J. Norburn's profile

As entertaining as it is, it feels a little too familiar, November 8, 2009

I'm a fan of Douglas Coupland, whose writing in many ways reminds of Kurt Vonnegut (an author that I think Coupland has an affinity for - in fact the book's title is derived from a Vonnegut quote). Unlike Vonnegut though, Coupland has not yet (in my humble opinion) delivered a novel anywhere near the calibre of Slaughter-House Five or Cat's Cradle.

As entertaining as Generation A is on many levels, it feels too familiar. Coupland has the potential to write something truly extrodinary but it seems to me that he only provides us with glimpses of brilliance, unable to grow beyond what he has already shown us he can do. Generation A feels like a blending of Generation X and… Read more

Yeah....well....whatever. It's ok I guess., November 7, 2009

At one point in Rough Country the cop investigating a murder (Flowers) is interviewing someone and he tells them that real criminal investigations are not at all like what they see on TV or read in crime novels, which is ironic because Rough Country is EXACTLY like one of those crime novels or TV shows.

The characters are thin & the plot is predictable. Rough Country is a mystery (the killer isn't revealed until the end) but you'll have no problem predicting who the killer is or anticipating any of the supposed plot twists. The murders in this novel center on a resort that caters (in large part) to the lesbian community but there is no indication that Sandford knows much of… Read more

Good but it pales in comparison to the superior Oryx and Crake, October 26, 2009

It's hard not to compare `The Year of the Flood' to `Oryx and Crake' Atwood's post-apocalyptic 2002 novel. While Flood is not a sequel to the previous novel, it is a companion piece, sharing a common place and time. It has been billed as a stand-alone story and while it's true that you can read `The Year of the Flood' without reading Oryx and Crake, one of the more interesting aspects of reading Flood is seeing how Atwood connects the dots between the two novels. It may not be necessary read O&C first to enjoy Flood, but it seems to me that a layer of the novel would be missing.

I enjoyed reading `The Year of the Flood' but I couldn't help but think how much better a novel… Read more