Girlfriend in a Coma
5 journalers for this copy...
Trade paperback edition.
10/04/05: To HoserLauren as a RACBK. Enjoy!
10/04/05: To HoserLauren as a RACBK. Enjoy!
Another goodie in the surprise package you sent me! Thank you very much!
I was turned on to Douglas Coupland from one of my coworkers, and first read Microsurfs, which was quite funny. Next, I read Miss Wyoming. All of Coupland's books have very unique, and kind of messed up characters. He's also a Canadian author! I'm looking forward to reading to this.
Thanks again!!
I was turned on to Douglas Coupland from one of my coworkers, and first read Microsurfs, which was quite funny. Next, I read Miss Wyoming. All of Coupland's books have very unique, and kind of messed up characters. He's also a Canadian author! I'm looking forward to reading to this.
Thanks again!!
I stayed up until pretty late last night finishing this book. It is much different from regular Coupland style in the fact that it's a much more serious book with a lot of questions being asked that you still think about after you have finished the book. This book really got me thinking. There are a whole bunch of question you can ask yourself - how would I respond if I were in the same situation as these characters?
** This part may contain spoilers **
The book is really seperated into two parts - before Karen wakes up, and after Karen wakes up.
The first part was a strong portrayal of emotions. Karen, a high school senior, has visions of the future. She tells them to her boyfriend, Richard, and leaves him a note about these visions before she goes into a 17 year coma. What follows is a story of grief and loss. None of Karen's friends can really move on without Karen out of her coma. The emotions are so real. Would I be able to move on if my boyfriend suddenly lapsed into a coma? There would probably always be a sense of loss, as there was in Richard.
Then, miraculously, Karen wakes up from her coma 17 years later. She still has the mind of a 17 year old and the media goes crazy over this 1 in a billion chance "miracle". However Karen knows that she was in the coma for a reason. She keeps having these visions of the world ending. Then suddenly, three days after Christmas, people start suffering from "the plauge". I couldn't help but thinking of Jose Saramago's Blindness while reading this part. Everyone in the world dies except Karen and her friends. But they do not question WHY. Instead, they look for ways to pass their time. They are really still 17 year olds just like Karen, they never grew up. Jared, a friend who died from cancer in the past, gets them to start questioning their existance, why they are the only ones alive, and how things could get so bad. He asks some really good questions, and made me think about the what-if scenario of the world ending, but myself and a few people I know still being alive. Would I question why? Coupland makes a good point that a hundred of years ago, the world probably could have re-built itself without people, but now, people and the world are one in the same. They need each other. There was a little bit too much of "technology bad" cliches, but otherwise it was very well done.
The setting of the book was in Vancouver too, which is a nice change of pace from all the American settings that I have become so used to reading about. Since I've been to Vancouver and am from Canada, I feel like I could relate more to where the characters went.
Overall, a fantastic book.
** This part may contain spoilers **
The book is really seperated into two parts - before Karen wakes up, and after Karen wakes up.
The first part was a strong portrayal of emotions. Karen, a high school senior, has visions of the future. She tells them to her boyfriend, Richard, and leaves him a note about these visions before she goes into a 17 year coma. What follows is a story of grief and loss. None of Karen's friends can really move on without Karen out of her coma. The emotions are so real. Would I be able to move on if my boyfriend suddenly lapsed into a coma? There would probably always be a sense of loss, as there was in Richard.
Then, miraculously, Karen wakes up from her coma 17 years later. She still has the mind of a 17 year old and the media goes crazy over this 1 in a billion chance "miracle". However Karen knows that she was in the coma for a reason. She keeps having these visions of the world ending. Then suddenly, three days after Christmas, people start suffering from "the plauge". I couldn't help but thinking of Jose Saramago's Blindness while reading this part. Everyone in the world dies except Karen and her friends. But they do not question WHY. Instead, they look for ways to pass their time. They are really still 17 year olds just like Karen, they never grew up. Jared, a friend who died from cancer in the past, gets them to start questioning their existance, why they are the only ones alive, and how things could get so bad. He asks some really good questions, and made me think about the what-if scenario of the world ending, but myself and a few people I know still being alive. Would I question why? Coupland makes a good point that a hundred of years ago, the world probably could have re-built itself without people, but now, people and the world are one in the same. They need each other. There was a little bit too much of "technology bad" cliches, but otherwise it was very well done.
The setting of the book was in Vancouver too, which is a nice change of pace from all the American settings that I have become so used to reading about. Since I've been to Vancouver and am from Canada, I feel like I could relate more to where the characters went.
Overall, a fantastic book.
received from HoserLauren
Dougls Coupland certainly does not like to write mainstream books. There were a lot of issues going on at the same time in this book. First loss and grief. Then joyful loving miraculous resumption of life. However by the end of the book the issues became overwhelming and too philosophical for me. Interesting concepts on what Coupland figures we should do with our lives
This book is back with me :)
Yay! I got this book at a live YBS at the The Bowl in Toronto!! Thanks for playing Ace and Lauren!!
This has been at the top of my TBR pile for awhile, and when I finally got around to starting it, I realized it just wasn't for me. I am trying to break the bad habit of forcing myself to finish books that don't grab my attention right off the bat. I am also coming to realize that I prefer to read women authors, not sure why I never used to feel that way. I offered this book in the So good you have to steal it swap on www.bookobsessed.com.
It was stolen several times, before ending up with Turtle! I will be sending this out in the next day or two.
Enjoy!!!
It was stolen several times, before ending up with Turtle! I will be sending this out in the next day or two.
Enjoy!!!
Came in the mail from Ap!!! Thank you so much. I'm looking forward to reading this!
