i've decided also to review books i read in here, because why the fuck not. it'll help me remember books later on to so when someone asks me why i liked a book i don't sit around and go DUHHHHHHHH
So- Book of the Day is Hey, Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland.
I have to admit i'm reading this book for class, but i'm re-reading it because i first read it when it came out since Douglas Coupland is one of my favorite authors. this class has been really fucking hard on me because i'm already so morose about aging and then here's Coupland to give me a whole pile of religious guilt and few of becoming one of his characters as i feel i already am.
I don't remember really enjoying this book the first time around . However, this second time around read was really good and i assume that The more serious nature of the book through me off, since i was a big Microserfs and All Families Are Psychotic fan before the class, which are his more irreverent writings.
To forgo spoilers i won't go to far into plot analysis.
the story is broken into 4 characters in 4 different time-lines, all dealing with the repercussions of am incident and how it effects their views on religion
It begins in 1989 with Cheryl. Cheryl is 17, part of a heavy Christian youth group, secretly married, and has just started her first trimester when she is shot in a school shooting and exists in a purgatory-esque area where her narrative is broken up by prayers people are saying to god about the massacre. Her religious quandary has to do with her existence and it's brevity, wondering why God would make her and take her without having had the chance to do something with her life. however, she still has the naivety of youth and doesn't put God on trial for her life. I feel like Coupland has made her too detached in an effort to write from a voice closer to him. the memories she has and dialogs are really good and age-appropriate, but i'm not so sure i like the whole being dead giving you total newfound clarity.
Part two is Jason, Cheryl's husband in 1999. unable to recover after both the massacre and the events following, Jason's part is told in the form of a letter he is writing to his nephews to be given to them on their 21 birthday. Jason has tried to give up on faith, but cannot bring himself to completely do so. his religious quandary is in the fact that his lifestyle shows he's completely lost and that all humans are really lost, desperately trying to make, rather than find, meaning to their existence in a world where every sign points to God's abandonment. Jason's story contained so many out of nowhere adventures and foul dealings that, while entertaining, i wondered why they existed with his message. While they are definitely Coupland ideas, their existence is kinda unnecessary.
Part Three is Heather, Jason's girlfriend, in 2002. Jason has disappeared and she is desperately trying to reclaim him, having found so much life through him. She was not a religious character and her story dealt more with faith in a person. That Jason had been so perfect for her meant that God must exist and taking him away is cruel and leaves her alone in the world. Her portion was by far the saddest and made me want to huddle into a ball. Their bond is probably the most sickeningly adorable relationship that would ever exist in a Coupland novel without being dripping with irony and self-satisfaction (ala Shampoo Plant's Tyler and Anna(?)) the only problem with it was Coupland's need to have everyone be friends and create a tiny support society among themselves- which makes an odd sidebar occurrence in the chapter that continually threw me out of it
Part four is Reg, Jason's asshole starch relgious father, in 2003. In it Reg explains why he was such a dick to his son and serves as a broken man's plea for redemption. His quandry was with the "falsehood" of his faith in the majority of his life, and how he tortured his son because he was afraid the boy could tell. Coupland's able to make you feel for a character he's vilified throughout the majority of the novel, and that's enough for me to make it a good section. the end, which is also the end of the book, is also amazing.
In all, the book was pretty standard Coupland except the fact he seemed to actually go into his actual religious questions as opposed to sitting back and making fun of relgion and pop culture. while i liked the book it's still not one of my favorite's, but apparently it's one of his so what the fuck do i know. These characters are actually alone, unlike most of the other characters that appear in some of his books who are alone with 6 other identical people. the 4 characters are related insomuch as they are in turn (Cheryl-Jason, Jason-Heather, Heather-Reg) the only people in this universe who really understand each other at the times in their life described. They are each other's emotional analogs- an almost exact match of wit, hope, sadness, purity, curiosity, and most of all need for, desire for, some kind of greater - god given love. I think Coupland likes this book because he is actually being genuine in a story form that is not necessarily him put on page with a different name. yes he had great moments in Generation X and Life After God but the majority of the time it didn't sound like he was telling a story but instead spilling his guts into a published work. this is the first time he's able to be a true fiction author while creating a message that comes from the heart and i have to give him credit for that. It will never be his funniest, or his most emotional, but it may in fact be his biggest accomplishment as an author.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
The ups and Downs of Craig Ferguson
So, i finished Between the Bridge and the River today after taking a weeklong break from the book because it was in my car and it's so damn cold at night i didn't want to go get it.
Again i won't go to far into plot.
The novel is about the lives of 4 men 2 brothers in America- Saul and Leon and 2 childhood friends from Scotland- George and Fraser and in the way that so many books seem to do- how their lives constantly overlap and connect out of some random occurrences.
I thought Ferguson's writing style was fun and familiar, with Adams-y asides that for the main part where all in good fun and allowed for alot of brevity when the plot needed to work through a part that was weird and didn't itself allow for alot of one-liner comedy. I thought the warnings at the begging of the book were not only useful but very important to the overall semi-moral of the book that anything is really possible ( the example is that according to the laws of physics, bumblebees shouldn't be able to fly.... but they do). I really enjoyed George's story throughout and wished there was a bit more on it. all in all, i think the 1st half of the book is much better than the second half because the last 100 pages have this incredible rushing that is very against the pacing that, while not slow, makes you accustomed to more gradual changes.
My problems with it where the fact that the character of Leon has a complete non-ending. For such a major character he really gets thrown away at the end. Also- the hollywood critiquing got a little old. I would have rather Ferguson has just made up actual names for people or things in Hollywood and given decent detail of them instead of just mushing the name up a touch. it got really old really quick. also- the amount of sexual terms just for gross-out sake really got out of hand by the end. and i hate christ imagery always- so i of course didn't like that part
In the end it's not something for people who are looking for serious lit or clean lit- but that is how it presents itself anyway- as a fun read that may cause a second look at some of their views on like. unfortunately the people who the book thinks could really used those views are not the people who will read this book- so it'll remain forever in the odd black space between beach read and Literature
Again i won't go to far into plot.
The novel is about the lives of 4 men 2 brothers in America- Saul and Leon and 2 childhood friends from Scotland- George and Fraser and in the way that so many books seem to do- how their lives constantly overlap and connect out of some random occurrences.
I thought Ferguson's writing style was fun and familiar, with Adams-y asides that for the main part where all in good fun and allowed for alot of brevity when the plot needed to work through a part that was weird and didn't itself allow for alot of one-liner comedy. I thought the warnings at the begging of the book were not only useful but very important to the overall semi-moral of the book that anything is really possible ( the example is that according to the laws of physics, bumblebees shouldn't be able to fly.... but they do). I really enjoyed George's story throughout and wished there was a bit more on it. all in all, i think the 1st half of the book is much better than the second half because the last 100 pages have this incredible rushing that is very against the pacing that, while not slow, makes you accustomed to more gradual changes.
My problems with it where the fact that the character of Leon has a complete non-ending. For such a major character he really gets thrown away at the end. Also- the hollywood critiquing got a little old. I would have rather Ferguson has just made up actual names for people or things in Hollywood and given decent detail of them instead of just mushing the name up a touch. it got really old really quick. also- the amount of sexual terms just for gross-out sake really got out of hand by the end. and i hate christ imagery always- so i of course didn't like that part
In the end it's not something for people who are looking for serious lit or clean lit- but that is how it presents itself anyway- as a fun read that may cause a second look at some of their views on like. unfortunately the people who the book thinks could really used those views are not the people who will read this book- so it'll remain forever in the odd black space between beach read and Literature
The Gum Thief- Douglas Coupland
Well i spent my entire day today reading The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland.
the book starts out on it's initial premise extremely early, which is about two characters who both work at a Staples store; Roger- a 40 something man on the brink of total bottom whose life took a turn for the worse and kept on track with dreams of being an author, and Bethany- a 24 year old goth girl whose early life was so occupied by dying people that she is not very comfortable with life. Bethany finds Roger's journal, which included mentions of her outlook on life that were more accurate than she would like to admit. they begin to write each other, while at the same time keeping up public appearances by ignoring each other at the store. The actual layout of the book is a chronological list of letters and book portions from 'Glove Pond'-see below- with the character whose point of view the narration is from at the top, usually broken up every few pages by a response. it makes it really easy to follow while still mixing up roger and Bethany with all the characters in Glove Pond
Bethany encourages Roger to write his great novel "Glove Pond" a flamboyant version of what is basically Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf. The entire time he mentions Burton and Taylor as the models for the characters ( who played the leads in the Movie version of Woolf) and even mentions Albee once- however the character doesn't seem to acknowledge the fact that he has lifted the bare essence of these characters into his own story. Th
Over time Bethany's mother DeeDee ( who we learn went to high school with Roger and once before Bethany and Roger knew each other went on a tragic date) begins to talk to Roger, at first asking him to leave Bethany alone so that she can escape this life that they both lead- then realizing he is someone who's opinion matters to Bethany( she begins to send him samples of her own writing and shows DeeDee 'Glove Pond' which she also likes. and the relationship gets a little weirder--- that's all the plot i'll divulge.
'Glove Pond' is absolute crap for the majority of the time- but it's heartbreaking crap because Roger invests so much time and energy and it gets so much more intriguing toward the end of its run that you just want to edit. there's flashes of interest but the characters are such Caricatures for most of the time that you don't see them. The worst is that I sat there and laughed at the horible writing until one moment which made me feel so much more for Roger that it hurt.
while i haven't read its criticism. i can imagine that some people would complain that Coupland's portrayal of my generation is exactly the same as Gen X, which for the majority issues, as i learned in my other COupland Class, it basically is. The main idealogical difference between the two according to the giant poll that my teacher showed us is that Y is more environmental than X, which Coupland had already obsessed about in stories with Gen X characters so it's no real leap for him to use the next generation on the brink of adulthood. As always- there's some religion, but its negligible so it can be passed on. The message of the book seems to be that you need to get by the mundane aspects of life through people who not only get you but are supportive of you, and while this not may be a family in any definable sense it gives you that same grounding when you need something to hold onto.
Coupland also did an amazing series of quirky advertisements for the book on youtube that are interesting imagery with little clips of the book- highly recommend you check them out.
The final ending was a hilarious, although somewhat weirdly placed, critique of lower-level fiction writing classes that made me crack up at how wrong i thought the advice was.
Final Verdict is that it's a pretty good read- but it is not replacing All Families are Psychotic- which i'm thinking i'll have to reread just to make sure it still is my favorite.
the book starts out on it's initial premise extremely early, which is about two characters who both work at a Staples store; Roger- a 40 something man on the brink of total bottom whose life took a turn for the worse and kept on track with dreams of being an author, and Bethany- a 24 year old goth girl whose early life was so occupied by dying people that she is not very comfortable with life. Bethany finds Roger's journal, which included mentions of her outlook on life that were more accurate than she would like to admit. they begin to write each other, while at the same time keeping up public appearances by ignoring each other at the store. The actual layout of the book is a chronological list of letters and book portions from 'Glove Pond'-see below- with the character whose point of view the narration is from at the top, usually broken up every few pages by a response. it makes it really easy to follow while still mixing up roger and Bethany with all the characters in Glove Pond
Bethany encourages Roger to write his great novel "Glove Pond" a flamboyant version of what is basically Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf. The entire time he mentions Burton and Taylor as the models for the characters ( who played the leads in the Movie version of Woolf) and even mentions Albee once- however the character doesn't seem to acknowledge the fact that he has lifted the bare essence of these characters into his own story. Th
Over time Bethany's mother DeeDee ( who we learn went to high school with Roger and once before Bethany and Roger knew each other went on a tragic date) begins to talk to Roger, at first asking him to leave Bethany alone so that she can escape this life that they both lead- then realizing he is someone who's opinion matters to Bethany( she begins to send him samples of her own writing and shows DeeDee 'Glove Pond' which she also likes. and the relationship gets a little weirder--- that's all the plot i'll divulge.
'Glove Pond' is absolute crap for the majority of the time- but it's heartbreaking crap because Roger invests so much time and energy and it gets so much more intriguing toward the end of its run that you just want to edit. there's flashes of interest but the characters are such Caricatures for most of the time that you don't see them. The worst is that I sat there and laughed at the horible writing until one moment which made me feel so much more for Roger that it hurt.
while i haven't read its criticism. i can imagine that some people would complain that Coupland's portrayal of my generation is exactly the same as Gen X, which for the majority issues, as i learned in my other COupland Class, it basically is. The main idealogical difference between the two according to the giant poll that my teacher showed us is that Y is more environmental than X, which Coupland had already obsessed about in stories with Gen X characters so it's no real leap for him to use the next generation on the brink of adulthood. As always- there's some religion, but its negligible so it can be passed on. The message of the book seems to be that you need to get by the mundane aspects of life through people who not only get you but are supportive of you, and while this not may be a family in any definable sense it gives you that same grounding when you need something to hold onto.
Coupland also did an amazing series of quirky advertisements for the book on youtube that are interesting imagery with little clips of the book- highly recommend you check them out.
The final ending was a hilarious, although somewhat weirdly placed, critique of lower-level fiction writing classes that made me crack up at how wrong i thought the advice was.
Final Verdict is that it's a pretty good read- but it is not replacing All Families are Psychotic- which i'm thinking i'll have to reread just to make sure it still is my favorite.
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