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Microserfs [Paperback]

Douglas Coupland (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (186 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Micro-talent Sep 6 1999
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Microserfs is a story of a group of computer coders working, and living, together. First they reside in Seattle working for Microsoft, and then they move to Palo Alto and work for Interiority, a company of them, Michael, founds to produce a program he has invented called Oop!. The story is told by Dan Underwood and written in the form of a diary. Unlike most diaries in which one would learn intimate details of another's life, here we are left with pop-computer-culture-lingo from characters as flat as an old floppy disk. The language, which tries to be clever, is rather juvenile. On some literary plain it could be argued that this stylistic element is intentional because Dan isn't a writer, but, intentional or not, this plain doesn't make the story anymore interesting to read. There is almost a seemingly inescapable potential for emotion in some elements of the story. For example, Dan's family life contains a brother who died in an accident at age 14, a middle-aged father who gets fired from his job and a mother who suffers a stroke. But these scenarios just seem to add more pages to the text. Emotion too seems to have been deleted from Coupland's repertoire. To determine if you may enjoy the book take this test. Think of your friends. Now describe them by naming 7 categories that they would consider ideal if they were on Jeopardy. Now do it to yourself. If this sounds interesting you probably would enjoy the book, as this is how Dan describes people. If not, take a few seconds out of your life and observe a moment of silence for those who don't have one.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Nothing To Do With Hi-Tech Jan 31 2003
By danitall
Format:Paperback
This book is just a soap-opera that has nothing to do with the supposed setting and characters of the book. I had a hard time doing it, but I read the whole book just to see if it did actually ever get into anything to do with the things it talks about on the cover or in the first couple of pages; it doesn't. The clown author just wrote a book about clueless/lifeless characters and gave them jobs in hi-tech to attract an audience. The soap-opera story isn't even original (in fact, it reminds me of Danielle Steele's work). The author continuously reveals his lack of knowledge of the hi-tech industry in the few mentions he gives the subject. If you bought this book, I feel sorry for you. I received it as a gift and had a hard time not telling the person how little I appreciated it.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Fluff and Frivolous Nov 11 2001
By J. Carroll
Format:Paperback
Coupland's style has never really impressed me much. But, I always given someone a second chance.

Contrary to many critics, Coupland reliance, or better yet - dependence, on popular culture is not symbolic or metaphoric of a generation. Instead, Coupland style dripples from one stereotyped flat character to another with little or no substance. His lack of any creative flavor puts Microseft right up there with an E! Entertainment programming.

Coupland failed to even study accurate basics of the individual cultures that are supposively present in his characters. Most of his settings are sophmoric and naive, like someone who wrote this book from reading generalized Wired magazines about nerds and Microsoft.

In the end he tries to push all of these broken elements together in order to have his poorly construed characters obtain enlightenment.

It is amazing what they will publish today. I would not recommend this book to anyone I like.

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Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and moving
I re-read this book recently and was amazed by how moving and entertaining it continues to be. It's an incredible portrait of the 90s, post-internet, pre-Google era when Silicon... Read more
Published 20 months ago by lotara
5.0 out of 5 stars Microserfs a picture of modern day Americana
Microserfs is yet another novel by canadian author Douglas Coupland set in the US. To the blind eye it would seem that Coupland is a bit obsessed with America. Read more
Published on April 14 2004 by Turquoise Hereford
5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book for the geek you love or even like
This book is hilarious, and so true to life. I like how this book reprensents the characters in a way that makes them real, even likeable, and not just a bunch of nerds with... Read more
Published on Mar 15 2004 by "cyndiz"
5.0 out of 5 stars Society of the Spectacular
The economic system founded on isolation is a circular production of isolation. The technology is based on isolation, and the technical process isolates in turn. Read more
Published on Feb 23 2004
4.0 out of 5 stars A Poignant Look at the World of "Geeks"
"Microserfs" is the story of a band of disgruntled Microsoft employees who jump ship in their quest for more fulfilling personal lives and professional challenges. Read more
Published on Dec 5 2003 by Edward P. Trimnell
5.0 out of 5 stars GR8 BK 2 RD!
Couplnd cvrs th unqly gky bt ncrdbly humn aspcts of a bnch of "nerds." Brllnt humr (ok, enough! Read more
Published on Nov 9 2003 by "suchisahoo"
5.0 out of 5 stars You may have lived this.
Chances are you'll get that feeling when you read Microserfs. That warm feeling of nostalgia you get when a book so successfully transports you to a time when life was full of... Read more
Published on Oct 4 2003 by P. Mizukami
5.0 out of 5 stars I am in love with this book!
Coupland's Microserfs is a touching, tender, hilarious, real, and yes... geeky, look into the 20-something Techie culture of mid-1990s America. Read more
Published on Sep 13 2003 by fellicity
5.0 out of 5 stars Silicon Valley (circa 1980)
Consists of a journal by of a fictitious employee at Microsoft who moved on to greener pastures in Silicon Valley when the boom was at its highest. Read more
Published on Sep 6 2003 by Leo Lim
5.0 out of 5 stars Love and Geeks -- who can resist?
Ah, what a lovely geek book. First, I've always loved Douglas' writing.

Microserfs was the first book I read by him, and judging from his other works it's one of the few that... Read more

Published on July 29 2003
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