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Life After God

Life After God

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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I don't know what it is but......
Review: It took me forever to find this book, and when I did I was soo excited, and even more so to finish reading it. And I wasn't surprised that I picked it up again a week later. This book (and most of his others) just have a way of putting things in "my point of view"...everything he writes is like the way that I think...and surpisingly I have been reading his books since I was 14. Even at a young age, I "understood". After reading this book and you close the cover you will say "wow"...it will just "touch" you, and make you think...well at least it did for me-so far, this is my favorite book.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: ONCE AGAIN--3 STARS!!
Review: This book of sketches and reflections harkens back to his first work, Generation X, in that it's experimental and unexpected. Many of the scenarios are weak, and some are downright pretentious, but the work as a whole is intriguing. I admire Coupland's willingness to be earnest in his examinination of religious beliefs, as most young writers are dreadfully afraid to do so.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: His best work.
Review: Life After God was the first of Coupland's books that I read, and I still consider it his best. The book is far more than a collection of short stories -- a thematic unity ties the stories together, creating a single work, almost a novel (much like Faulkner's _Go Down Moses_).

While Coupland's depiction of the Gen X crowd might be considered a bit dated (the people he is writing about are now in their mid-30s, much like Coupland himself, and the characters in his later novels), this novel transcends the apathetic stereotype, showing that there is hope, even for a "hopeless" generation.

If you are new to Coupland's work, start with this book (or _Microserfs_).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Truthful, Powerful and Beautiful
Review: Life After God speaks the truth for a generation of lonely, intelligent, and confused individuals, even those of us who do not find Beavis and Butthead even remotely amusing or entertaining. Coupland's vision requires no plot. The simplicity echoes with levels of meaning and emotion perhaps only few may grasp. Read with an open mind, slowly and thoughtfully, and you will find a profoundly beautiful and powerful study of our society.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Sad, Funny, Perceptive -- Coupland's Best Work
Review: Forget the more famous "Generation X." The collection "Life After God" is Coupland's best work by far. This collection of stories is related by theme and narrative voice; while the characters change from story to story, the point of view remains the same, and Coupland uses the same narrative voice throughout. And what a voice it is! Funny, Perceptive, Sad, resigned to the past yet yearning for a better future--a future which the author fears might always elude him. The characters in "Life After God" are more like real people than the characters in his other books, who often assume the roles of cultural stereotypes and morph into cliches. In different ways, the characters in "Life After God" are all dealing with loss--the loss of a lover, of a sister, a childhood friend, one's own idealism. And there are no happy endings. At best the characters manage to accept their losses and find a sliver of hope to carry them through the rest of their lives. Coupland's prose is lean and poetic; his eye for detail manages to convey much about a character or a situation through the use of one or two objects. His monotone prose reflects the flat, wounded states of his characters' souls. Each of these stories is heartbreaking in its own way. Despite his reputation as a novelist, short fiction seems to be Coupland's natural medium. His storytelling talents are average at best, but his observations of character and feeling are superb. It is the latter which makes "Life After God" such a moving experience.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "LAG" continues in the same brilliance as "Generation X"
Review: What remains to be so fascinating about "Life After God" is the memory it leaves behind in the reader on completion. His tendancy to delve into such insightful, thought-provoking aspects of our existence with such freshness and accuracy remains to be both eye-opening and astounding. His excellent understanding of human nature in this novel will remain to be seen and respected in many years to come. A brilliant novel.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: good prose no plot
Review: Life After God is well written, there is no argument there (despite a few consistency errors). The problem is this nice read goes nowhere, it just delivers lots of little stories with nothing to tie them together into a cohesive whole. Coupland is good with his prose and is very easy to read, but I want more than that. And really, a plot is not too much to ask for is it?

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: This is not Coupland at his best
Review: As a Coupland Frequent Flyer, I almost lost perspective while I was reading this book. I had enjoyed (does anyone remember what it is like?) "Generation X", "Shampoo Planet" and "Microserfs" so much, that I bought "Life After God" without much thought. In the end, I was standing in a crossroad: Should my zest for Coupland's style rule over the randomness I had found in most of the stories (in typical brain-heart conflict)? Or should I accept that this was for Coupland what "Almost Blue" was for Elvis Costello? Although I don't regret buying and reading this one, I still think it pales in comparison even to cronicles like the ones he usually does for Wallpaper Magazine, so my advice is this: Buy and read this book only if you have done so with ano-ther from the ones I mention above. If you like them, welcome aboard.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Coupland sets a new pace with X'er brand literature.
Review: Coupland continues to do us all a favor by describing the world from a previously unnoticed perspective. His innovations in language and storyline are an exciting change of pace from the status quo. Even so, his quirky, often cynical observations, are an acquired taste for those who have not grasped this brand of grunge-techno-pop-iconic-insider literature. He will be studied by young writers in ten or twenty years.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Staggeringly bad
Review: Apparently "God" was crucially involved in stuff like prose style, characterization, and plot development. Coupland -- owing to . . . lack of talent? unfamiliarity with the literary canon? -- runs afoul of that fallacy whereby the affectless stupor of the things one represents dictates an affectless, stupor-enducing manner of representation. Mind-boggling tedium, in the service a *very* juvenile worldview.


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