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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: Important voice for his (and my) generation
Review: Coupland is one of the greatest literary voices of Generation X, and I don’t know if the boomers or their offspring will be able to appreciate the impact of coming of age in the spiritual wasteland of the â€~80s. I have enjoyed all of Coupland’s works that I have read, and this is one of my favorites. I can still remember reading the last page of the last story, and it has probably been 10 years. Great book!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Poignant Vignettes on life
Review: This is a good book, effective but not great. The series of stories as told by the disenfranchised narrator is filled with keen observations and poignant vigneetes, together forming a good carricature of the suburban lifestyle during these safe, post Cold War years where spirituality dwindles. I found the apocalyptic seres of vignette the most effective, as well as the relationship to the sister. The ending is a bit of a let down, as Coupland didn't really have a run up to the conclusion, it just appeared as a stretch.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Images
Review: The kiddish sketches and the small chapters made the book more interesting to read. I enjoyed his frank way of speaking and the array of moments in time that Coupland touched on (particularly the nuclear scene). He definitely chose good scenes and good characters and was minimally boring. The end wasn't fantastic and much less than I expected. There simply wasn't enough building up to the end he chose; every event seemed to be leading up to a different end. The irony wasn't strikingly brilliant, though. It was more like a fizz.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: my favorite book
Review: i dunno? something about this book's simplicity...and how it's all tied together at the end? something about how in the end nothing in life can fill the void except the Divine. Douglas Copeland creates art without trying to, and in the process, reveals the secret of life. not bad...even for a third novel...not bad at all.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great book depending on your age
Review: I first read LAG 8 years ago when I was 20. At the time I was just beginning to feel a sense of ennui and angst. LAG absolutely floored me. I had never really been exposed to these types of philosophical/sociological thoughts and observations about the modern condition and life.

This week on a whim I decided to read LAG again to see how it would hit me 8 years later. Now, as a 28 year old, the book seemed trite and callow. Most of the territory covered in the book has been covered over and over by so many authors. Part of this may be due to the fact that Coupland helped pioneer this style and message but a great book should always feel fresh and relevant and this feels cliche and dated.

With all that said, though, LAG still carries a great warmth and honesty. It is a wonderful book for people in late teens or early 20s (or for older people who are a little late to explore some of these themes). But authors like Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace, and to an extent Don Delillo explore Coupland's themes but in a much more sophisticated manner. Coupland provides a sort of cliff notes version to deep thoughts. Nothing wrong with that though! And despite its callowness, LAG still provided some genuine moments were I had to put the book down and gaze out the window and think and/or feel for a few moments. If an author can elicit that response from a reader, that is an achievement. And again, I BELIEVE him, in his voice, and I'll take that any day over a more erudite book that rings pretentious and false.


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