BOOK REVIEW: "Generation A"

Generation A
By Douglas Coupland
Copyright 2009
Scribner Publishing
Adult Fiction
3 Bookmarks

Well, leave it to Coupland to write a bizarre tale such as this.  The story begins in a world where something has killed all the bees, fresh foods are scarce, and everyone has a sense that something is not quite right.

Responding to the shock of their lives, a bee sting, are five different characters in five different parts of the world.  No bees have been seen for years, and yet, these bee stings somehow occur.  The author takes us down the path of each of these unusual stings, introducing us to the characters one by one.

In each sub-story, the characters are minding their own business (some of which is fairly amusing), when, out of nowhere, there appears a bee.

To each of them, the oddity is obvious, but they hardly have time to react before they are whisked away by a team of folks in hazmat suits and taken to a secret facility called Research Triangle Park in North Carolina where they are kept in seclusion for testing.

Each of the characters is eventually released back out into the public, but they've now become famous as being the five who were stung by the bees.  Life is challenging on the outside, and the five eventually come together and are taken away again, this time to a seriously bizarre world of made-up stories and drug addiction.  I'll leave my plot description there, in case anyone wants to read and find out "the rest of the story".

My thoughts on this book:  Number one, it was weird.  Number two, it had mildly entertaining moments, but also some parts that really dragged.  And Number three, I did think the premise of having the bees disappear was an interesting one, especially considering the fact we really are having an issue with that in the world right now.  But overall, this was not a top pick for me.

Everyone should read a Douglas Coupland novel at some point in their life, just for the sheer eccentricity of it.  I just don't think it should be this one.

BOOK REVIEW: "Miss Wyoming"

Miss Wyoming
By Douglas Coupland
Copyright 1999
Vintage Contemporaries
Adult Fiction

3.5 Bookmarks

What a crazy ride this book was!  Summarizing will be tough, but I'll give it my best shot. 

Susan Colgate, former beauty queen and now paparazzi favorite, disappears from a plane crash in which every other passenger dies.  When she suddenly reappears a year later, it's bedlam. 

John Johnson, famous Hollywood producer is obsessed with Susan.  John, who stages his own little disappearing act, finds that living on nothing isn't to his taste.  When, at last, Susan and John meet in person, it's love (or something sort of like it) at first sight.  But Susan's existence is a crazy one as she deals with her former beauty queen circuit mother, the fact that she's hiding everything about the time she was away, all the while trying to tape together the remnants of her career. 

When John meets a video store clerk with a shrine to Susan (which he, of course, purchases immediately), things start to get a little intense. 

I won't ruin the ending because it's a pretty good one.  I liked this book.  The satirical nature of the story flowed fantastically from the "toddlers in tiaras" set all the way to the Hollywood wife of a rock star segment.  It was a fun read from Coupland, and just as typically quirky as you would expect from him.