Customer Reviews

City of Glass: Doug Coupland's Vancouver

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This book will leave you aching for Vancouver, whether you've been there before or not. I have, but never lived it the way Coupland has. This is more than a travel book; it'll take you into the underside, and the overside, and every side Vancouver has.

Vancouver is lushly fertile and starkly commercial, historical and modern; Vancouver is Every City, with an emergent personality all its own. Until you can get there to see it yourself, buy this book, keep it on your coffee table, and dive with Coupland into his own bizarre Vancouver dreams.

I bought this book when I was still new to Vancouver, being attracted by the title and cover art, as I had been struck by glassy Vancouver skyline and thought I might share the author's sensibility.

Unfortunately, this is the kind of book where the amount of content fit for an article in a weekly newspaper like the Georgia Straight is padded to fit the size (and price) of a book. The pages are mostly white space, with a few sentences or at most a paragraph of large text in the middle touching very briefly and vaguely upon some random topic, as if the author jotted this all down one night and didn't put much thought into it. The book also contains photographs which, rather than being an "insider's look at Vancouver", could be photographs of any city out of any tourist magazine--the typical closeups of food on a plate at a nameless restaurant, or an old house that could exist anywhere in North America.

Because the text of this book is the length of an article, you could walk into a bookstore or library and read it under ten minutes. I learned nothing from it that I didn't already know about Vancouver when I moved here, and it left me wanting to read a book about Vancouver that might tell me something I don't know.

Sure, it's only one person's view of Vancouver. But at least it's Douglas Coupland's view. In "City of Glass," the author of "All Families Are Psychotic" and "Generation X" strays from fiction to write about his home city. The result is a subdued love ode to Vancouver, peppered with photographs.

Coupland describes Vancouver with many page-long vignettes, sort of like a patchwork quilt: he describes feng shui in Vancouver, Japanese teenagers, a harbour full of sulfur piles, American couples on "love boats," monstrous houses, and the quiet detachment that Vancouver feels from the Rest of Canada. (Which has its own entry -- really!)

Coupland's fiction is generally distinguishable for its contemplative, cynically witty tones. But he drops all that for "City of Glass." Okay, there is a chunk of "Life After God" in the middle, blurry text and pics. And occasionally the transcripts of Coupland's memories remind one of his fiction, seeming sadder and darker.

Most of the time, he sounds fond and reminiscent, as if reliving the memories that come with salmon and fleece. Not to mention funny, such as when describing the confusing disagreements about feng shui (" this space should flowwwwww" or "flow is to be avoided at all costs"). And the photographs are quite good as well, with Coupland taking pictures of the prosaic subjects of his book -- a sleepy-looking Japanese teen, a fleece vest, a boat floating out on a light-filled harbor, a skiier in mid-twist on a sunlit hillside.

"City of Glass" isn't exactly going to make you race to Vancouver, but it will make you appreciate the little hidden facets of the city -- and perhaps make you notice the ones in your own.

This is my homesick book, my security blanket, my Postcards from Home.

For Vancouverites, it's a source of boosterist pride, a good chuckle at some in-jokes, and perhaps enlightenment on why things are as they are. For people who have moved away, it's a book of memories, recollections of a city of glass and the people who make it. For people who have never been there, it's the tourist guide that talks about things the Lonely Planet won't. It's like having Mr Coupland sitting next to you as you make your way through our city. It's probably as close to an autobiography as he's ever written. The mark of Vancouver is on him as it's on me, and on everyone else who was raised there.

Yeah, I love my hometown.

This book presents a charming, personal view of the city of Vancouver, BC, by an author both at home in and in love with his city. It is organized as an alphabet book, but this is just an excuse. Vancouver is a major city on the edge of one of the last great frontiers. It joins the Canadian wilderness and the Pacific Rim. It is a peculiar city of what we in the USA call the "Northwest', both cosmopolitan and local. I've read the book several times, both in Vancouver and at home, and I've enjoyed sharing with the author each time.

Imagine following Highway 99 south from Whistler down through West and North Vancouver, across the Second Narrows Bridge, along Boundary Road, crossing into Richmond, picking up the 99 again, and driving straight through to Seattle. Now, pay attention only to what you can see (Mount Baker, for instance), or things that are to your right -- west of the Vancouver-Burnaby border. Observe and comment on those things lucidly and with humour. But ignore the vast suburbs stretching to the east. Spend more time on Bellingham than on New Westminster. You have an idea of this book. Like Coupland's other works, it demonstrates keen insight about a limited part of its subject -- this case, Vancouver. He is a North Shore boy, and it shows. Worth reading, but definitely only one person's view.

City of Glass reminds Vancouverites why we live here, and tells guests why they should visit. It is the book you leave in the guest bedroom to inspire and delight out-of-towners.

It's brochure like quality starts with the books physical form. City of Glass is bright and colorful--reminiscent of a sunny day in the city. Its cover is even colored in the omnipresent green and blue of Vancouver's branding.

The title of the book comes from Vancouver's large number of skyscrapers with glass or mirror fronts. Like the glass of it's title, Coupland's book reflects his personal memories of the city he loves.

Inspired by Japans underground `zines', the book is an illustrated collection of vignettes and reflections on Vancouver. it takes readers on an alphabetical tour, from BC Ferries to YVR. Along the way, Coupland drops a lot of personal observations, historic trivia and often overlooked facts.

The book also includes a report of Coupland's essay, "My Hotel Year," previously published in Life After God. The essay is a nice intermission from the vignettes. It provides readers with a glimpse beyond the glass and into a gritty reality that is also part of Vancouver.

Interspersed throughout the book are some photographs of Vancouver at it's best and pictures of Vancouver, ephemera such as Campbell's soup cans with trilingual Cantonese/English/French labels and a salmon `color fan.'

The weakness of traditional tourist or travel guides is that they're good at providing practical information but relatively weak on helping you understand the essence of a place. The things that make a place special or unique do not translate easily to an itinerary of museums and historical sites.

This book provides one person's well-considered views on things, people and events - some everyday and some profound - that make Vancouver the special place it is. Any given reader, and certainly some natives of the city may not agree with everything. You will come away with an interesting perspective on this very wonderful city.

The book's primary weakness is that it needs to be updated, particularly now that the Olympics have rolled over and through Vancouver but there was a strong argument for a new visit even before that just on the basis of the book being more than ten years old.

A humorous, personal portrait of a gorgeous and quirky city. Coupland's narration is funny and dead on. The photos are generally quite good and go a long way toward capturing the mood of the place. He also plugs a lot of little known facts -- like about Greenpeace -- that Yankies like myself were not aware of.

I hope he does a follow up book.

Vancouver is great city (at least for a few dry months) and deserve a good book for the visitors. This book meets my needs and is not the typical guide book with maps and names and addresses. But for those who try to get a sense of the pulse of the city, it's character and quirks, I would recommend.

After reading others', suspect that my copy (recently bought) has the insert that others don't. "My Hotel Year" was a wonderful read, and for those who remember the 60's bohemian Haight Ashbury, there is an echo DC evoked at the human level here that still resonates. "Van" is "San Fran" was, with more flowers and no jobs, at least the kinds you can build wealth. Ob-La-Di! Ob-La-Da!