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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Many people would like to be her
Douglas Coupland's Miss Wyoming is about his characters trying to gain control of their identities and make fresh starts, but questions whether such endeavors are actualizing or destructive. Our two protagonists are Susan Colgate, has-been TV star and former Miss lots of places, trying to get out from under her Hollywood mom's thumb, and John Johnson, a film producer who gave it all up to live as a bum for a year. Both try to void their lives and become other people, the scope of these attempts and motivations achieved through weaving narratives that catch up to them at different points in their lives, a device expertly juggled not to give away too much too soon nor become confusing. It's a comedy, and a good one, where grace is in no short supply. Often described as one of Coupland's lesser works, I wasn't expecting this level of enjoyment and richness of character, but I'm glad it's what I got.
I really like Douglas Copeland, I don't know why, objectively his books are full of issues... But when I'm in a second hand bookshop browsing the C section of authors, I usually leave with a book or two of his.
This one was odd. It follows Susan Colgate, an ex-pageant girl and John Johnson, a failing action film director. Both characters "disappeared" in their lives. Susan after becoming the sole survivor of a plane crash and John after throwing away all his IDs and walking off. The two find each other at a pivotal moment in the plot... and you can't help but root for them to get together.
In real Douglas Copeland form, there were some powerful moments. One of my favourite (which I went in with a pencil and underlined) was a passage about how people change. That from one career to another, or from one decade to the next a person becomes someone totally different. The character laments that he can feel himself ebbing away, that the person the people around him know and love won't be around much longer and that there's nothing he can do about it. It might sound silly, but that one hit home.
In all, I enjoyed this book but not as madly as I've enjoyed others by the same author in the past. 3.5 / 5 rounded up to 4 bc Goodreads doesn't do half ratings.
This one was odd. It follows Susan Colgate, an ex-pageant girl and John Johnson, a failing action film director. Both characters "disappeared" in their lives. Susan after becoming the sole survivor of a plane crash and John after throwing away all his IDs and walking off. The two find each other at a pivotal moment in the plot... and you can't help but root for them to get together.
In real Douglas Copeland form, there were some powerful moments. One of my favourite (which I went in with a pencil and underlined) was a passage about how people change. That from one career to another, or from one decade to the next a person becomes someone totally different. The character laments that he can feel himself ebbing away, that the person the people around him know and love won't be around much longer and that there's nothing he can do about it. It might sound silly, but that one hit home.
In all, I enjoyed this book but not as madly as I've enjoyed others by the same author in the past. 3.5 / 5 rounded up to 4 bc Goodreads doesn't do half ratings.
This was our book group read, and my first Coupland book. It will be my last. Symbolism as subtle as a truck driving through a cardboard cut out, tortured analogies...I couldn't wait to be done. It reminds me of when semi-smart people have had a little too much to drink and think they are making profound statements about the nature of the world. Its one redeeming factor was the way he structured the telling of the story, weaving together the various layers well near the end. But I'd never be persuaded to read one of his books again.
I read a lot of Douglas Coupland when I was younger, including this book. Other than Generation X and All Families are Psychotic, I'd always had fond memories of this book. I read it when I was a teenager and I think the idea of escaping and not being under the control of anything or anyone really appealed to me, although by that point I had tried several times and knew it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I remember specifically laughing at John Johnson big plan to give up all his worldly possessions and wander the earth. I knew it was going to suck for him and it did, that is basically just being a homeless person. I could certainly sympathize, though.
All the other characters were far more interesting than Johnson, though, particularly Susan Colgate. Once again, like in Eleanor Rigby, we're seeing a character that at one point breaks into someones home and kind of likes seeing how these people live and what their life is like, if for only a moment. I drew the parallel between the two books at that point because the idea had always appealed to me as well.
I like the quirkiness of the book, the strange things that happen, and the mostly interesting characters. I thought it was interesting that the character Vanessa thinks that she is the next step in the evolution of humans because she is so smart.
I also liked that these characters were seeking out more meaning in their lives than Hollywood money and fame could provide them, and in their own strange way they find it. This is a little more cohesive plot-wise than Generation X for example, but not as much as All Families Are Psychotic.
I think I missed most of the main points of this book reading it as a teenager because I just took from it what applied to me and left the rest, I didn't even remember the second half of the book. And yet, I give it the same star rating...
All the other characters were far more interesting than Johnson, though, particularly Susan Colgate. Once again, like in Eleanor Rigby, we're seeing a character that at one point breaks into someones home and kind of likes seeing how these people live and what their life is like, if for only a moment. I drew the parallel between the two books at that point because the idea had always appealed to me as well.
I like the quirkiness of the book, the strange things that happen, and the mostly interesting characters. I thought it was interesting that the character Vanessa thinks that she is the next step in the evolution of humans because she is so smart.
I also liked that these characters were seeking out more meaning in their lives than Hollywood money and fame could provide them, and in their own strange way they find it. This is a little more cohesive plot-wise than Generation X for example, but not as much as All Families Are Psychotic.
I think I missed most of the main points of this book reading it as a teenager because I just took from it what applied to me and left the rest, I didn't even remember the second half of the book. And yet, I give it the same star rating...