Girlfriend in a coma / Douglas Coupland. - London : Flamingo, 1998. - 280 p. ; 20 cm. - ISBN 0-00-225754-8 (pbk.)

My 100th registered book. Just bought it from a charity shop. I've liked other Douglas Coupland books I've read, so hoping this will be good too.

This is quite a book. It begins, and for its first half it remains, grounded in plausible reality. A young girl goes into a coma. 9 months later she gives birth to a daughter. Over the years we find out how her friends' lives develop, and how they lack meaning or purpose.
Then she wakes up.
Then the world ends.
The book finally becomes a parable, a mystic vision, of miracles and humanism. In earlier times, Coupland might have been called a prophet for writing such a book. Perhaps he is. What he portrays by the end of the book is a secular second-coming, with sacrifice performed by going into a coma - sleep as a metaphor for late 20th century American life runs throughout the book - and with apostles accepting their part in preparing to make a new world.

It's the first International Bookcrossing Day. In celebration of the hobby, bookcrossers all round the world are going to release books into the wild for people to find and read. This is one of mine. If you find this one, please let us know via the website. And perhaps, when you're done with the book, let it go out into the wild for someone else to pick up...