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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good but disappointing. Could have been more.,
By A Customer
This review is from: All Families are Psychotic (Hardcover)
This is a good book. I don't think it is possible for Douglas Coupland to write a bad book. Like in all of his novels, the characters are memorable and colorful, the dialogue witty, and clever pop-culture references are everywhere. That being said, I had better hopes for this one. Books can be classified according to their driving force: what makes them work. Coupland has a habit of writing character-driven novels, such as Microserfs or Generation X. Better than that is the theme-driven novel, where all action says an underlying and coherent thing about life. His only work that comes close to this ideal is Miss Wyoming. Dissapointing, then, that this book was primarily plot-driven, with the characters along for the ride. It is time for Coupland to write a indisputably great novel, and not just one that works and is fun to read. The most irritating part of this book is the coincidences. Coupland knows that as the writer he can make anything happen, which is fine, but it happens too often. Imagine if separate characters run off in separate directions and they don't have any idea where the others are, or even what city, but then they enter a random restaurant on a whim, and hey! There's the rest of the family. Normally forgivable, if it's necessary to the plot. But this kind of coincidence happens over and over, making it feel as if the story was strung together, with no crafting or deliberation. At that point, suspension of disbelief becomes difficult. The first few chapters are fantastic, and full of life. I was disappointed that by the end it didn't live up to the full, developed style that this author is so capable of.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Much better than the Reviews Say,
By
This review is from: All Families are Psychotic: A Novel (Paperback)
Is Coupland a perfect writer? No. Is this book perfect? No. Is it a terrific read? Yes. Coupland has a unique voice and he again says alot here. This book is almost as good as my Miss Wyoming. It is not even close to his worst effort, Shampoo Planet. The story here is fantastical like the story in "Girlfriend in a coma," but it works. With DC you always need to suspend disbelief. Enjoy his satire and fall in love with his characters. There are some universal truths about families in here. It is an incredibly fast read. It is not the most profound you will find, but like space, infinitely enjoyable. I won't soon forget it.The next time I see a star fall, I will think of Janet and her quiet awakening.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I miss old-school Coupland ...,
By
This review is from: All Families are Psychotic (Hardcover)
I feel that, since 1998's _Girlfriend In A Coma_, Douglas Coupland's books have become, well, less satisfying. They are still packed with trademark Couplandisms: coy observations of Western traditions and foibles, pop-culture ephemera as metaphysical benchmark, wildly improbable escapades by zany protagonists who are deeply flawed but still pure of heart. But somewhere along the way, his stories lost the carefully-developed, mature tone of _Microserfs_ and _Life After God_ and became too quick, too clever, too cute. The characters in _All Families Are Psychotic_ - from the wise matriarch to the alcoholic father to the waiters and waitresses in restaurants - all speak in the same witty, articulate banter of Cultural Studies majors. Reality in dialogue has always been a weakness of Coupland's, but here the too-clean exchanges between characters grate on my nerves. Coupland's main priority has always been to share interesting and pointed observations he's made about North American culture, and his characters serve as mouthpieces for his message. But I buckled under the disbelief I was suspending when the aforementioned matriarch remarks to her dinner date, "Salad bars are like a restaurant's lungs ... they soak up the impurities and the bacteria in the environment, leaving us with much cleaner air to enjoy." And there's more where that came from. Such remarks are not in themselves repellent, and perhaps that's why I prefer Coupland's nonfiction (_Polaroids From The Dead_) and his short stories (_Life After God_) - in these, he doesn't try to accomplish so much at once, and appears more at ease with his craft. All Families Are Psychotic does surpass its disappointing predecessor, Miss Wyoming (2000), which read like a creative-writing student doing an impression of Coupland. Families does approach such well-trodden millenial obsessions as AIDs, Princess Diana, and religion from new angles, and there are moments when the cleverness is pure, and well-timed, and results in a chuckle or an aha. There are even some touching moments when Coupland allows his characters to speak emotionally with each other. Perhaps I'm just too much of an old-school Coupland fan: I yearn for the early days of _Generation X_ and _Shampoo Planet_ and _Microserfs_.
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