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A review by edgwareviabank
Microserfs by Douglas Coupland
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I had no idea what to expect from this book. Never read anything by Douglas Coupland before. But at the time I found it at the library, I was working at a tech company, and loved a good office-based novel. This isn't one (I'm sure the "serfs" part of the title made me assume it would be), but I love it nonetheless.
I knew I would enjoy it right from the start. The characters get introduced by way of what their top "Jeopardy" categories would be. Their lists say lots, and will prove accurate over the following pages. This set the scene and tone perfectly, and won me over (and got me wondering what my categories would be, though I've never even watched it).
I think that, at its heart, this is a coming-of-age story. The protagonists are smart enough to do things with computers and code many of us couldn't conceive, but they are also 20-somethings who have devoted their early years to fast-tracking their career, and so, to an extent, the rest of their life is just about to start as they get out of Microsoft. Their work changes, their relationships change, their priorities change. The feeling, throughout the book, that they are nearly always in it together, is sweet and moving. The mood shifts towards the end, and events take a more serious turn, but this attitude doesn't get lost.
Even though some of the technical speak may be outdated now, "Microserfs" has aged very well, and it's all down to its human side.
I knew I would enjoy it right from the start. The characters get introduced by way of what their top "Jeopardy" categories would be. Their lists say lots, and will prove accurate over the following pages. This set the scene and tone perfectly, and won me over (and got me wondering what my categories would be, though I've never even watched it).
I think that, at its heart, this is a coming-of-age story. The protagonists are smart enough to do things with computers and code many of us couldn't conceive, but they are also 20-somethings who have devoted their early years to fast-tracking their career, and so, to an extent, the rest of their life is just about to start as they get out of Microsoft. Their work changes, their relationships change, their priorities change. The feeling, throughout the book, that they are nearly always in it together, is sweet and moving. The mood shifts towards the end, and events take a more serious turn, but this attitude doesn't get lost.
Even though some of the technical speak may be outdated now, "Microserfs" has aged very well, and it's all down to its human side.