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JPod

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 9,362 ratings · 689 reviews

Very evil....very funny
A lethal joyride into today's new breed of technogeeks, Douglas Coupland's new novel updates Microserfs for the age of Google.
Ethan Jarlewski and five co-workers are bureaucratically marooned in JPod, a no-escape architectural limbo on the fringes of a massive Vancouver video game design company.
The six JPodders wage daily battle against the deman...more

Hardcover, 448 pages

Published May 16th 2006 by Bloomsbury

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Jun 16, 2007 Marina Keenan rated it 1 of 5 stars

I am a fan of Coupland and I have read everything he has ever published, but it is clear after reading Jpod that he's been in Vancouver too long and needs to get out for a weekend, if only to try another city's dope and take-out. Jpod is supposed to be the sequel to Microserfs, but Coupland wastes this one hunting-and-pecking for Gen Y/Echo Boom culture like a noob coder; he doesn't see that the map is not the terrain. So what if the main character's Mom is growing and selling weed, Dad is datin...more

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May 02, 2008 Nicola rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I'm a little conflicted over my reaction to this novel. Because it was an undeniably enjoyable read and there was literally not a chapter which didn't make me laugh out loud. And yet, I feel... underwhelmed.

I feel I should preface this review by saying, Coupland is my favourite author. Like, by a really long way. I love all his books insanely much. (Well, except Shampoo Planet. No one loves Shampoo Planet. Except Ryan Ross, apparently.) I want to write like him. I would happily only ever read Co...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Nate rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Here's what I've noticed. People that have read extensive Coupland novels view this book more negatively. People who have never/barely read Coupland love this book.

It is my opinion that this is a very good book. It's sarcastic, witty, satirical, and outlandish. This didn't come from the same Coupland that wrote Generation X, Microserfs, Shampoo Planet and all those 90's classics that Couplanders want to hang on to so badly. This is a funny book that can be taken lightly with great humor. In tho...more

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Sep 03, 2008 Marcus rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One star was generous, trust me.

It's hard to believe that this is the man who authored the book that made me want to become a writer. He wrote three brilliant books, at the beginning of his career, his last being Microserfs...Then I watched him fall shorter and shorter with each subsequent release.

He became a watered down version of his former self with each new book published, not unlike the de-evolution of sitcom characters who become caricatures of their original concept, left with only the...more

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Jun 03, 2007 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of Coupland and of moral relativism

There's a lot to love about this book, and some things that are not so great. Coupland's use of himself as deus ex machina is a little trite, and the ending is unsatisfying to say the least. There are at least 5 plot points raised over the course of the book that are left completely unresolved. It literally just stops.

Still, if you loved Microserfs, all the world weary pop culture references and geek office camaraderie are there for you.

What I really loved about this book was the almost scary...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Oscar rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: français

Si j'avais lu ce bouquin en autre langue et entièrement, ça aurait été la plus grosse perte de temps de ma vie. Sérieux. Encore pire qu'avoir vu le film "My Bloody Valentine" au premier rang du cinéma et en 3D le soir même où il est sorti. Encore pire que avoir joué des jours et des nuits à Pokémon Gold pour le GBC quand j'étais au secondaire. Sérieux. Mais comme je l'ai lu en français, j'ai au moins appris quelques expressions. Pis heureusement, après avoir lu la première partie (il y en a troi...more

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Sep 12, 2011 Joel Bradshaw rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Joel by: Anna

Shelves: owned

It's been a while since I've read this book, so we'll see how well this goes. But this book...is Douglas Coupland. I don't even know the guy, and haven't read any of his other books, but you can just tell that this is the book that he decided to have fun with. And it's a great read. It's hilarious, thoughtful and introspective from time to time, more often absurd. It's a really fun, ridiculous read. As the book progresses, you can't help but shake your head at Coupland's boldness and unashamedne...more

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Aug 26, 2008 Matthew Snope rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Matthew by: nobody

I enjoyed this book as I usually enjoy most of Coupland's stuff. But what I really liked are the nonlinear parts of this book that are almost visual art in disguise, especially three rant-ish blocks of Kerouacian flow, in which Coupland nails some dark truths about being alive today and how much the online world influences our individual and collective psyches. I like how he is not just critical of the world surrounding Gen X and Millennial people (like he was in Generation X), but of these gene...more

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Jan 15, 2008 Matt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: coupland fans

...although a lot of the criticism is warranted. that being said, however, i think what i liked about 'jpod' is coupland's healthy dose of cynacism (a lot of it directed at himself and his celebrity) within the novel's 440 some-odd pages. it's also easy to pass this off as 'microserfs 2.0,' but to do so is a mistake because i think coupland's actually stretched himself like he never has before, not so much in form (because it's almost identical to 'mircoserfs') but rather in tone and theme. most...more ...although a lot of the criticism is warranted. that being said, however, i think what i liked about 'jpod' is coupland's healthy dose of cynacism (a lot of it directed at himself and his celebrity) within the novel's 440 some-odd pages. it's also easy to pass this off as 'microserfs 2.0,' but to do so is a mistake because i think coupland's actually stretched himself like he never has before, not so much in form (because it's almost identical to 'mircoserfs') but rather in tone and theme. most of the characters in 'microserfs' were endearing folks, people you genuinely liked. a lot of the characters in 'jpod' are often unlikeable, especially the novel's protagonist, ethan jarlweski (not hard to see why when you see ethan's parents).

i do understand some people's abhorrance to inserting onself into one's novel, but the douglas coupland *in* the novel is five-star jerk off. had coupland the author made coupland the character some winning, all-around-good-guy dood, that would have been repulsive. some of the character's are, granted, a bit overdrawn and exaggerated (freedome, kam, steve, evil mark, bree, etc), but couplands endows them with enough fallability and imperfection that rise about the cliched 'quirky and offbeat' characters that pollute so many novels. and since i work in a programming department, i got a kick out of the jpod crew. by and large coupland nails techie and geek culture to the t. i laughed out loud several times.

the novel's denouement is something of a let down, but i think this is entirely the point. it would have been relatively easy to wind it up nicely and neatly as he often does. this is where coupland's cynicism comes shining through: in some ways it does come off as a contractual obligation book and i can't help but think it's a subtle jab at his publisher and his readers. some may find this off-putting. i, on the other, found it completely hilarious. too many authors take their 'art' way too seriously. coupland, however, seems to have a different view. why else would he insert twenty pages of prime numbers? lighten up, people. take a joke. coupland's 'plot' in 'jpod' is merely the vehicle for his cynicism and sense of humor. don't take it too seriously. just go with it. enjoy it.(less)

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Jun 03, 2007 Trin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, canadian-lit

" Microserfs for the age of Google" is how this is oft-described. That's pretty accurate, really. Stylistically, it's much the same—which was nice, because Microserfs is pretty much my favorite Douglas Coupland book. (I have now read ALL of them! *sob* Well, except for the one written in Japanese and released only in Japan.) What surprised me is how much more cynical this book is. I mean, not that Microserfs is without cynicism, but there's an innocence to it, a wonder. I don't think anyone wou...more

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Jul 31, 2008 Matt rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wanted to like this book, but as with most of Coupland's work these days, it just seemed needlessly convoluted and gimmicky, and was populated with a host of thoroughly unlikable characters. Most everything he writes is the sort of thing that you'd find to be brilliant if you were in your early twenties and looking forward to a life of exciting employment in the gaming/software industry--but anyone who's been around the block in that world a few times would find it to be sophomoric at best, I...more

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Apr 18, 2007 Christopher rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who believes snark's not dead.

I don't know what anyone expects from Douglas Coupland these days, much less what I expect from the man. I've read everything he's published since Generation X...sometimes I love it, sometimes I loathe it, sometimes I'm just bored.

But this one made me laugh. A lot. And he brings back his plugged-in sense of playful narrative, though I wondered at times if he was sneaking in an imitation of Dave Eggars doing an imitation of Douglas Coupland. If that makes sense.

Or maybe jPod is an all-around shou...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Rosa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Despu��s de leer Microserfs y del gran impacto que ese libro caus�� en m��, inclu�� sin pensarlo este t��tulo en mi carta a los reyes de este a��o. Lo he terminado hoy, en el avi��n que me tra��a de vuelta a Linz. Es sin duda un libro que no pasa desapercibido si lo lees en p��blico, debido a las p��ginas llenas de cifras de pi que contien, p��ginas con tipograf��as de distinto tipo y tama��o, p��ginas con grandes kanjis��

Adem��s de la extra��a est��tica, creo que propia de Douglas Coupland, el

...more Despu��s de leer Microserfs y del gran impacto que ese libro caus�� en m��, inclu�� sin pensarlo este t��tulo en mi carta a los reyes de este a��o. Lo he terminado hoy, en el avi��n que me tra��a de vuelta a Linz. Es sin duda un libro que no pasa desapercibido si lo lees en p��blico, debido a las p��ginas llenas de cifras de pi que contien, p��ginas con tipograf��as de distinto tipo y tama��o, p��ginas con grandes kanjis��

Adem��s de la extra��a est��tica, creo que propia de Douglas Coupland, el libro en s�� me ha gustado bastante. Me ha recordado much��simo a Tom Sharpe, el mismo tono ��cido y los mismos personajes extremos y absurdos. Este tipo de escritores obviamente no pueden gustarle a todo el mundo. El humor que emplean para hacer una s��tira del mundo actual es demasiado estrafalario y en el caso de Coupland, demasiado geek.

En cuanto a la historia, el libro est�� contado en primera persona por un tipo muy parecido al protagonista de Microsiervos y cuyo discurso es tambi��n similar. En este caso, el tipo, Ethan, trabaja en una multinacional dedicada al desarrollo de videjuegos y est�� metido en un grupo llamado JPod, junto con otros 5 tipos la mar de raros. La historia comienza cuando la madre de Ethan, que se dedica al narcotr��fico, tiene un peque��o incidente con un motorista al que acaba electrocutando por accidente. A partir de ah��, se suceden los personajes y situaciones, a cu��l m��s absurda, desde el padre de Ethan, actor frustrado hasta un chino mafioso dedicado al tr��fico de personas, pasando por la madre lesbiana radical de uno de sus compa��eros de trabajo y por el propio Douglas Coupland que aparece como personaje. Si eso lo mezclamos con interminables b��squedas en Google, p��ginas llenas de cifras de Pi, de n��meros primos y un buen pu��ado de informaci��n sobre payasos y p��ginas gore, tenemos un libro nada apto para todos los p��blicos.

Al contrario que Chuck Palahniuk, que es el escritor al que m��s odio del mundo porque se dedica a escribir sandeces extremadamente desagradables con el ��nico objetivo de causar repugnancia y turbaci��n y que de este modo todos piensen que es un escritor buen��simo, este libro est�� cargado de maldad pero s��lo para provocar risa. Si ten��is algo en com��n conmigo, estoy segura de que os gustar��.

(less)

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Mar 29, 2009 Steven rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"The three-hour meeting had taken place in a two-hundred-seat room nicknamed the air-conditioned rectum. I tried to make the event go faster by pretending to have superpower vision: I could see the carbon dioxide pumping in and out of everyone's nose and mouth - it was purple. It made me think of that urban legend about the chemical they put in swimming pools that reveals when somebody pees. Then I wondered if Leonardo da Vinci had every inhaled any of the oxygen molecules I was breathing, or if...more

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Mar 08, 2009 Karin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult-fiction, computer-games, ennui, funny, generation-x, code-monkeys, quirky, realistic, borrowed-from-the-library

Mark: Gore is Nature’s way of saying, “There are too many human beings on the planet, and I’m trying to rectify this any way I can. SARS didn’t work, but trust me, I’m cooking up something better. In the interim, please kill lots of yourselves.” p. 385

I’m a fan of Douglas Coupland’s earlier books, and I was hoping that this would be a return of that genxr feeling. It wasn’t quite so lost as his others, though. The redemption of the characters and the odd hope the kept them alive sprung from the...more Mark: Gore is Nature’s way of saying, “There are too many human beings on the planet, and I’m trying to rectify this any way I can. SARS didn’t work, but trust me, I’m cooking up something better. In the interim, please kill lots of yourselves.” p. 385

I’m a fan of Douglas Coupland’s earlier books, and I was hoping that this would be a return of that genxr feeling. It wasn’t quite so lost as his others, though. The redemption of the characters and the odd hope the kept them alive sprung from the mundanity of the very weirdness that affected their lives on a daily basis. There was so much zany stuff going on that was unabashedly accepted by everyone. It’s as if DC took a big chunk outta Douglas Adams’ brain and chewed on it for awhile. I love, love, love quirky characters and impossible circumstances made possible. So the randomness was completely enjoyable. However, despite chewing on DA’s brain, DC is just not as adept at making me love everything about his characters. The premise was often funny, but the actual execution fell short sometimes.

jPod is a group of software programmers/coders who are working for some company on some skateboard game (which morphs into other things along the way – terrible things that should never see the light of day). There’s no way out of their little pod once you get in – no transfers to other departments. The jPodders are still in that irresponsible college phase – keeping late hours, working like demons before deadlines, but with plenty of downtime in between to screw around. They’ll distract themselves with *anything* to make the time pass, rather than do their jobs (but really, isn’t this anyone who’s stuck with something they just don’t want to do? Boredom will drive you to amazing ends).

Ethan is the main character and he works with Evil Mark, John Doe (has infamous lesbian mother), Bree (Asian female powerhouse), Cancer Cowboy (um.), and Kaitlin
(new to jPod when we first meet her). Ethan's mom grows and sells cannabis, his father is a bit part actor, and his brother is a real estate agent. They all get involved with Kam, a crazy Chinese guy who makes his living, partly, by smuggling Chinese (people) illegally into the US. In fact, a whole shipment of Chinese end up in Ethan's apartment en route to their new homes in the US. Ethan feeds and clothes them in his jPod finery and adopts "refugee wear" as his new personal style for the next few months as it's easier than buying new clothes and offers him a ready-made image.

This is definitely (with the above caveats) the sort of thing that I can appreciate. There are pages devoted to the insane geeky contests they come up with - I generated this number randomly see if you can find the place where I replaced zero with an uppercase O and win [insert stupid prize:]. It's very...absurd. If you like absurd and funny, you'll get on fine. There's also a bit of metafiction at play (yeah, someone please shoot me for saying "meta"), in that DC also becomes a character in his own novel, and is supposed to have ripped the whole thing off from Ethan's life (or the sad story as gleaned by DC through repossession of Ethan’s laptops). It's easier to use Ethan's life - stranger than fiction, ofttimes - as the basis for his novel, than it is to make something up. (less)

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Nov 28, 2008 Jon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hej

Mitt namn är Douglas Coupland, jag sitter i ett rum och onanerar till hur bra jag är... HARRR Jag skriver en bok om hur bra jag är, som handlar om 6 personer på ett kontor... Hurr fast jag är viktigast i hela boken... Haha, jag är så viktig att om jag till och med ger ut skit som att fylla 50 sidor med sifferkombinationer, 20 sidor med konstiga motivations brev, ytterligare 40 sidor med slogans och kinesiska tecken... Behöver jag bara skriva en 100 sidor riktig story och inte ens den behöver...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Bob Hartley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The comedy is somewhere between the Big Bang Theory's "oh, Sheldon hates x, y, z" and IT Crowd's "stop telling everyone I slept with you, you bastard". It's mostly based on cultural references, which is fitting really, given the main characters' backgrounds. There's a part where they talk about Kurt Vonnegut, then later, Coupland shows up, with descriptions like "I looked into his eyes and it was like staring into wells filled with dead toddlers" (paraphrased). It's got that Canadian quality whe...more

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Jan 12, 2013 Paul-Jon rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I used to love love love Coupland, back when I was a self-involved early-20s douchebag. Now that I am a self-involved early-30s douchebag, I don't think I do?

I've put off reading this for years due to the career-low title of 'JPod' (urgh), and I was correct to do so, though maybe if I read it at the time, I might have enjoyed it? Anyway, saw this for 20p in a charity shop, so how could I say no?

The plot: some dicks do some 'zany' things involving the 'zeitgeist' and gamer culture. The 'plot' mo...more

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May 20, 2012 cathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

structurally and plot-wise, this book resembles microserfs, but it was still a uniquely enjoyable read. i only read it once, and it was several months ago, so i'm having trouble remembering what it was about, and confusing it with microserfs (which should indicate that it's not his strongest work, in my opinion.) i would, however, gladly read it again, and probably like it even more the second time around. for someone who re-reads even books they didn't like, it's a compliment to the author that...more

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May 17, 2012 Dave Faires rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Douglas Coupland seems to do his best work when he isn't trying to be excessively witty and satirical. When he tries this in JPod, it comes across as trying too hard. The main cast and the attendant characters are not stereotypes, but worse: each supporting character has a whole host of quirks blown out of proportion, and while the main cast is more rounded, they still all suffer from the fact that the book does nothing to hide that it is a parody of a culture taken so far that it ceases to paro...more

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Dec 14, 2011 Jason Pettus rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, hipster, character-heavy, funny

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

As I've detailed here before, I have for most of my adult life been an obsessive fan of "Generation X" phrase-coiner Douglas Coupland; but while I read literally everything from his first book up to Miss Wyoming when younger, mostly for personal reasons, and have read literally everything from The Gum Thie...more (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.)

As I've detailed here before, I have for most of my adult life been an obsessive fan of "Generation X" phrase-coiner Douglas Coupland; but while I read literally everything from his first book up to Miss Wyoming when younger, mostly for personal reasons, and have read literally everything from The Gum Thief to now for professional reasons, there's a chunk from 2000 to 2007 that I completely missed altogether (comprising the books All Families are Psychotic, Hey Nostradamus!, Eleanor Rigby and jPod), mostly because this was when Coupland reached the low point of his transition between Postmodernism and 21st-century "Sincerism," right at a point when I myself was doing a lot more writing of books in my life than the reading of them. I mean, take 2006's jPod as a good example, which was ostensibly meant to be a "conceptual sequel" of sorts to the biggest hit of his career, 1995's Microserfs, with the two novels sharing a lot of the same premises and details; but while Microserfs was a revelatory celebration of a coming geek entrepreneurial class just starting to show itself, jPod is an unimaginative reaction to our Web 2.0 times, with Coupland seemingly out of ideas about what to do with his old pop-culture shtick and quirky Aspie characters besides to ramp things up to an unsatisfyingly cartoonish level, but not yet understanding what he needed to do to change his career path into its next higher level. Eventually, of course, he did end up realizing what to do, which in a nutshell was to make his stories a lot weirder and darker (see Generation A and Player One, for example); but here where he was still floundering with it all, jPod feels very much like a Coupland simply waiting with boredom for the high-profile MTV shorts offer that were guaranteed to come with any early-2000s project of his (and indeed, jPod itself got made into a 13-episode show for Canadian television, with a novel that feels very much like a quickly done afterthought to that show instead of the other way around). As big a fan as I am of his, it's admittedly hard to justify this particular stretch of his career, so best perhaps to turn either to the books older than these or newer to save yourself some wasted reading experiences.

Out of 10: N/A(less)

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Oct 23, 2011 manuti rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Esta fue otra de las novelas del verano pasado, y le voy a dar 3 estrellas, pero está más bien tirando a 2.

La cuestión es que después de pasarlo muy bien con sus novelas Generación X y con Microsiervos (la novela de la era informática antes de la explosión internet), esta es la novela de la era Internet, la era G**gle y para mi no ha estado a la altura de las expectativas.

Es excesivamente loca, va de un lado para otro y aunque es divertida a ratos se me hizo bastante rollo. De momento voy a deja...more

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Oct 20, 2011 Andrew rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, humour, contemporary

JPod is another Coupland book set in the software development industry, in this case a thinly disguised Electronic Arts. This is not so much a novel as a series of funny sketches, some of which are linked with each other. The main character Ethan and his colleagues appear to do no actual work and mainly serve to advance Coupland’s views about programmers’ lives and obsessions. Admittedly some of them are pretty close to the mark. :-)

This is in no way as serious a novel as Microserfs. There is mu...more

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Oct 16, 2011 Bianca rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Und plötzlich kam alles aus mir herausgesprudelt - alle und alles... Coupland wirkte ziemlich angetan, während ich redete - er machte sich sogar Notizen! Und dann, ganz am Schluss, fragte ich, ... ob er nicht eine kleine Geschichte über mich und mein Leben schreiben wolle."

Und so sollte es sein.
"jPod" von Douglas Coupland erzählt Geschichten aus dem Alltag von Ethan Jarlewski, dessen Familie und Freunde und seinen Mitarbeitern aus dem jPod.
Und seien wir mal ehrlich? Eine Geschichte, die mit e...more "Und plötzlich kam alles aus mir herausgesprudelt - alle und alles... Coupland wirkte ziemlich angetan, während ich redete - er machte sich sogar Notizen! Und dann, ganz am Schluss, fragte ich, ... ob er nicht eine kleine Geschichte über mich und mein Leben schreiben wolle."

Und so sollte es sein.
"jPod" von Douglas Coupland erzählt Geschichten aus dem Alltag von Ethan Jarlewski, dessen Familie und Freunde und seinen Mitarbeitern aus dem jPod.
Und seien wir mal ehrlich? Eine Geschichte, die mit einer Schildkröte anfängt, kann doch gar nicht schlecht sein.

Ethan ist der Ich-Erzähler des Buches. Dabei ist er sehr sympathisch, jedoch voller Sarkasmus und hat eine eigenartige Art das Leben zu sehen. Doch genau diese Art zieht sich durch die gesamte Erzählung und zieht den Leser in seinen Bann, ohne dass er oder sie es merkt.
Am Ende ertappt ihr euch vielleicht sogar dabei, die ersten 10.000 Ziffern von Pi nach eurer Telefonnummer abzusuchen.

Aus meiner Sicht, ist jPod einfach nur genial! Aber das könnte auch daran liegen, dass ich mich als Programmierer in der Ausbildung fast zu sehr in das Leben der Hauptfiguren hineinversetzen kann, zumindest der Teil bei dem es um ihre Arbeit geht. Wenn es um Ethans Leben geht, hoffe ich dass sich da keiner auch nur hineinversetzen will, denn was der Arme durchmachen muss, ist schon ziemlich skurril, aber als Außenstehender richtig witzig zu lesen.

"Ich vergesse immer, dass deine Familie mit Software von Microsoft läuft."

Ich würde jPod jedem empfehlen, nicht nur den Programmierern unter euch, sondern jedem, der nach ein bisschen Unterhaltung im Alltag sucht.
Dadurch, dass sich die Geschichte relativ flüssig lesen lässt und in viele kleine Abschnitte unterteilt ist, ist es auch die gerade richtige Lektüre für die, die nicht viel lesen oder zwischendurch nur mal 10 Minuten Zeit haben für ein Buch.

Einen Punkt Abzug gibt es trotzdem von mir, da es kein "Must-Read"-Buch ist, sondern ein schöner Happen für zwischendurch.(less)

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Aug 29, 2011 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

JPod, an amazing book that describes the people of today.

I read this book for school a couple of years ago for an independent study. Yes, that's right, for school. It's not really the type of book you'd think someone would read in school just because of what the book does, but indeed, I read it for school. I chose it for two reasons: the cover had freaking Lego people on it, how awesome is that, and because it was about programmers and I am one (and currently doing my major).

The book is about a...more JPod, an amazing book that describes the people of today.

I read this book for school a couple of years ago for an independent study. Yes, that's right, for school. It's not really the type of book you'd think someone would read in school just because of what the book does, but indeed, I read it for school. I chose it for two reasons: the cover had freaking Lego people on it, how awesome is that, and because it was about programmers and I am one (and currently doing my major).

The book is about a group of programmers that work in a section of a company known as JPod, named from the fact that it is a basement pod where all the employees have names starting with the letter J. The current project is to create a realistic skateboarding game, but that soon goes to hell when the programmers get a new boss. Their new boss is not from any gaming industry and decides that in order to get his son to like him more, having just been divorced, to make this skateboarding game feature a talking turtle. And that's only the work problem, it gets worse. Ethan, the main character, has two parents that find themselves in huge messes. Mis mom grows weed in her basement and accidentally electrocuted a biker who was trying to force some free weed from her. And his dad is having an affair with someone his age that he went to school with.

The book is hilarious. I mean, mom sells drugs, dad's having an affair, and all the other problems that arise (I don't want to spoil anything, but more stuff shows up). The type of comedy is just something else, and he's done a great job with this book, unlike some of his other works. The book even gets into some stuff that's probably NSFW (not safe for work) but it's all okay. Where else would you find Ronald McDonald being forced to strip by some moms and being shot. Yeah, that's in this book. The book's comedy is able to make you laugh because you relate to it. I'm not saying you smoke weed or are having an affair, but if you're in high school, you know people that do drugs and the rest of the book follows from it. You'll enjoy all the profanity too. Again though, I hardly think the phrase "cum dumpster" appearing on the inside cover is appropriate for any workplace or school, but I won't complain when they let me read this book.

The other portion of the book I really like is the statement it tries to make. It shows how people in society now suffer from ADD, as a whole. People cannot stick with things for long, get side-tracked easily, that sort of thing. It shows this by itself suffering from the same fate. The book itself often stops in the middle of the story to put an add in or some random Chinese characters. Which lends itself to the second big point which is the pop culture. We, today, are so obsessed by pop-culture that it is a part of our lives and we would be helpless without it. JPod does this better than any of his other works, mostly because it writes in a Post-Gutenberg style. In his other works that try to do it as a novel without feeling like a mess of stuff, it simply just doesn't work out that well.

This book is great. The characters are great and the story is alright. If there's anything that I have to harp on, it's that the story isn't so enjoyable at the end, and it feels like Coupland had this great idea about a story (basically the summary I gave you) and the idea about the style of writing, but had no ending and came up with it on short notice for some sort of deadline. It was turned into a short TV series, not that it did well but it wasn't half bad.

Definitely a good book and definitely the best he has ever written. It's worth reading if you want a fiction book about people today that is hilarious. Definitely read the book instead of watching the show because you'll miss the humour in the random advertising or 100,000 digits of pi. So what are you waiting for? Go and get the book now!(less)

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Aug 10, 2011 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars

My first Coupland experience won't be my last. But that's not to say I loved the book. I REALLY liked parts of it, and I mostly didn't like other parts. Following a group of coworkers at a video game company, I couldn't help but draw connections to G4's 'Code Monkeys'. JPod isn't nearly as chaotic (or funny), but still good.

The story and the characters are entertaining and fun. While they're portrayed as misfits, you can't help but wish "Damn, I wish my cubemates / cubicle farm was this rad ..."...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Ms. Library rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, owned

This is my third Coupland book this year, and my fourth altogether. I like Coupland. He captures the twentieth century feeling of “Now what?” rather well. This was a perfect companion to Fight Club. They both have the characters with a sense of ennui because they are history’s middle children. Coupland also does absurd well. He manages to take a rather prosaic start to a ridiculous place in about three pages.

Postmodern?: This book definitely falls into the postmodern category. I honestly think...more

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Jan 11, 2011 Kristoff Tilkin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Voor zijn nieuwe worp 'JPod' (Anthos) kruiste Douglas Coupland twee van zijn beste romans: het meesterwerk 'Microslaven' uit 1995 en de heerlijke satire 'Alle families zijn psychotisch' uit 2001. 't Resultaat is opnieuw een schot in de roos, en dat werd tijd: de twee laatste romans van de Canadese chroniqueur van ' Generation X', tevens voltijds Zeitgeist-junkie en tree hugger, lonkten volop naar het new age-rek in de boekhandel.

In 'JPod' proberen Ethan Jarlewski en zijn vijf collega-gamedesigne...more Voor zijn nieuwe worp 'JPod' (Anthos) kruiste Douglas Coupland twee van zijn beste romans: het meesterwerk 'Microslaven' uit 1995 en de heerlijke satire 'Alle families zijn psychotisch' uit 2001. 't Resultaat is opnieuw een schot in de roos, en dat werd tijd: de twee laatste romans van de Canadese chroniqueur van ' Generation X', tevens voltijds Zeitgeist-junkie en tree hugger, lonkten volop naar het new age-rek in de boekhandel.

In 'JPod' proberen Ethan Jarlewski en zijn vijf collega-gamedesigners het bijtende gevoel van willekeur af te schudden waartegen de personages in 'Microslaven' een decennium eerder al vochten. Ze schrijven - tijdens de werkuren, dat spreekt - brieven aan de zielige hamburgerclown Ronald McDonald, maken profielen aan voor allerhande onbestaande communitysites ('Ethan zou stiekem best willen dat zijn leven eenvoudiger was en dat hij aan het einde van zijn straat limonade kon verkopen vanachter een kaarttafeltje'), spelen spelletjes waar alleen hoogbegaafde autisten zich aan wagen en schieten ondertussen hun kierewiete familieleden en vrienden te hulp.

De vaak kolderieke gebeurtenissen - één voorbeeld: Ethan helpt een biker begraven die per ongeluk door zijn moeder werd vermoord toen hij haar een deel van de winst van haar wietplantage probeerde af te snoepen - worden om de haverklap onderbroken door reclameboodschappen, spammails en andere vervelende uitwassen van deze tijd. Coupland neemt zijn eigen obsessie met de tijdgeest overigens vrolijk in de zeik ('Zima drinken is iets wat Douglas Coupland een personage zou laten doen') en legt het er vingerdik bovenop dat Ethan en zijn collega's karikaturen zijn: 'Je bent een deprimerend samenraapsel van invloeden uit de popcultuur en uitgeschakelde gevoelens, voortgedreven door de sputterende motor van de meest banale vorm van kapitalisme.'

Coupland duikt ook zelf als personage op: in het vliegtuig op weg naar China ontfutselt de gevierde schrijver Ethans levensverhaal - hij ziet er meteen stof in voor een roman. Anders dan Bret Easton Ellis, die zijn deels fictieve ego de hoofdrol liet spelen in de horrorroman 'Lunar Park', is de Coupland uit 'JPod' niet meer dan een virtuele kwelduivel die de onbenulligheid van de JPodders in de verf zet.

Maar tussen alle ironie door (zie in dat verband de knipogen naar de 'accelererende cultuur' uit de ondertitel van 'Generatie X') doet de schrijver dat waar hij sinds zijn debuut een meester in is: het registreren van de vertwijfeling, de onrust en de woekerende willekeur die zo kenmerkend is voor het leven na God, na het doorprikken van de dotcomzeepbel én na nine eleven, dat de allerlaatste zekerheden definitief verpulverde.

Coupland verstopt de sleutel voor de briljant gemonteerde collage die 'JPod' is in één van de monsterachtige maar geweldige tekstmontages met citaten uit zelfhulpboeken, verzuurde commentaar op het leven-in-de-vroege-eenentwintigste-eeuw en kotsverwekkende bedrijfstaal: 'De meesten van ons kunnen niet uit de voeten met een leven zonder structuur.' En van de technologie hoeven we evenmin heil te verwachten, want die heeft het mysterie van het leven botweg vermoord - zie bijvoorbeeld de zoekrobot Google: 'Het probleem na een week lang googelen is dat het dodelijk vermoeiend wordt om op alles het antwoord te weten. Zo moet God zich voortdurend voelen. Volgens mij zullen mensen in het jaar 2020 terugverlangen naar hoe het voelt om ergens geen flauw benul van te hebben.'

'Microslaven' kreeg een onbeschaamd tranentrekkerig einde mee, maar dit keer voorziet Coupland zijn happy end van een ironische voice-over ('Wat voor eikel zou een boek afronden net als alles zo goed gaat?') en laat de keuze ietwat flauw aan de lezer: 'Play Again? Y/N'. Niettemin: wij noemden de carrière van Coupland ooit een processie van Echternach, omdat hij het na twee uitstekende roman telkens weer presteerde een misser te publiceren.

Maar the spell is broken, de Ikea-meubelen én zijn ietwat slabakkende schrijverschap zijn gered. Hoo-fuckin'-ray! (less)

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Dec 07, 2010 Jana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book very much. All families are psychotic will forever be my favourite Coupland novel, but I was grinning and laughing through various parts of jPod and found myself nodding in agreement at several of the statements. Especially, the discourse on autism by Ehan’s girlfriend were quite entertaining, in my opinion.

It’s amazing what the characters get away with and still remain (somewhat) likeable.

The appearance of Douglas Coupland as a fictional character in this novel did not irrit...more

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Nov 01, 2010 Mckinley rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novel

JPod is in a similar vein of Mircoserfs only a decade or so later. The characters are the modern day equivalent of the Microserf technogeeks. Six co-workers at a massive Vancouver video game design company suffer the ups and downs of the gaming world, googling their way past absurd and idiotic bureaucratic input on the game they are creating. In retaliation, the JPod team lead by Ethan Jarlewski write code inserting an evil Ronald McDonald clown to undermine the kiddy-surfboard game.

While the JP...more

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About Douglas Coupland

Douglas Coupland is Canadian, born on a Canadian Air Force base near Baden-Baden, Germany, on December 30, 1961. In 1965 his family moved to Vancouver, Canada, where he continues to live and work. Coupland has studied art and design in Vancouver, Canada, Milan, Italy and Sapporo, Japan. His first novel, Generation X, was published in March of 1991. Since then he has published nine novels and sever...more

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Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture

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“TV and the Internet are good because they keep stupid people from spending too much time out in public.” — 371 people liked it

“Here's my theory about meetings and life: the three things you can't fake are erections, competence and creativity.” — 131 people liked it

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