Customer Reviews

Shampoo Planet

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

As I finished reading this book in the back of a warehouse -- one of the several McJobs I held down at the time -- I wept. Some may not be moved as I was, but not everybody has the same reference points that allow them to see parallels between Tyler's life and their own. Tyler's experience, I have to think, is similar to many in their mid-20s. It is a time when you decide what you're really going to do with your life, determine what is really important to you, move on and grow up if you have to. Sometimes you realign your goals to grow up. Sometimes you leave your girlfriend -- no matter how hard -- to grow up. Tyler's shift in hair care products symbolizes his... oh well read the book for that.

I liked Shampoo Planet. It wasn't Catcher In The Rye, but it was my World and I think many who are orbiting in that same lifestage will relate to it too.

Douglas Coupland definitely has an amazing way with words and a knowledge of the conundrum felt by those in their late teens and early twenties. Parents simply don't understand. How could they? They are from a different era. A simpler era. What do they know of the current zeitgeist? Such is the thought process of so many youngsters trying to find their place and discover their purpose in a world overwrought with technology and consumerism. Thus, such are the thought processes of Tyler and his odd array of peers in this amazing novel. Can Tyler and his mother find some way to work out their differences, and is there some lesson to be learned from a washed up hippie?

Shampoo Planet begins with Tyler's mother, Jasmine, waking up to find the word "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" written across her forehead. From this point forth, Jasmine and Tyler both set sail on a roller coaster ride of self-discovery, seeking to reclaim their self-worth from a new perspective. From the small, cozy town of Lancaster, Washington, in which many suffer from the closing of "the Plants," Tyler branches out seeking what else life has to offer. Using his ambition as his fuel, Tyler aims towards escape from the mundane.

We learn of Tyler's trip to Europe, during which he met an opportunistic French girl named Stephanie, and from whom he will learn to appreciate the past. Once Tyler returns home, we are introduced to his sister Daisy, who seems eager to escape the present by living vicariously with her boyfriend through her mother's days as a hippie. Tyler's now-ex-step-father, Dan, would rather create false realities than face his true existence. Tyler's grandparents have lost their money and are trying desperately to regain their societal stature by becoming involved in a pyramid scheme. We also learn of Tyler's post-feminist girlfriend, Anna-Louise, whose aim is to help Tyler get through college and achieve his dream of becoming a big-wig for a large corporation, and whom Tyler seems unwilling or incapable of acknowledging the fact that she has an eating disorder.

Tyler later reconnects with his summer fling, Stephanie, who, after stirring up controversy between Anna-Louise and Tyler, convinces him to venture to California in attempt to "make it big" as a photographer. On the way south, Tyler pays an uncomfortable visit to his estranged biological father. Once in Hollywood, Tyler realizes that the "good life" isn't easily handed to you on a silver platter.

Though Tyler and his friends are living in a time of modernity and seemingly shallow introversion, where "what's on top of your head says what's inside your head," there is really more to them than meets the eye. Disillusioned by magazines and television into believing a romanticized version of the future exists, one in which people really do get what they want and are actually happy with mere material possessions, Tyler clearly has a lot to learn.

Coupland's writing is chock full of witty banter and intelligent, humorous analogies that make for a highly entertaining read for those of any generation. The cast of well-rounded, realistic characters is simply unforgettable. Coupland has several good points to get across and he knows how to do so in a way that is easily accessible, extremely fun, and profoundly lighthearted. This is definitely not the last Coupland book I will pick up. Very highly recommended!

"Clean hair; clean body; clean mind; clean life. You could become famous at any moment and your whole personal history could be unearthed. And then what would they find? Turn on the shower" (Coupland, 133).

Douglas Coupland made his biggest mark on literature with "Generation X," a witty satire on the jaded "Gen-Xers." This time, we have one instead of several, but Coupland's writing might be even tighter because of that. Witty, unpredictable and full of Coupland's little flickers of bitterness and sweetness.

Things start to go awry when ex-hippie Jasmice wakes up with "divorce" written on her forehead. Ambitious twenty-year-old Tyler is a living anti-hippie, devoted to hair-care, sleek technology and big corporations. He considers Jasmine the living figure of sixties idiocy, but he consoles his mother about her rotten husband's departure.

As he comforts Jasmine, he contemplates his own life, his sweet girlfriend Anna Louise, and his oddball family, which was based in a weird hippie commune when he was little. Things in Tyler's life are disrupted when the haughty Stephanie, a summer fling, comes to visit -- and stay. Tyler travels with his fling-turned-new-girlfriend to California, but finds himself more alone than he has ever been before.

In this book, Coupland takes a look at a small group of people -- young, intelligent college graduates who aren't sure whether to follow their dreams, or chain themselves to a big corporation. Don't worry -- it's not half as boring as it sounds. Coupland keeps the book vibrant with snotty Europeans, scraggly ex-hippies and the offspring they drive crazy.

Theme aside, Coupland has a way of tugging at the heartstrings, without becoming really sentimental, and reminds us that "the time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself." His writing is sharp, solid and strangely evocative of a split world: half sand candles and flowers, half leather furniture and big-screen TVs. And he has a unique sense of humor -- he doesn't make readers really laugh, but just exposes the absurd side of things.

Tyler starts off superficial and rather snotty, and he spends much of the book doing the wrong thing. But Coupland makes him grow up slowly, making him see the worth of people he thought were freakish before. Not to mention his long-suffering girlfriend Anna Louise, who is obviously The Girl for Tyler. Jasmine is a very real portrait of an aging hippie -- full of life and sweetness, yet incredibly naive.

Douglas Coupland's "Shampoo Planet" tackles some of the same turf as "Generation X," yet it gets more intimate and sweet than his first novel did. Remember -- what's on top of your head does not say what's inside your head.

In "Generation X," Douglas Coupland took a pop culture pulse and gave new literature a transfusion it sorely needed. But like a terrific debut album by a promising band, trying to follow success can sometimes prove painful. Such is the case with "Shampoo Planet," which is almost a rehash of "X" without any of its charm or humor. The characters of "X" were whiny, but they weren't THIS whiny, nor this shallow. It's been several years since I read it, and I can't even tell you the plot. It was THAT pointless. Don't bother with this one. Just so you know I'm not a Coupland basher, I really like a couple of his works: definitely read "X" and "Life After God," which redeemed my faith in Coupland that "Planet" almost completely lost. When I finished reading it, I thought, "what the hell was THAT." That's usually not a good sign in fiction. His follow up to "Life After God," "Microserfs," left me with a similar feeling. Win some, lose some.

Douglas Coupland made his biggest mark on literature with "Generation X," a witty satire on the jaded "Gen-Xers." This time, we have one instead of several, but Coupland's writing might be even tighter because of that. Witty, unpredictable and full of Coupland's little flickers of bitterness and sweetness.

Things start to go awry when ex-hippie Jasmice wakes up with "divorce" written on her forehead. Ambitious twenty-year-old Tyler is a living anti-hippie, devoted to hair-care, sleek technology and big corporations. He considers Jasmine the living figure of sixties idiocy, but he consoles his mother about her rotten husband's departure.

As he comforts Jasmine, he contemplates his own life, his sweet girlfriend Anna Louise, and his oddball family, which was based in a weird hippie commune when he was little. Things in Tyler's life are disrupted when the haughty Stephanie, a summer fling, comes to visit -- and stay. Tyler travels with his fling-turned-new-girlfriend to California, but finds himself more alone than he has ever been before.

In this book, Coupland takes a look at a small group of people -- young, intelligent college graduates who aren't sure whether to follow their dreams, or chain themselves to a big corporation. Don't worry -- it's not half as boring as it sounds. Coupland keeps the book vibrant with snotty Europeans, scraggly ex-hippies and the offspring they drive crazy.

Theme aside, Coupland has a way of tugging at the heartstrings, without becoming really sentimental, and reminds us that "the time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself." His writing is sharp, solid and strangely evocative of a split world: half sand candles and flowers, half leather furniture and big-screen TVs. And he has a unique sense of humor -- he doesn't make readers really laugh, but just exposes the absurd side of things.

Tyler starts off superficial and rather snotty, and he spends much of the book doing the wrong thing. But Coupland makes him grow up slowly, making him see the worth of people he thought were freakish before. Not to mention his long-suffering girlfriend Anna Louise, who is obviously The Girl for Tyler. Jasmine is a very real portrait of an aging hippie -- full of life and sweetness, yet incredibly naive.

Douglas Coupland's "Shampoo Planet" tackles some of the same turf as "Generation X," yet it gets more intimate and sweet than his first novel did. Remember -- what's on top of your head does not say what's inside your head.

This book is the quinessential look into the values and zietgeist of the 1990s. Coupland's brilliant use of the aging hippie mother, Jasmine, who used to protest the same companies her son wishes to work for, against Jasmine's neo-hippie daughter shows how the youth of today is too paralyzed to create their own world and are obsessed with recreating decades past. As a college student, Shampoo Planet is the one book that I can always turn to to show that the disillusionment, warped priorities, and overall sadness of America today is not just all in my head. Coupland's metaphors are twisted and ridiculously effective. Have a pen handy because you'll be underlining and quoting this book like crazy.

Douglas Coupland's follow-up to the "yuppie-busting" book, Generation X, has a heart of it's own and message devised through hip words and a journey for self-discovery. The book is about 20-year-old Tyler Johnson, who lives in the poor town of Lancaster, with his hippie mom, Jasmine, and his girlfriend, Anne-Louise. He's majoring in hotel management at the community college, while dreaming of wealth and wondering which hair product he should wear that day. The story is written perfectly, in a sardonic "teenty" voice, talking about things that happened in the past six months.

The book is meant to talk about the generation after Gen-X, which would be what scientists and researchers today call "Gen-Y" or "The Millenial Generation." Douglas Coupland predicted a lot of our qualities (materialism, mall-ratting, computer-savvyness) but made his character's too old. I don't wanna rag on Douglas, because this book rocks (I'm 14 so I'm Gen-Y), but if Tyler says, "My memories began with Ronald Reagan" then he must be talking about the kid sisters and brothers of Gen-X because Gen-Y was just born in 1982, a time when at five, they would've seen Reagan's end and Bush, Sr.'s beginning. Tyler is 20 in 1992, so that would mostly be of the tale-ends of Gen-X (born in 1972).

This book is a satire, so Douglas wasn't trying to be really accurate. He called them "Benetton Teens" because of the colorful attitudes that they have. This book is truly a classic and belongs and some kind of summer reading list.

I read Shampoo after I'd read Microserfs and Generation X. Being just a year or two shy of being of Gen X, I found that I related to these characters a lot better than the ones in Gen X. The main character, Tyler, is the product of a hippy family, but his main goal is to work for the corporation "Bechtol", a place his newly divorced hippy mother firebombed in her youth.

Along with Tyler on his adventures is his younger neo-hippy sister Daisy and her boyfriend Murray, his entreprenurial cat food selling grandparents, and his girlfriend Anna Louise. What Tyler has told her is of his fling in France with Euro girl Stephanie. As the novel winds on, Tyler's life choices take him down a road he probably didn't intend to go down, something that most people of this new "Generation Y" are familiar with.

The characters are funny, and well rounded, although the novel is filled with mostly hippy type characters, aside from Tyler and Stephanie and a few other minor characters. The counterculture like group of friends Tyler has seems a little odd considering his own personality, but it makes for interesting gatherings when all friends are together at the local burger hangout.

Coupland has capture the personality of French Stephanie par excellence, including the fantastic way he's written her voice and accent.

I think this book will appeal to a slightly younger crowd than Generation X, and could have a good overlap in audience with Microserfs, since the characters are fleshed out more fully. You get a chance to connect with Tyler, and even when you're kicking him for being an idiot, you also sympathize when it's obvious his choices have led him as far away from his goal as possible.

Also recommended: THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez

The question that seems to burn in the mind of Douglas Coupland is "What Will the future of the world be like?" Unlike most authors who see a future of progress, Coupland tends to favor a future of regression. We live in a consumer's world -- a world with 100 different types of shampoo to choose from. And we buy, not the best, but the best advertised. Are we even able to think for ourselves anymore, or are we becoming a slave to the degenerating devices of modernity?

SHAMPOO PLANET is set in the early '90s. The small town of Lancaster, Washington, is beginning to shrivel into near-oblivion after the "plants" close down. The once-rich now live in RVs, stripped of their wealth. No one has a job, but no one leaves. The mall only has a few stores left open. The town is dying.

The past seems more promising than the future, so Tyler leaves the town in search of the past. He travels around Europe, only to find that the young people there have become complacent and content to party by night and take jobs as civil servants by day. History seems more exciting and progressive than the impending future of Generation Xers.

Tyler returns to Lancaster but then leaves again in search of his own past. He travels to the small island in Canada where he was born in a commune to hippie parents. All that is left to suggest that the island was once inhabited is a crumbling stone chimney. All other signs of human habitation have rusted and rotted, returning to the earth.

He then travels to California to seek his fortune. Like everyone else around him, he struggles to make it and finds himself only a-day-at-a-fast-food-restaurant away from being on the streets. He's working just to survive so that he can go back to work another day.

Coupland sees a future where consumerism leads to shallow existence. Perhaps we are regressing back to a a new series dark ages rather than progressing. Here's a bit of food-for-though from the book:...P>Coupland has, once again, written a witty and thought-provoking novel that gives a candid and un-romanticized view of what the present looks like and where it could be leading us. For the sake of humanity, I hope that he's wrong.

The first Coupland I read was Girlfriend in a Coma, which irritated me to the point of almost not wanting to read Coupland again. The second Coupland I read was Microserfs which I thought was a really successful book-- everything I'd been frustrated that Girlfriend was not.

Shampoo Planet is somewhere in the middle. It has many of the same wonderful elements as Microserfs, but somehow it lacks just a little bit of the heart. It's a little too glib, or something. The success-driven son of a hippie mom is sent off-course when his French summer fling appears on his doorstep. It's a typical Coupland premise-- and I don't honestly know where it goes not quite right-- perhaps something about the resolution of Stephanie felt too easy? Not sure.

Don't misunderstand, it's still a good read, still something I'd recommend. Coupland is, at least, a talented writer.