Steve's Review

Let me preface this by saying that my reading time is limited, beause I only read on the toilet. Sorry I took so long.

I'll start by agreeing with Monique that the layout of the book was annoying. It is vaguely textbook-like, in size and format, with distracting little made-up definitions to help assimilate and comprehend the oh-so-complex thought processes of my generation. Does anybody remember Sniglets? They were "words that aren't in the dicitonary but should be," compiled into shiny, bathroom-reading volumes that filled my stockings for several years in the late 80's. For example: Cheedle -- the orange residue left on fingers after eating Cheetos or some other cheesy snack. See? Great, isn't it? Anyway, Generation X is full of things like that, only more culturally significant.

I also agree with Monique that the dialogue was affected and self-important, reminiscent of the slacker films of the early 90's, such as, um, Slackers. Also, Coupland refused to italicize entire words, opting to place the emphasis on individual syllables, so we know precisely how to read the words. Possibly because he's Canadian. Sadly, Mr. Coupland, Strunk and White are not Canadian.

I did enjoy most of the stories written into the novel. I generally like short stories better than novels, if they are well-written. I think it's the mark of a good writer to be able to convey the same point in 5000 words that another writer makes in 200,000 words, and Coupland did that several times. I appreciated Coupland's minimalization in the stories, using a relatively barren narrative, but still eliciting feelings from me.

But aside from the short stories, the tone of the book was unbearable. According to a blurb on the back of the book, Cosmo called Generation X, "A modern-day Catcher in the Rye." I agree, in that both books involved whining protagonists who are perpetually unhappy with their lot in life and refuse to accept any of the blame for it. The point of Generation X seemed to be that our parents made the world unlivable, and anybody who tries to live and work in this horrible world we inherited is a simplton deserving of unmitigated contempt.

Essentially, if you have a job that pays a living wage, have kids, own a house, drive a decent car, live in a city, live in a suburb, live on a farm, wear new clothes, wear stylish clothes, smoke, don't smoke, travel in Europe, don't travel in Europe or have non-vintage furiture, you should want to die. If any of that doesn't make you beg for death, then you actually deserve to die.

Again, everything pointed to how badly the previous generation screwed us over. None of the characters had a functional relationship with their families, and there was a great deal of pity spread around for unhip parents who didn't understand how unhip they were.

I'd like to take a second to point out that every generation, probably from the beginning of time, has had to deal with mistakes made by the prior generation, and the human race is still here. Is having to drive electric cars to save the environment worse than being drafted into Vietnam? Is Vietnam worse than the depression worse than the Civil War worse than the Plague? Each of these events had a huge effect on the following generation. I doubt that the first guy to catch the bubonic plague from his friendly household rat said on his deathbed that he was glad his generation had it easier than his parents'. But there were probably unemployed waifs all over Europe, dressed in secondhand cod pieces, who sat around drinking ale and complaining about how hard they had it. "Forsooth, fair Marion, I dost had to take a job at Sir Arthur's stable! I hate my dad, I sweareth! Hey, dost thou have an oozing lesion?"

While reading, I sometimes got the feeling that Coupland was poking fun at himself, at least a little. I'd like to believe that, but I really don't. Ultimately, he's very serious about his self-righteous anger, and his disappointment in everyone who is unwilling to give up their possessions and jobs, and live in the desert smoking clove cigarettes.

I'm just saying, okay, Douglas Coupland, you hated your job and couldn't afford a house. Welcome to adult life. Work harder or accept your future. Granted, you found a way around that by writing a mediocre book that expresses the bitchy fears of a lazy generation that had everything handed to it, so good for you. But seriously, am I bad because I'm (usually) employed and like driving a car that runs? Evidently.