All Families are Psychotic: A Novel (Paperback)

by Douglas Coupland (Author) "Janet opened her eyes - Florida's prehistoric glare dazzled out side the motel window..." (more)
Key Phrases: orange van, Daytona Beach, Disney World, Las Vegas (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Canadian author Douglas Coupland's seventh novel could be subtitled When Bad Things Happen to Bad People. As the estranged members of the Drummond family straggle into Florida for youngest sister Sarah's impending space shuttle launch, we only begin to glimpse the true meaning of the word dysfunctional. The family, plagued by terminal disease, financial disaster, felonious activity, infidelity, and violence, is forced--by a series of ever more fantastic occurrences--to attempt to deal with each other. That would be an easier task if they didn't loathe one another with a ferocity usually reserved for war criminals. It's not quite Jerry Springer-style tabloid TV set in Disney's Haunted Mansion, but the family members do muster the strength to insult, assault, and infect one another with abandon. With the exception of the family matriarch, Janet, they are unappealing and selfish, but without Machiavellian brilliance. Instead, they're inclined toward out-and-out stupidity, blinded by self-interest rather than enlightened by it. As they bumble through misadventure after misadventure, there seems to be no reason to cheer for them. Even Sarah, the family's shining star, has her dark side.

True to Coupland's style, the book reads lightning fast. The author punctuates his narrative with clipped dialogue and punchy exchanges that advance the palpable sense of unease and tension running throughout. And amidst the acrimony, Coupland throws a genuine caper into the plot, involving Prince William's farewell letter to his mother, Princess Diana. Add to that the oppressive heat and the postmodern, pop culture junkyard of Coupland's Florida setting, and the entire book brews and builds like a roiling tropical storm. --S. Duda --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
The Drummond family at the center of Coupland's new novel resembles a month's worth of soap opera plots. Wade Drummond and his mother, Janet, both have AIDS. Janet, 65, was infected when her ex-husband, Ted, shot Wade through the side of his stomach and the bullet lodged in Janet's lung. Ted shot Wade because his son had accidentally had sex with Ted's second wife, Nickie. In consequence, Nickie is also HIV positive. Wade's brother, Bryan, a frequently suicidal musician, has hooked up with the self-named Shw, a young anarchist. Shw has told Bryan she wants to abort her baby, but secretly she is planning to sell it to Lloyd and Gale, a seemingly normal Florida couple with kinky secrets. Now, all the Drummonds are having a family reunion in Orlando. They are gathered to support Sarah, the successful member of the family, as she is about to be shot into space. Although slightly crippled, being a thalidomide baby, Susan has made a career as a scientist and an astronaut. Her bland husband, Howie, is covertly sleeping with Alanna, the wife of Gordon Brunswick, Sarah's mission commander and Sarah is secretly having an affair with Gordon. The item that sets this crew in motion is a letter from Prince William left on Princess Diana's coffin. It has somehow come into possession of a sleazeball named Norm, who wants Wade and Ted to convey it to a billionaire Anglophile based in the Bahamas. Complications, naturally, ensue. Like Chuck Palahniuk, Coupland mines tabloid territory for sensationalism, which he then undermines with ironic self-awareness. The can-you-top-this atmosphere will keep Coupland's Gen-X readers (the ones who religiously watch Cops for the laughs) totally amused. Author tour.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (September 7, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582342156
• ISBN-13: 978-1582342153
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #269,960 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Much better than the Reviews Say, January 5, 2003

By	Robert Wellen (CHICAGO, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but disappointing. Could have been more., December 24, 2001

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.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Coupland's stumble, October 12, 2004

By	E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Tolstoy once wrote "All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." With Douglas Coupland, the sentiment seems to be that "All Families Are Psychotic." A wildly bizarre look at a soap opera family gone crazy, unfortunately this book is rather humorless by Coupland's standards.

The dysfunctional Drummond family is gathering together, as daughter Susan is about to be sent up into space. As they do, they reflect on their tangled, messy past -- including the fact that son Wade slept with his stepmother Nickie, then got shot by his father Ted, striking his mother Janet. Now Janet and Wade have AIDS, and Nickie is HIV positive.

To make things worse, downbeat brother Bryan shows up with his anarchist girlfriend Shw, who is pregnant. She claims she's going to abort, but has secretly arranged to sell her child to a seemingly ordinary couple. And Ted has prostate cancer. In the few days before Susan's launch, the bizarre extended family wrangles out some of their old arguments, and learns a few new things about themselves.

Every author stumbles, and consider "All Families Are Psychotic" as Douglas Coupland stubbing his toe. It's not exactly a bad book, but it lacks the complexity and wry wit that most of his books have. He tends to do modern sociology well, while this mainly seems like a soap opera gone completely mad.

Coupland populates this world of his with insane hippies, amorous astronauts and suicidal musicians. So you can guess that there's plenty of trouble. The scenarios are mostly pretty funny, such as the mad chase for a letter to Princess Di, although they get a bit over-the-top sometimes. However, Coupland slows the pace for some insightful looks at America, family and the shattering aftereffects of divorce.

The characters lack dimension -- specifically, they lack the "likability" dimension. Only the jilted Janet is likable, as she steps out of the "dutiful housewife" mold and becomes her own person. The others are almost good characters, but Coupland never gives us a reason to really like any of them -- even the thalidomide-deformed (and married) Susan is having a fling with her (also married) mission commander.

While it's grim a lot of the time, "All Families Are Psychotic" has sprawling flashes of wit and peculiar humor. An interesting read, but not one of Coupland's better novels.