JPod, Douglas Coupland

 

Every book that I have read so far for Bookstravaganza has left me with a very distinct set of things to say about it. Except JPod. It was funny. It was irreverent. It was a fast, smooth read. I liked its amorality and hysterical realism. I liked that every character was more insane and broken than the last once the narrator got to know them better (he bonds with his mother while burying the man she accidentally killed; he goes to rescue his corporate stooge boss from China, where he’s become a heroin addict and works in a knock-off Nike factory). I liked that Douglas Coupland appeared as a character.

But there were elements of this book which were just so random that I just flipped past the page with a “meh” feeling. Like the 41 pages which listed the first 100 thousand digits of pi. Or the pages which just had corporate logos, or big blocks of kanji, or computer code that I couldn’t read. I love the idea of postmodern mash-up and craziness and chaos. But if it doesn’t serve any kind of purpose to the story, I am pretty indifferent towards it.

So that’s my review. It feels weird. I don’t have anything really to say. Should you read this book? Yes…? It’s funny and weird, but it also feels hollow and empty, ultralight and insubstantial despite its 450 pages. Maybe that’s a commentary on consumer culture that the book is trying to make. Maybe it’s not. I enjoyed this book, but I’ll probably forget about it very quickly. Yeah.

For my last trick, I will be reading A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. I watched the Christopher and His Kind TV movie on YouTube, starring the Eleventh Doctor (waaaaaaaah I want him back how can he go) as Christopher Isherwood, and a bunch of hot German actors as all the dudes he bangs in pre-WWII Germany. And I watched the beautiful Tom Ford adaptation with creepy Ken doll Tony Stonem and glamourous President Coin as King Henry VI’s best friend. So I have been excited for this book since I plucked it off my sister’s shelf, and I think it will be a good read to cap off 2013. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it.