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A review by booksnpunks
Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland
2.0
I didn't dislike this but don't think it lives up to any of the Gen X works I've already read. Structurally it's all over the place, following Andy and his two friends who are so disaffected by their generational era that they sit around sharing stories with each other. There's not really anything that moves this book forward because it's cut up by all the disconnected 'tales' that they swap so it's absolutely useless to try and get to know the characters during the first half. It picked up as it began to get to the end, but that's just it. It ended as soon as it was starting to get some sort of rhythm going.
I've heard this novel is pretty hit and miss anyway, and I genuinely appreciate what this book has brought to blank fiction and generation X. It had all the relevant themes of disillusionment, consumerism, yuppie culture and detachment seen in other novels of the decade, but the prose and execution just wasn't there for me. I liked the images and little definitions of gen X colloquialisms though, they were super fun.
Side note: I really don't understand why people compare this book to [b:The Catcher in the Rye|5107|The Catcher in the Rye|J.D. Salinger|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1398034300s/5107.jpg|3036731]. Just because it's a book about youth isolated from their parents' generation doesn't make it akin to JD Salinger. The 1980s equivalent to Catcher is without a doubt [b:Bright Lights, Big City|86147|Bright Lights, Big City|Jay McInerney|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1399647015s/86147.jpg|144128], and I will lay my life down on that. [b:Less Than Zero|9915|Less Than Zero|Bret Easton Ellis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1443060100s/9915.jpg|1146200], yea, I really get the comparisons but less so. Generation X? No.
I've heard this novel is pretty hit and miss anyway, and I genuinely appreciate what this book has brought to blank fiction and generation X. It had all the relevant themes of disillusionment, consumerism, yuppie culture and detachment seen in other novels of the decade, but the prose and execution just wasn't there for me. I liked the images and little definitions of gen X colloquialisms though, they were super fun.
Side note: I really don't understand why people compare this book to [b:The Catcher in the Rye|5107|The Catcher in the Rye|J.D. Salinger|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1398034300s/5107.jpg|3036731]. Just because it's a book about youth isolated from their parents' generation doesn't make it akin to JD Salinger. The 1980s equivalent to Catcher is without a doubt [b:Bright Lights, Big City|86147|Bright Lights, Big City|Jay McInerney|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1399647015s/86147.jpg|144128], and I will lay my life down on that. [b:Less Than Zero|9915|Less Than Zero|Bret Easton Ellis|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1443060100s/9915.jpg|1146200], yea, I really get the comparisons but less so. Generation X? No.