douglas coupland appreciation thread

draylander

Am i the only person reading his books at the moment. well his recent stuff anyway. usually when i say his name the few people that know of him just know of "generation X" (im not putting this down in anyway but he seems to be attributed to this sole work instead of his wider range of books)but seem to have missed out on the rest of his works
In my opinion he is a writer that seems to wade the same waters as some of the darker cult books palinuick/welsh but does so without getting his khakis wet.
and anyone wondering why i assume he is wearing khakis needs to understand what an absolute mega geek/gap clone this bloke is and i say that in the fondest way.

im reading Jpod again and i love it. anyone else????

lemon_sherbert

I'm a big fan, I've read almost all his books, particular favourites being All Families are Psychotic, My Girlfriend In a Coma and Jpod.

draylander

I would recommend "generation A" if you haven't got to it yet. It has a nice variety of characters strung together in some nicely fantastical situations. I really liked it. have you noticed how he has a tendancy to write himself into his books. Nice little ego boost there I reckon.

Does anyone know of any irish writers doing similar stuff?

lemon_sherbert

draylander wrote: »

I would recommend "generation A" if you haven't got to it yet. It has a nice variety of characters strung together in some nicely fantastical situations. I really liked it. have you noticed how he has a tendancy to write himself into his books. Nice little ego boost there I reckon.

I've read that too, enjoyed it, though not my favourite - I've never noticed him writing himself in, where does he do that?

kylith

I've read a few of his over the years, but I tend to always be disappointed by the endings.

Kinski

Liked Generation X. Loved Girlfriend in a Coma. Thought All Families Are Psychotic sucked; it felt a bit like a rehash of Girlfriend, and there was a somewhat sentimental streak running through it. The 'Diana letter' device was particularly cloying (the pointless reference to the whole Diana thing in Girlfriend annoyed me, too.)

Bodhidharma

Doesn't look like there are many that appreciate Coupland here. Well I do, I've read all his books and I would recommend all of them.

Very, very good writer