How does technology change our culture?
How does popular culture affect the individual?
One novelist dares to explore...
In 1991, Canadian author Douglas Coupland’s first book, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, coined the terminology that now labels that generation. Now his new book jPod provides an update for the age of google.
Additional books: Shampoo Planet and Life After God both continue Coupland’s exploration of twenty-something adults in North America. In 1995, Microserfs fictionalized the experiences of the early 1990’s from the perspective of Microsoft employees. Coupland’s sharp cultural observations continue in Girlfriend in a Coma, Miss Wyoming, All Families Are Psychotic, Hey Nostradamus!, and Eleanor Rigby. His novels and short stories often feature humorous and somewhat bittersweet moment. Souvenir of Canada is Coupland’s avant garde artistic exploration of what it means to be Canadian.
New for 2006: In his new novel, jPod, Coupland incorporates technology and popular culture with a vengeance. In present day Vancouver, six computer gaming programmers work in a cubicle cluster known as jPod. The novel is narrated by Ethan, a twenty-something geek trying to make sense of his world. Cultural references abound, including gaming, the Simpsons, consumer culture, and the minutia of information available on the Internet.
Why jPod is wonderful: While reading the first thirty pages, I stopped to google the chemical formula for novocaine and to locate a chart of ASCII codes. This is the only book I've read that contains the first hundred thousand digits of pi, plus all of the three letter scrabble words. On some pages of the novel, Coupland uses diverse text sizes and visual art to create meaning for the reader and involve them in the characters’ experiences. It's a beautiful thing to behold.
