false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1163449484m/3384.jpg 3384 22 In this latest novel from the poet laureate of Gen X--who is himself now a dangerously mature 36--boy does indeed meet girl. The year is 1979, and the lovers get right down to business in a very Couplandian bit of <I>plein air</I> intercourse: "Karen and I deflowered each other atop Grouse Mountain, among the cedars beside a ski slope, atop crystal snow shards beneath penlight stars. It was a December night so cold and clear that the air felt like the air of the Moon--lung-burning; mentholated and pure; hint of ozone, zinc, ski wax, and Karen's strawberry shampoo." Are we in for an archetypal '80s romance, played out against a pop-cultural backdrop? Nope. Only hours after losing her virginity, Karen loses consciousness as well--for almost two decades. The narrator and his circle soldier on, making the slow progression from debauched Vancouver youths to semiresponsible adults. Several end up working on a television series that bears a suspicious resemblance to <I>The X-Files</I> (surely a self-referential wink on the author's part). And then ... Karen wakes up. Her astonishment--which suggests a 20th-century, substance-abusing Rip Van Winkle--dominates the second half of the novel, and gives Coupland free reign to muse about time, identity, and the meaning (if any) of the impending millennium. Alas, he also slaps a concluding apocalypse onto the novel. As sleeping sickness overwhelms the populace, the world ends with neither a bang nor a whimper, but a universal yawn--which doesn't, fortunately, outweigh the sweetness, oddity, and ironic smarts of everything that has preceded it. 81401 book 1997 Girlfriend in a Coma total:3170|5:614|4:984|3:1101|2:367|1:104| 3170 11147 4013 208 1 5 false false Sun May 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri May 02 11:18:05 -0700 2008 Sun Dec 28 23:09:28 -0800 2008
Ok... the beginning was reasonable, but the ending... [oh Lord!]...the ending was not only extremely disapponting.... it also seemed to drag somewhat.

I am...more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Aug 05 21:30:23 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 05 21:50:00 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 2 false false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Jun 04 12:09:46 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 04 12:10:51 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 1999 Thu Jun 07 12:30:47 -0700 2007 Sat Jun 09 23:57:59 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 1 false false Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon May 21 20:53:25 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 15 18:57:56 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 1 false false Mon Mar 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 22 17:30:54 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 24 06:13:48 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Feb 06 08:28:52 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 06 08:29:07 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false true Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Apr 29 19:37:15 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 19:37:15 -0700 2009 2 This novel starts off with Karen and Richard who share and intimate night on a skiing trip, soon after which she falls into a coma. All six friends have ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Fri Oct 02 10:12:20 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 02 10:12:27 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue May 05 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 28 12:35:43 -0700 2009 Tue May 05 09:39:26 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Oct 18 11:50:08 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 13:33:10 -0700 2009 The overarching narrative looks at the way in which individuals respond to loss and grief works really well which gives almost a sense of emotional catharsis. One of the novels great strengths is that it allows you to become emotionally invested in the character which both keeps yo...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jan 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 19:50:20 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 19:55:01 -0800 2009 once more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jan 14 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 08 11:28:48 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 11:29:17 -0700 2009
The first part is the straightforward tale of a group of friends and the effect that one of them falling into a coma has on their lives. The only hint of what is to come is that the first few pages are narrated by someone already dead by the time the tale be...more...]]> 1 2 false false Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Tue Jul 31 23:51:50 -0700 2007 Wed Aug 01 00:03:37 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Thu Aug 06 08:07:08 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 06 12:58:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Thu Jun 25 21:27:22 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 19:10:49 -0700 2009 1
The good: hysterical at parts, Coupland has a gift for making pretty m...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu May 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 26 22:03:01 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 09:37:46 -0700 2009
Unlike Microserfs, the plotl...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Mar 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 21 19:44:27 -0700 2009 Sat Mar 28 16:57:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Aug 13 19:13:26 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 13 19:13:26 -0700 2008
Coupland sets much of the story during the end ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jul 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 04 17:01:01 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 14:34:02 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=3384