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Already dubbed Microserfs 2.0 by some pundits--a winking allusion to Douglas Coupland's previous novel Microserfs, which similarly chronicled pop-culture-damaged twentysomething misfits flailing, foundering, and occasionally succeeding in the high-tech sector--JPod is, like all of Coupland's novels, a byproduct of its era and yet strangely detached from it. Only this time with a bold and very crafty narrative device: Douglas Coupland, novelist, is a character in Douglas Coupland's novel. Which, when you think about it, makes sense since the type of people Coupland depicts are precisely the type of people who consume Coupland novels. As the once-great comedian Dennis Miller might holler, "Stop him before he sub-references again!" Readers familiar with Coupland's oeuvre know what to expect with the characterizations here. They also know that Coupland on a roll is both savagely observant and laugh-out-loud funny: "Bree was showing someone photos of her recent holiday visiting Korean animation sweathshops. She was bummed because she couldn't get into North Korea: too much legal juju. [She said] 'I just wanted to know what it's like to be in a society with no technology except for three dial telephones and a TV camera they won from Fidel Castro in a game of rock paper scissors.'" Much of the book is like that, built on granular and meandering exchanges between characters about . . . stuff. While JPod's flow is hobbled by some preposterous twists and character traits and by random words, phrases, and numbers splattered gratuitously across successive pages in oversized typeface, it's hard to imagine Coupland fans walking away disappointed. --Kim Hughes
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Coupland returns, knowingly, to mine the dot-com territory of Microserfs (1996)—this time for slapstick. Young Ethan Jarlewski works long hours as a video-game developer in Vancouver, surfing the Internet for gore sites and having random conversations with co-workers on JPod, the cubicle hive where he works, where everyone's last name begins with J. Before Ethan can please the bosses and the marketing department (they want a turtle, based on a reality TV host, inserted into the game Ethan's been working on for months) or win the heart of co-worker Kaitlin, Ethan must help his mom bury a biker she's electrocuted in the family basement which houses her marijuana farm; give his dad, an actor desperately longing for a speaking part, yet another pep talk; feed the 20 illegal Chinese immigrants his brother has temporarily stored in Ethan's apartment; and pass downtime by trying to find a wrong digit in the first 100,000 places (printed on pages 383–406) of pi. Coupland's cultural name-dropping is predictable (Ikea, the Drudge Report, etc.), as is the device of bringing in a fictional Douglas Coupland to save Ethan's day more than once. But like an ace computer coder loaded up on junk food at 4 a.m., Coupland derives his satirical, spirited humor's energy from the silly, strung-together plot and thin characters. Call it Microserfs 2.0. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Microserfs rehashed,
By
This review is from: JPod (Hardcover)
This is the latest book by Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X and, more pertently, Microserfs.JPod is a psuedo-sequel to Microserfs, which is a book I have to rate as one of my favourites, just in amazing readability and dead-on characters who you swear were taken from your own circle of friends. This new one doesn't continue the same characters, but it apes very closely the structure and character types of Microserfs. This time though, a group of loveably loser geeks work for a videogame company in Vancouver. Which allows Coupland to again expose corporate idiocy in the software world while unstable geeks toil in the trenches and cut-up wise in order to remain semi-sane. While JPod definitely has the same readability, it unfortunately pales seriously in comparison to Microserfs. It has the sequel-symptoms of trying to wratchet up what made the first one great to a new level, and this succeeds admirably in squashing what made the other book so great: the ability to really identify with the characters and their situation. Things just get a bit too crazy; characters are TOO over the top, and things come to a Vonnegut-like end that just didn't work for me in the context of the novel. Still, if you've never read Microserfs or are able somehow to keep that towering book out of your mind as you read JPod, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. It's not quite as charming as its predecessor, but remains a fun read.
12 of 16 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing,
By Todd C. (SK, Saskatchewan Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: JPod (Hardcover)
I was a huge fan of Microserfs back when it came out in '95. I was just graduating from computer science and I could empathize a lot with the 'moment' that Coupland brilliantly captured. The characters were eccentric but mostly believable. By the end of the book, I actually felt profoundly moved and told all my friends about it and that they needed to read it themselves. I even got choked up at the end as the story wrapped up.Now I'll admit that I'm only half through jPod but I can tell that this isn't going to happen this time. The characters are barely recognizable as humans and all I really want is for them to shut up. People are killed, in passing, and no big deal is made about it. Coupland also references his own name several times throughout the text as a nudge-nudge wink-wink kind of tool. Maybe he is commenting on something in society but to me all it is coming off as just a little too self-satisfied and clever for its own good. It is a real slog to get through this book which is a shame. I really wanted to like it. I think I'll just go back and read Microserfs again and I recommend you do too. IT is an amazing book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
What's with all these weird pages full of numbers, run-on sentances, etc..?,
By
This review is from: JPod (Paperback)
When this book was first recommended to me I was warned that I may or may not get the humour in it. My typical reading consists of topics that are hands on learning, from woodworking, welding, photography and such.I was also warned to be carefull where I read it as I might just burst out laughing (i.e. if in public). I took the risk and ordered the book without knowing much about it. Sure enough, the first thoughts running through my head were "what are all these run-on sentances, these wasted pages of numbers, wow... this book is strange". Half way through the first chapter it happened. As I looked around the coffee shop to see who was staring at me I had to chuckle to myself that the warning had come true... I had burst out laughing in public. This book at first glimpse may seem to be one of the strangest some have ever seen, yet once the story progesses one can't help but look forward to each and every time they will have a chance to read some more. Will everyone get the humour in it? Most likely not. Yet... for this guy... one whom very rarely reads this type of book... the story was one that has made me a fan of Douglas Coupland, and has prompted me to share it with everyone I know whom will "get it".
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