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Title: LIFE AFTER GOD : LIFE AFTER GOD by Douglas Coupland ISBN: 0-671-87434-9 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.43 (58 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: A good book, but...
Comment: ...after setting Life After God down, I began thinking about Coupland's narrative methods, and I ended up feeling manipulated. His narratives seem desperate to avoid traditional continuity, which is perfectly fine. The problem, though, is that his characters never have a life of their own. Their identities are never clearly defined, and in the end, are only a means for Coupland to express his meditations on some aspect of our culture, in the frail guise of a short story. Most of these tales, I'm sorry to say, haven't stuck with me in the the two years since I've read this book.
His meditations are insighful, and sometimes moving (especially the stories about Superman and the drug dealer), but I hesitate to call this literature. And if some people say it is, I fear for the written word. Coupland strips his writing of subtlety; he hits you over the head with his thoughts, without wrapping them in a narrative that makes them interesting or evocative. Maybe that makes a statement about the contemporary world as devoid of mystery (and "God") but it makes for clinical prose.
Still, it's worth it for Coupland's thoughts. This book is worth your time, but focus on his musings more than his stylistic tricks
Rating: 5
Summary: What a fantastic book
Comment: This book, like most by Douglas Coupland, is a fast-paced, easy read. The book that I read was very compact (more wallet-sized than like a book) and hard-back, so its small pages passed by in a flash of wonder and amazement.
In a collection of six poignant short stories filled with colorful and full characters, Coupland addresses issues that affects us all: bravely looking at death, change, the passage of life; wondering who you are or waking up to suddenly realize that you don't know where you're going, or that you don't like who you are.
Despite the atheistic title, the characters all are in search of God, and toward the end one of his characters admits that he "needs" God, but can't seem to allow that secret to come out. But how can we find any reality in the world of fast-moving cars, of freedom of movement and blindingly fast change, of religious fanatics, televangelists, a world tempered by drugs and a search for meaning, any meaning?
Coupland's answer comes out in the beauty of nature and the wonder of our relationships with the people around us. Although his characters can't relate to the Jesus-lovers of organized religion, they are all reaching out for something bigger than themselves, something that "the first Generation raised without Religion" has a difficulty grasping.
I have long felt that Douglas Coupland and his insights are perhaps the closest that popular culture gets to Truth spelled out on paper. This book has all the profundity and all the questions of his preceding books, in a very unassuming and readable manner. Pick it up: you'll read it in a single afternoon.
Rating: 4
Summary: Poignant Vignettes on life
Comment: This is a good book, effective but not great. The series of stories as told by the disenfranchised narrator is filled with keen observations and poignant vigneetes, together forming a good carricature of the suburban lifestyle during these safe, post Cold War years where spirituality dwindles. I found the apocalyptic seres of vignette the most effective, as well as the relationship to the sister. The ending is a bit of a let down, as Coupland didn't really have a run up to the conclusion, it just appeared as a stretch.
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Title: Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland ISBN: 031205436X Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Polaroids from the Dead by Douglas Coupland ISBN: 0060987219 Publisher: Regan Books Pub. Date: 29 October, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: SHAMPOO PLANET : SHAMPOO PLANET by Douglas Coupland ISBN: 0671755064 Publisher: Washington Square Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: All Families Are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland ISBN: 1582342156 Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Microserfs by Douglas Coupland ISBN: 0060987049 Publisher: Regan Books Pub. Date: 19 June, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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