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3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
My first Douglas Coupland. The plot is simple. Two very different people start corresponding through a notebook.
"Roger, a divorced, middle-aged "aisles associate" at Staples, condemned to restocking reams of 20-lb. bond paper for the rest of his life. And Roger's co-worker Bethany, in her early twenties and at the end of her Goth phase, who is looking at fifty more years of sorting the red pens from the blue in aisle 6."
As they write to one another, they start to reveal personal stories and experiences from their lives and come to appreciate each other and care for one another.
From my point of view, this book adresses a very common fact. That we judge "a book by its cover". That we judge a person by the way they dress or the music they listen to. This book proves that rather often, we couldn't be more wrong. A stranger can't possibly know what another person is feeling, what he, or she, is trying to hide behind that specific way of dressing or that particular behavior. After that book, I always think what others may hide, what they don't want revealed and what they might be afraid of.
Every one of us have a secret little world inside of us and we keep it from others in different ways. And who knows, maybe that's for the best. Maybe that's the only way we can go on...
"Roger, a divorced, middle-aged "aisles associate" at Staples, condemned to restocking reams of 20-lb. bond paper for the rest of his life. And Roger's co-worker Bethany, in her early twenties and at the end of her Goth phase, who is looking at fifty more years of sorting the red pens from the blue in aisle 6."
As they write to one another, they start to reveal personal stories and experiences from their lives and come to appreciate each other and care for one another.
From my point of view, this book adresses a very common fact. That we judge "a book by its cover". That we judge a person by the way they dress or the music they listen to. This book proves that rather often, we couldn't be more wrong. A stranger can't possibly know what another person is feeling, what he, or she, is trying to hide behind that specific way of dressing or that particular behavior. After that book, I always think what others may hide, what they don't want revealed and what they might be afraid of.
Every one of us have a secret little world inside of us and we keep it from others in different ways. And who knows, maybe that's for the best. Maybe that's the only way we can go on...
Klein boek over kleine mensen. Volwassenen en adolescenten worstelen met opgroeien en ouder worden. Geen groot verhaal, maar een verslag van een periode. Een schrijfoefenening in een schrijfoefening in een roman.
This is probably a 3 1/2 to be fair..and I did find it enjoyable but at the same time it's a little defeatist and not written nearly as well or as insightful into humanity as Coupland has proven himself capable of. Still, I found some of these quotes memorable:
p. 85 "Or maybe memories are like karaoke-where you realize up on the stage, with all those lyrics scrawling across the screen's bottom, and with everybody clapping at you, that you didn't know even half the lyrics to your all-time favourite song. Only afterwards, when someone is up on stage humiliating themselves amid the clapping and laughing, do you realize that what you liked most about your favourite song was precisely your ignorance of its full meaning-and you read more into it than existed in the first place. I think it's better to not know the lyrics to your life."
p. 118 "..And then in the scrapbooking aisle, I see 79 cent sticker pads with little rainbows and unicorns that say DREAMS CAN COME TRUE! and it makes me want to cry the way we feed nonsense crap like this to kids, who are going to inherit a century of ugly wars started by people who died long ago, but who were sick and damaged enough to transmit their hatred down through the centuries. Dreams don't come true. Dreams die. Dreams get compromised. Dreams end up dealing meth in a booth at the back of the Olive Garden. Dreams choke to death on bay leaves. Dreams get spleen cancer."
p. 134 "...the sensation that grief is like a werewolf that moves into your house one day and never leaves, and every time you open a door or round a corner, it's there, lying in wait."
p.202 "It's as if to you, being alive is a prank that you're playing on the world."
p. 237 "They're like a John Cheever novel. Except it's set in hell."
p. 85 "Or maybe memories are like karaoke-where you realize up on the stage, with all those lyrics scrawling across the screen's bottom, and with everybody clapping at you, that you didn't know even half the lyrics to your all-time favourite song. Only afterwards, when someone is up on stage humiliating themselves amid the clapping and laughing, do you realize that what you liked most about your favourite song was precisely your ignorance of its full meaning-and you read more into it than existed in the first place. I think it's better to not know the lyrics to your life."
p. 118 "..And then in the scrapbooking aisle, I see 79 cent sticker pads with little rainbows and unicorns that say DREAMS CAN COME TRUE! and it makes me want to cry the way we feed nonsense crap like this to kids, who are going to inherit a century of ugly wars started by people who died long ago, but who were sick and damaged enough to transmit their hatred down through the centuries. Dreams don't come true. Dreams die. Dreams get compromised. Dreams end up dealing meth in a booth at the back of the Olive Garden. Dreams choke to death on bay leaves. Dreams get spleen cancer."
p. 134 "...the sensation that grief is like a werewolf that moves into your house one day and never leaves, and every time you open a door or round a corner, it's there, lying in wait."
p.202 "It's as if to you, being alive is a prank that you're playing on the world."
p. 237 "They're like a John Cheever novel. Except it's set in hell."
I suspect I read this at just the right time. The characters are not necessarily different from Coupland's other works. And yet, the novel buried in this novel is different from Coupland's other work. There is an absurdity there that doesn't exist in the main storyline (a basic plot of disaffected youth, middle-aged angst, and life at Staples).
But I think the real accomplishment here is the structure of the novel. We have a novel in diary form that also includes a novel in it. The fact that the characters in the diary-novel are just as compelling as the main characters is a testament to Coupland's skill. I was compelled by this book and find myself still contemplating the way it is put together. That may not excite some people, but as a writer I can't help but obsess over the structural marvel. This whole book could have fallen apart in the hands of a less skilled writer.
But I think the real accomplishment here is the structure of the novel. We have a novel in diary form that also includes a novel in it. The fact that the characters in the diary-novel are just as compelling as the main characters is a testament to Coupland's skill. I was compelled by this book and find myself still contemplating the way it is put together. That may not excite some people, but as a writer I can't help but obsess over the structural marvel. This whole book could have fallen apart in the hands of a less skilled writer.
Roger, early forties, alcoholic, works at Staples. Bethany, early twenties, goth girl, works at Staples. Bethany finds Roger's writings one day, including a short piece Roger wrote about Bethany's view of the world. They begin writing back and forth to each other and Roger shares his novel, Glove Pond with Bethany, who really loves it.
I liked the relationship between the two characters, which was the rarely depicted between-sexes-friendship. I liked how badly written Glove Pond was. I liked that the story captured the numbness of working at a major chain store. I was confused about the ending. Overall, I enjoyed the book.
I liked the relationship between the two characters, which was the rarely depicted between-sexes-friendship. I liked how badly written Glove Pond was. I liked that the story captured the numbness of working at a major chain store. I was confused about the ending. Overall, I enjoyed the book.
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Didn’t like the ending, and Glove Pond reminded me too much of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which was pretty distracting. The relationship between Bethany and Roger was refreshing.
Wasn’t a waste of time, but I wouldn’t read it again.
Wasn’t a waste of time, but I wouldn’t read it again.
I love books that make me feel like I know the characters, that I'm going to remember them as friends for a long time. Books like this and Where'd you go Bernadette? seem to use a method of letters to really make their characters come alive. This book is brilliantly clever and the characters are so real. For a book that can be depressing, it also constantly gives hope. It's darkly hilarious, probably one of my new favorites.
off to a rocky beginning, but i quickly became adapted to the format. two complaints:
1. "glove pond" drove me nuts; coupland hacked "who's afraid of virginia woolf?" and used it as filler for his book, practically with annotations.
2. no girl of any age greater than 14 is that into johnny depp.
the short essays written from the perspective of bread being buttered were brilliant.
there is one point in the book where you're reading a story about a guy writing a story about a guy writing a story about a guy writing a story. ok ok ok, enough with the hall of mirrors!
1. "glove pond" drove me nuts; coupland hacked "who's afraid of virginia woolf?" and used it as filler for his book, practically with annotations.
2. no girl of any age greater than 14 is that into johnny depp.
the short essays written from the perspective of bread being buttered were brilliant.
there is one point in the book where you're reading a story about a guy writing a story about a guy writing a story about a guy writing a story. ok ok ok, enough with the hall of mirrors!
Why this book? @LectricSheep said on Litsy that it was so dark and bitter she had to stare at her Pusheen pencil case to recalibrate! Bwaaaaa haaaa haaa.
This book was really cleverly written with a story within a story within a story, but I don't think I was in the mood for it. I ended up skimming my way to the end.
This book was really cleverly written with a story within a story within a story, but I don't think I was in the mood for it. I ended up skimming my way to the end.