Douglas Coupland
I have found myself repeatedly drawn to Coupland's work and picked this book up on a whim after enjoying All Families Are Psychotic and JPod. It turns out that Generation X is the author's first and pivotal book, an homage to the listlessness of the eponymous group of people that gave them their name. The plot, insofar as it exists, accurately captures this feeling of intellectually stimulating apathy and the book's reliance on the stories its characters tell each other characterizes them in ways a more standard plot could not. These features are the novel's strongest selling points but, interestingly, each presents a problem both for reading and for interpretation. The novel moves along at a quite leisurely pace, and almost nothing actually happens until the very end of the book, making it difficult to get into, especially if one reads it in fits and starts. This book is meant to be read in as few sittings as possible, allowing the reader to dive into the minds and lives of its characters and absorb their attitudes and experiences. Its own postmodern style echoes these sentiments and while it becomes absolutely engrossing and hard to put down, Generation X can seem inaccessible and boring without a sense of greater plotting or much of anything concrete to grab onto.
This loose sense of plot and action may hamper the novel's efforts, but it accurately reflects the attitudes of its characters, who are at once frustrating and utterly compelling. The characters that populate the novel are, for the most part, listless Gen-Xers who have dropped out of life and who actively despise the yuppie lifestyle. They have carved their own slice of life out of the desert in California where they spend their time working and doing a whole lot of nothing. It is often unclear what the characters actually want- their disdain for their former lives and for consumerism and other features of modern society are obvious but seem to lack any tangible roots. They are not lazy, per se, but their bad attitude makes them at times unsympathetic no matter how accurate their perceptions are at times. It is easy to relate to them but it is hard to empathize, and perhaps that is the point. Regardless, their stories reveal much about their personalities and a little about their motivations. Their real draw is their pointed and shocking observations about society, which are manifest in their stories but really brought to life by definitions along the sidebar of the novel.
This illustrates the problem and success of Generation X. The book excels in delivering the experience of listlessness that characterizes its main cast, and the notes on the sidebar are piercing, accurate, and often hilarious (who, after all, can't relate to the term McJob?). The book consistently delivers nuggets of wisdom along with a few well-plotted moments and some compelling stories in the mouths of its characters. Even if one isn't of Generation X, this book explains many of its attitudes by example. Unfortunately, the driving force of the novel is, ironically, apathy, and the book often becomes slow or seemingly pointless when nothing happens for long stretches of time. Generation X is most definitely worth reading for 20-somethings of any generation and does a good job capturing the mood of its period, but those looking for a straightfoward or particularly exciting plot should be forewarned that Coupland's book is a testament to dropping out of society, to taking it slow and to defying conventions.
Grade: B+
This loose sense of plot and action may hamper the novel's efforts, but it accurately reflects the attitudes of its characters, who are at once frustrating and utterly compelling. The characters that populate the novel are, for the most part, listless Gen-Xers who have dropped out of life and who actively despise the yuppie lifestyle. They have carved their own slice of life out of the desert in California where they spend their time working and doing a whole lot of nothing. It is often unclear what the characters actually want- their disdain for their former lives and for consumerism and other features of modern society are obvious but seem to lack any tangible roots. They are not lazy, per se, but their bad attitude makes them at times unsympathetic no matter how accurate their perceptions are at times. It is easy to relate to them but it is hard to empathize, and perhaps that is the point. Regardless, their stories reveal much about their personalities and a little about their motivations. Their real draw is their pointed and shocking observations about society, which are manifest in their stories but really brought to life by definitions along the sidebar of the novel.
This illustrates the problem and success of Generation X. The book excels in delivering the experience of listlessness that characterizes its main cast, and the notes on the sidebar are piercing, accurate, and often hilarious (who, after all, can't relate to the term McJob?). The book consistently delivers nuggets of wisdom along with a few well-plotted moments and some compelling stories in the mouths of its characters. Even if one isn't of Generation X, this book explains many of its attitudes by example. Unfortunately, the driving force of the novel is, ironically, apathy, and the book often becomes slow or seemingly pointless when nothing happens for long stretches of time. Generation X is most definitely worth reading for 20-somethings of any generation and does a good job capturing the mood of its period, but those looking for a straightfoward or particularly exciting plot should be forewarned that Coupland's book is a testament to dropping out of society, to taking it slow and to defying conventions.
Grade: B+
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