Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
494th out of 1,754 books
—
1,561 voters
Polaroids from the Dead
Douglas Coupland takes his sparkling literary talent in a new direction with this crackling collection of takes on life and death in North America -- from his sweeping portrait of Grateful Dead culture to the deaths of Kurt Cobain, Marilyn Monroe and the middle class.For years, Coupland's razor-sharp insights into what it means to be human in an age of technology have garn...more
Paperback, 198 pages
Published
September 20th 1997
by Harper Perennial
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,893)
Polaroids from the Dead sits between Microserfs and Girlfriend in a Coma and is easily seen as a transitional point in Coupland's writing.
The three sections: stories set around Dead culture, pieces of travel writing and memories of Vancouver, and a lengthy bit of meditations on the LA community of Brentwood are thematically tied together with photos ranging from the iconic to the obscure and pages the color of an undeveloped Polaroid.
As in Life After God Coupland drops much of his surface humo...more
The three sections: stories set around Dead culture, pieces of travel writing and memories of Vancouver, and a lengthy bit of meditations on the LA community of Brentwood are thematically tied together with photos ranging from the iconic to the obscure and pages the color of an undeveloped Polaroid.
As in Life After God Coupland drops much of his surface humo...more
To echo another reviewer, this is a much better book now than it was when it first came out. The content, of course, is the same, but I am a much different reader when this was published 15 years ago. At twenty I had to practice an ironic detachment from what Coupland was saying about the 1990s and who we were then; I thought he had no right to define "us". Now, I can see that his insight into the culture back then was crystal clear. He had it right all along.
Coupland is a gifted essayist, and y...more
Coupland is a gifted essayist, and y...more
Short stories that, at the beginning, are about some people in the audience of one of the last concerts of the Grateful Dead, then a few trips the author and his reaction to the death of Cobain, and, finally, the American political scene in the early '90 and a particular comparison between the story of OJ Simpson and that of Marilyn Monroe.
Piccoli racconti che seguono all'inizio alcuni tra gli ascoltatori di uno degli ultimo concerti dei Grateful Dead, poi alcuni viaggi dell'autore stesso e la s...more
Piccoli racconti che seguono all'inizio alcuni tra gli ascoltatori di uno degli ultimo concerti dei Grateful Dead, poi alcuni viaggi dell'autore stesso e la s...more
Well... That was a book. I generally love Coupland, but this book felt off. While he generally tries to feel out poignant topics to expose, to pick away at, to muse upon, this book felt lost.
Maybe that was the point; to be a journey of denarration. This books feels like Coupland himself is trying to suss out the answers to questions he hasn't properly revealed to the user. He wanders almost aimlessly between stories that are barely connected.
Again, maybe that was the point, but it was frustrat...more
Maybe that was the point; to be a journey of denarration. This books feels like Coupland himself is trying to suss out the answers to questions he hasn't properly revealed to the user. He wanders almost aimlessly between stories that are barely connected.
Again, maybe that was the point, but it was frustrat...more
Aug 26, 2011
Daniel Kukwa
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
canadian-lit,
non-fiction
A very strange work of...well, let's called it Coupland-on-auto-pilot-randomness. The first third is a fictional series of vignettes taking place at a Grateful Dead concert...and nails (in many ways) the lid on the coffin of the 1960s and 1970s by the "hard" realities of the 1990s. The second third of the book is a series of melancholy essays about cultural post-moderism...or should that be post-90s-isms. It's all well and good, but then the final third of the book lurches into the territory of...more
It was a gift. It was terrible.
Apr 29, 2010
Meg
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who wants to visit 1994 Memory Ln
Shelves:
short-stories
I believe this is a book that is made better with age. I didn't expect to enjoy it, and so I've put off reading it for 15 years since it originally came out. I'm actually glad that I did, because I think it's a much better book now than it was 15 years ago.
Polaroids from the Dead is a collection of essays that Coupland wrote in the early 90’s and that appeared in various magazines and publications. Published in 1996, he collected the pieces into a single volume and illustrated them with photogra...more
Polaroids from the Dead is a collection of essays that Coupland wrote in the early 90’s and that appeared in various magazines and publications. Published in 1996, he collected the pieces into a single volume and illustrated them with photogra...more
Inspired by a collection of Polaroids he found in a drawer, the auther Douglas Coupland provides a variety of short stories that reveals his life and the changing culture seen during the early 90's. The book starts off with two fictional characters at a "Grateful Dead Concert". The two characters take on the stereotypical role of 1970's hippies, as they pop acid to entertwine themselves with the music and people surrounding them. Each picture shown in the book has a story behind it to reveal it'...more
This si a book about Coupland's ruminations on contemporary 1990s culture, such as the Grateful Dead, life in California and his native Vancouver, Canada. The peices on the Greateful Dead were fun to read, I can relate to that experience vicariously though my firends and the Greensoboro shows where I went to school.
The long-winded piece at the end on Bentwood, in Los Angeles was less to my liking, but interesting in Couplan's ruminations on fame, post-fame, and the need to continuously reinvent...more
The long-winded piece at the end on Bentwood, in Los Angeles was less to my liking, but interesting in Couplan's ruminations on fame, post-fame, and the need to continuously reinvent...more
Jul 17, 2012
Pastie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
everyone
Recommended to Pastie by:
Chris Starkey
Shelves:
fiction
I'm grateful to the book, the well written concise stories inside it and the well selected photographs, particularly those about grave watching and the Lions Gate bridge in Vancouver, made me want to visit Vancouver, Canada and British Columbia and in doing so I met my wife. Which in itself a little like something out of Coupland novel.
Not only that, but it introduced me to Douglas Couplands work which I've enjoyed ever since.
Not only that, but it introduced me to Douglas Couplands work which I've enjoyed ever since.
To be brutally honest, this book just seemed like a bunch of random rantings about absolutely nothing. It was like he had written it all down just to get the thoughts off his chest, and then haphazardly threw them into a book and sent it off to his publisher... and it only got published because of his past successes.
Normally I love Coupland, but this book was a huge disappointment.
Normally I love Coupland, but this book was a huge disappointment.
I loved the first half of the book, which did a great job of reminding me what the Grateful Dead lots and shows were like. After that, though the book got less and less interesting for me, culminating in a dreary, detail-laden history and description of the neighborhood in LA in which OJ Simpson (may or may not have) killed Nicole Brown.
Dec 03, 2008
Daiquiri
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people and dogs
Recommended to Daiquiri by:
coopland fall program
i liked parts of this book. i liked the idea of this book. eventhough it takes the romance out of going to a grateful dead show it made me wish i had gone to one. but i would have been just like some of the characters in the stories-kind of clueless about the whole dead picture and aiming to get high.
I finally finished this book, after taking a good 1-2 years to read it. I love Copeland, think he's bizzare and interesting, but I COULD NOT get into this book. The stories seem pointless to me. There were some anecdotes that I enjoyed, but for the most part I had to force myself to read this.
A collection of short stories and essays that analyses 90s culture in North America from the perspective of somebody living through it.
Douglas Coupland is right up there as one of my favourite authors and this was my first experience of his short writings; a selection of themed pieces told in such a way that even the fiction felt like reality.
Dissecting the evolution of the generation he had previously inadvertently christened Generation X and the way we choose to connect with others whilst rema...more
Douglas Coupland is right up there as one of my favourite authors and this was my first experience of his short writings; a selection of themed pieces told in such a way that even the fiction felt like reality.
Dissecting the evolution of the generation he had previously inadvertently christened Generation X and the way we choose to connect with others whilst rema...more
5 likes · like · see review
view 1 comment
It's unfortunate that people feel that this book is just filled with rants and riff-raff. I think to each of the little short stories there are deeper meanings, and they are pleasing ones at that. Not the most amazing book, but definitely enjoyed it.
The creativeness of this book is really intriguing. while I liked the theme, the Grateful Dead stories started to sound a little monotonous. I do enjoy the subtly sweet feeling of recognizing freeway names and areas of Oakland that are casually mentioned.
This is a good one to keep coming back to when the mood strikes. But somehow I found myself not quite interested enough to remember what I had read when returning to a middle page after a week or two of not picking it up.
This is a good one to keep coming back to when the mood strikes. But somehow I found myself not quite interested enough to remember what I had read when returning to a middle page after a week or two of not picking it up.
This book is a musing on 1990s culture, from a variety of fictional and non-fictional viewpoints. It was a bit scattered, but I don't think this detracts meaningfully from the point of it all. The short stories at the beginning are fantastic, probably my favourite part of the book, though some of his thoughts on B.C. also hit the spot. The last section of the book, about fame, was mildly incoherent at times, but it was fitting, and read a bit like a half-cut older lady rambling about the city of...more
I must retread this now that I've read Talbot's The Season of the Witch, about San Francisco and including details about its Grateful Dead/free festival/Haight-Ashbury era. I'd like to get a first edition hardback, actually.
I really enjoy Douglas Coupland's intimate storytelling. This was the first book of his I ever read (at 18) and was hooked! I look forward to re-reading this now that I'm in my 30's.
i think i finished this but i barely remember it. kids at a grateful dead concert or something in the beginning. a lot of photos...not much to this book, is what i remember.
Aug 05, 2012
Hanna
added it
In my top 10 for sure is Douglas Coupland "Polaroids from the Dead." It's very 90s but very profound. He is a modern day prophet. Loved his "Life after God" as well.
I liked it. Mostly Part Two, about Coupland's actual life, and Part One was funny, so that was good. It's interspersed with old photos which are nice to look at. His writing, as always, is perfect.
Not Coupland's best book, but parts 2-3 that sketch the tenor of specific times and places are spot on, particularly part 3, the profile of Brentwood, CA.
I'm so disappointed in this book, it was so boring. I think he should stick to fiction. I've liked all his books, but this one was a letdown.
Hated it when I first got it. But gave it another chance when I got older. Really like it now.
An all time favorite. I wish Coupland wrote more nonfiction, since his style suits it so very well.
Especially like the author's observations in "Postcard Number Two: Power Failure"
Polaroids from the Dead by Douglas Coupland (1996), 1st ed
You or I could have written these stories. But we didn't.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
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
More about Douglas Coupland...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
