gallery, The Royal Ontario Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, and Bit Rot at the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, and Villa Stücke in Munich this fall. In 2015 and 2016 Coupland was artist in residence in the Paris Google Cultural Institute. Coupland is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy, an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Officer of the Order of British Columbia and is a Chevlier de l'Order des Arts et des Lettres.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
27 global ratings

Top reviews from United Kingdom

Fifi the Fox
5.0 out of 5 stars You got Mail.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 January 2022
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Likeable and essential Gen X product.
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Steven Bennett
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 May 2017
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Great item, quick delivery, no problems
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Kirsty H
5.0 out of 5 stars On my top ten of Books I have ever read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 October 2009
I first read this book in 1999. It was my first Coupland novel, I didn't want to like it but I did. It spoke to me and remains a firm favourite book of mine. It had a huge impact on me.

It spoke to me of longing, of wanting more and of fear of never quite understanding. Do we not all know someone who will only eat "flat food"?

It made me read every other Douglas Coupland book (that I have been able to find) and over the years I have encouraged many people to read it.

I was looking for my favourite quote from it - the one that all those years ago stuck in my head and has never completely escaped (the yellow covered edition, page 136 bottom) but I found another that seems more apt:
Microserfs, page 102 "But I think that the books I really enjoy are the ones in which the characters realize, only in the end, what it was that they secretly wanted all along, but never even knew. And maybe this is what life is really like"
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Kofi Sarfo
5.0 out of 5 stars The term "elegance" looks to this book for its meaning
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 April 2001
...attempting to avoid using 'genius' makes it virtually impossible to describe this piece and the author, coupland, who illustrates the characters he has created with this word in mind.
they recite pi in unison to 10,000 decimal places , explain why a lion tamer uses a chair and then elaborate on the subconcious of a machine with equal ease and delightful fluidity.
the pages of the story insist on hurtling themselves at the reader at nearly the same speed at which these self-described geeks exist. and then stop abrubtly, halted by a page of ones and zeros which almost certainly carry encoded an message. the effect is such that the story's dynamics almost perfectly reflect the machines on which the book's culture is based.
as a programmer much of the appeal for me lies in the humour, metaphors and allusions that are everywhere, computer-related and so original. similarly, geeks will marvel at their instant recognition of the industry and its unique mould of individuals, the techies and their seemingly bizarre outlook.
readers "outside the [computing] loop" will appreciate the book for its treatment of pop culture, how it shapes, is shaped and the trends it delivers as a view of the immediate past and near future.
this book is more vital than the sense of dismissed expectation a group experiences on the trail of a killer application.
modern lit. doesn't get much cleverer than this while remaining so accessible and it's because such concurrence is rare that makes "microserfs" a must...
4 people found this helpful
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Deanne Dixon
4.0 out of 5 stars You'll hate to love this...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 December 2006
It was only a couple of years ago that I was sitting in the pub with a guy from my course at University discussing the merits of Coupland's breathtaking 'Generation X'. My drinking buddy had read it as part of his A-Level English course and we were discussing the merits of the book - "poignant", "existentialistic", "thought-provoking", "depressing", "moving". It was then that another drinking companion of ours stepped in and asked "So what exactly is the book about?". Inevitable silence fell. Coupland has the enviable ability to write about absolutely nothing, yet disguise it as a well-crafted story - look at "Generation X", look at "Life After God", then look at "Microserfs".

No matter how much you detest this book, how shallow or one-dimensional you feel the characters are, how little you feel the story actually develops, this is still an undeniably brilliant piece of literature. It is not the characters that give the book it's purpose - it is the ideas that are hidden within the prose. On reading this I embraced the randomness of the story - both by appreciating the way that the syntax is presented on the page and the idiosyncrasies of the characters. Without accepting this lack of coherance - you cannot appreciate what the story is REALLY about. The truth is, on reading this I got the impression that Coupland was using this book as an excuse to expound his personal philosophies - to raise the questions that he wanted to ask in his other novels but never quite found the opportunity.

For me, an avid Coupland fan, this book ended not on a sad note, but on a triumphant note. Throughout the course of the book, our "microserfs" struggle to really see any purpose in the job that they do - there seems to be no intrinsic value in what they achieve, only ever instrumental value. Yet at the end, when Dan's mother has her stroke and cannot communicate, technology, ironically, comes to their aid... there is light at the end of the tunnel.

For those of you who do not like this book, I doubt it's because you don't understand it... I suspect you dislike it because you understand it FAR TOO WELL
One person found this helpful
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D. C. Njoku
5.0 out of 5 stars Wow! Simply wow!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 April 2002
I'd better start this with a confession: I'm a computer programmer myself, and so there's a good chance that this book - about programmers and techno-geeks - would only be of interest to someone else, because it reflects my life or at least an exaggerated version of it.
But I think it's more than that. Coupland speaks in a language every young person can understand, and he speaks the self-involved, annihilistic minds of young people everywhere.
But you don't have to understand the technology or agree with the views to love this beautiful book. There's a quirky love story in it - in fact the whole book is in many ways a love story and a story of friendship. You'd have to have a heart of stone not to love it.
3 people found this helpful
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Stephen Ryan
5.0 out of 5 stars Follow your heart
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 January 2000
I think most of the reviews have missed the point of this book. It's about how people can get caught doing something they really don't like, and that it takes a lot of courage to follow your heart. In this book it happened to be that working for themseleves in the computer industry was their goal, but it easily could have been becoming a waiter or a chef.
2 people found this helpful
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drshok
5.0 out of 5 stars My favourite book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 May 2000
This book sums up much about life. Even though it's set on the West coast of the USA, Europeans will relate to the life situations and thoughts a certain generation than many other books. It's also much the best Coupland book avoiding too much weirdness. Buy it.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Daniele Bonini
5.0 out of 5 stars Come nuovo. Raccomandato
Reviewed in Italy on 5 January 2020
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Versione originale di Microservi. Tutto come da aspettative. Raccomandato
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TashaMariaTromer
5.0 out of 5 stars So many smart people with their souls in hock to 'the man
Reviewed in the United States on 1 May 2016
Verified Purchase
Microserfs helped me understand the decade I spent undercover at a call center. So many smart people with their souls in hock to 'the man.' Coupland is right there with an acute ear for compu-speak, a sense of how these machines have changed our lives, how the workers were the ones who gave up having lives, while weird guys like "Bill" and "Steve" became fabulously wealthy corporate gods.
2 people found this helpful
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