Review of JPod
I hate existentialism. I hated Camus' "The Stranger" (which by the way the President just read), I think Nietzsche is full of shit. Jpod was in my view was a completely existential book. It filled me with "anxiety, dread, awareness of death, and freedom. " Which is apparently what existentialism fills you with. The wierdest part was I really liked it. It caused me to have a small existential breakdown, but it was really funny while it did it. Now, I am no Coupland connoisseur, having only read Microserfs. It felt both utterly ridiculous, and very accurate about the time and place of 2006. The thing that kept getting me was that there is no moral center, no moral viewpoint in JPod. Everything just...is. Now even Coupland (who writes him self in as an amoral character) has said the book has "no socially redeemable value." But thats just what's so weird about Jpod. It nails 2006 and part of that hitting the nail on the head is that the whole book is just...amoral. So while I highly reccomend it, I must warn you that it may make your whole suddenly feel a little lost in a sea of pointless minutiae and nonsense...but in a good way.
Also Doug Coupland is Canadian.
Here is a link to an interview with Coupland
Gee, Dylan, when you were a "little lost in a sea of pointless minutiae and nonsense", it didn't seem like it was in such a good way to me. I'll have you remember the crying and the binge drinking followed by harder crying?