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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't miss the point of this book,
By Phil Moores (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Miss Wyoming (Paperback)
I came to Coupland late, so I don't have the axe to grind of "not as good as Generation-X". In the last 12 months, I've read all Couplands books and I think that this and Shampoo Planet are my favourites. I've read the reviews below and cannot understand some of them. One complained of the number of Anglicisms in the book. Now, for one Coupland is Canadian so uses more Anglicisms than someone from Dead-dog Indiana, secondly - try being British and having Americanisms rammed at you all day. The worst comment was that the satire was pointed at targets that were too easy. This misses the point of the book. What Coupland does so well is to take easy targets and make you care about them -- it would be easy to mock a grown-up child beauty queen and her monster of a mother, it's a lot harder to make you understand what makes them tick and see them as real people. Buy and read this book, then go away and buy and read all Coupland's others (apart from Lara's Book).
3.0 out of 5 stars
Delicous sound bites, but without the teeth,
By "screamingcheese" (United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Miss Wyoming (Audio Cassette)
For all of the clear-sighted, rambling and often hilarious pop-culture regurgitation Douglas Coupland has gleefully provided over the years, his control of prose may ultimately reveal as much about his generation than the thousands of details he's cross-referenced. _Miss Wyoming_, a screwball blend of satire and tongue-in-cheek formula romance, is a perfect example; it coasts along on delicious, eloquent rants on the intricate facades of American life but lacks the sincerity and attention to the subtleties of human behavior desperately needed to get under our skin.As a character, Ramsay-esque child beauty pageant queen-turned-sitcom star Susan Colgate is vaguely drawn (every aspect of what passes for her personality is justified by Freudian pop psychology) and never seems quite clever enough to pull off some of the stunts the narrative requires. Her mother is a pastiche of great camp icons - part Mommie Dearest, part Divine - and between her trailer-trash upbringing, her constant exposure to female rivalry, and her brushes with the rich and famous, you'd think she might be able to wrap her enhanced lips around some juicy (or at least campy) dialogue. But like her carrot-tanned, straight-outta "Valley of the Dolls" romantic destiny, failed Hollywood director John Johnson, she's moved through an outrageous set of circus acts and freak coincidences with many chances to meditate on her failure but no memorable sound bites to call her own. Giving more space to fewer characters is not the best tactic for Coupland, who has perfected his dry, witty monologue on the banal images littering the American consciousness but has yet to infuse them with a strong sense of vernacular or lend them to the rhythms of intimate conversation. This tactic works well when writing about overeducated slackers or codependent geeks, easy surrogates for Coupland's rants, but feels out of place in a narrative about ordinary people in incredibly bizarre circumstances. And the circumstances here, while often whimsical and amusing, veer too far beyond the realm of believability to sustain the caustic bite we might expect from a parody of our image-obsessed, youth-driven pop culture. In _Miss Wyoming_, we are treated to a series of events recycled from soap-opera plots - including a plane crash, a surprise death, and a kidnapping - that are good for a few jokes but veer too far away from the novel's satirical aim to strike any targets. And while the parallel plotlines are very tightly constructed, the characters within them are not drawn thoroughly enough to make the payoff truly rewarding. As a collection of quotables, _Miss Wyoming_ has enough playful prose and incisive observation to remain fun and engaging. But with more focus, a sharper edge, and fewer flights of fancy, it could have retained its relevance long after its references became "retro."
4.0 out of 5 stars
If you like Gen X, you will also enjoy this book,
By
This review is from: Miss Wyoming (Audio Cassette)
Coupland's fresh look at Hollywood is quite entertaining. Here is a book that can be read on two levels: 1. A beach read, and read as is, or 2. Or the complex interworkings of the human psyche.
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