Hey Nostradamus! : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: I truley am impressed. I read a great deal and I felt like I was out of truley amazing books, and authors, as I have finished Voneguts collection. But Coupland was GREAT!
You can read the novel in two ways, as an easy read, for the pure entertainment he provides so vividly, or for the deeper meaning between the words.
A must read!

Rating:
Summary: eh
Review: Not Coupland's best, but not half bad. Some people hate it when he delves into the mystical. Personally, I think it's kind of cool.

Rating:
Summary: Hey Nostradamus!
Review: The Columbine Massacre is an event which shocked and impacted the lives of many people in a small community in Colorado. However, what if those events had taken place earlier, say 1988 and in a community in Vancouver? How would these events affect the people of that community and more specifically those directly involved? How would their lives, with their own complexities and problems, be changed? Douglas Coupland asks these same questions in his book Hey Nostradamus! By offering the story in series of four narratives which all recount the personal journeys of the four narrators (Cheryl, Jason, Heather, Reg), each reacting in some way to the events of that fateful day, and illustrates just how deeply and how long such an violent event can impact upon someone's life.
The story principle follows Jason Klaasen his trial, tribulations, and his movements from husband, to would be father, to widower, to loser and to simply gone. The characters surrounding the Klaasen family, as well as the small community, all experience similar emotional ups and downs as they struggle to cope with their loss and return to a sense of normalcy while trying to fill the void created by that terrible day. Religious themes then ring heavily in the book starting with the Klaasen family Patriarch, a strict and often ideologically confused, Reg Klaasen. The Mafioso religious youth group both Jason and Cheryl once belong to as well as reoccurring phrases like Cheryl's scribbling in the cafeteria, as she and her class mates are held at gun point, "God is Nowhere / God is Now Here." and the deep need of all character to have some spiritual (supernatural) supervision rings deeply with religious conviction and confusion, many if not all, the character share. With the characters all struggling at some time to deal with their religious convictions and their need to either pass blame or escape guilt they all look to find redemption in the eyes of one another in the unique and odd relationships they develop after the massacre.
Coupland manages to skillfully keep the readers attention while dragging them through confusing narration of a desperate teenager, a guilty and a lonely middle aged adult and a crisis stricken elderly man. By hearing the story from four different points of view, and from four closely related narrators the story evolves as the understanding of then historical events evolves with each passing page. Coupland manages to alter bias as he sees fit to help lead the reader through awkward moments and understand the drives behind which skew the narrators' understanding of the events which unfold before them. As years pass new narrators appear, who were not even at school present when the massacre took place (such as Heather), and offer new insight that helps understand the Klaasen family as all narration seems to focus on them in some way.
Coupland also through this series of four narratives manages to place a unique emphasis on each section by having the character speak as if in a journal, and always seeming to be blunt and honest. So a certain degree of sincerity, even from the strict Reg, can be achieved because it is felt as if they are attempting to do this not just for themselves, but always for others or for a deeper understanding of why things happened this way. The interesting and compelling characters keeps the reader interested and urges them to read further and further into the book because the plot of the story just seems unclear through most of the story and mystery drives the reader on.
Finally, Coupland constantly attacks the reader with new information and challenges the reader to attempt to understand why characters do what they do. Through it presentation the reader achieves a removed sense of judgment, which is more of question of ones own morality than and attempt to understand the morality of the characters, as the unfortunate events unfold and each character experiences loss. The reader tries constantly to understand and when ones comes to the end of the book many questions are left unanswered and plots unresolved, but for some reason with how the story progressed it is no surprise really. For in the end none of the character in spite of how hard they try seem to be able to control their fate and Cheryl's scribbling rings true again, "God is Nowhere / God is Now Here." and so it seems right that these things are left as they are.
In the end the book is an excellent piece of fiction, a compelling and controversial topic with interesting and likable characters. All of which suck you into a world Douglas Coupland is known all to well at being able to do. Propelled by excellent skill with the ability to write prose in a fluid and understandable way, Coupland's Hey Nostradamus! is an excellent and compelling example of modern fiction and a book that very worthy of reading.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing, but ultimately disappointing.
Review: While I have enjoyed Douglas Coupland's novels in the past, I just have to say that I was disappointed with "Hey Nostradamus!" All of the characters were fascinating. With the exception of Cheryl (who dies too soon for significant change) they develop like real people, and are wholly believable. When they do something incredibly unexpected (hello Barb!) it doesn't seem like a simple plot requirement, but a deeper understanding into the character's psyche. Unfortunately this fascinating novel with excellent promise, peters off about halfway into Heather's section, the second one from the end. After Jason's disappearance I was left wondering where the plot went. I think it was an excellent opportunity for more character development, but in the end that isn't enough to carry the novel. And when it so suddenly ends the reader is left grasping for closure. I understand that the characters are left without closure, but that doesn't make the readers enjoy it any more.

Additionally the wry humor that I associate with Coupland was virtually absent, particularly in the last third of the novel. Without even a hint of humor to lighten the emotional burden, I felt just as bleak as Heather and Reg, and even sort of wondered why I continued to read.

Anyway, if you are obsessed with character development, and find plot and conclusion secondary, you will love "Hey Nostradamus!" But if you are looking for some ultimate meaning, and something that isn't so much of a downer, go back to number one and read "Microserfs".