Douglas Coupland - Generation A

I am always excited by the publication of a new Coupland novel. He is the only author who I will buy, without question, on the day of release. I know many people didn't 'get' Generation X. I couldn't be more different. Gen X tapped into my experience of the world like almost nothing else. Coupland's gift is to be so ahead of the curve that it is frightening.

And so 'Girlfriend in a Coma' was one of the best literary experiences I have had (along with McCarthy's 'The Road'), heightened by the fact that I was on a trip and read the whole book in a 24 hour period. And if you had laid bets on the predictions about dotcom made by Microserfs you could be very wealthy by now. All this is to Couplands credit.

So I come to every new Coupland novel with a sense of anticipation. Admittedly his recent work has been hit and miss ('All families are psychotic' - hit, 'Hey Nostrodamus' - miss). But he is still an author capable of brilliance in his insight, characterisation and his turn of phrase.

Generation A starts well. Witty, beautifully observed. The idea of being snatched out of obscurity by scientists is clever. The reflections on being disconnected from our hyper-connected lives is too. But then it starts to wander. Are five stories of abduction by scientists really necessary? It is unthinkable for me to speed read a Coupland book, but I started to fade out here.

And then the whole metanarrative, bees, pharmaceuticals, yada yada. Conceptually I love it, but it really didn't work. If the bee's are trying to get a message to us, I think they failed. And the brain eating thing? Sorry, what?

Much vintage Coupland is present. The dialogue can razor sharp. It is laugh out loud funny at times. But ultimately it disappoints.

And so it turns out that the best thing about this novel is its title. And then it turns out that the title was coined not by Coupland, but by Kurt Vonnegurt. In a speach to university graduates in 1994 he said this;

'Now you young twerps want a new name for your generation? …I hereby declare you Generation A, as much at the beginning of a series of astonishing triumphs and failures as Adam and Eve were so long ago.'

And that is a beautiful thing to say. 15 Years late Coupland echoes it, but fails to add anything of real worth. So if you are new to Coupland, don't start here. If you are an old fan then this one may have to go down along with Eleanor Rigby as one which is missable. But I will be at the front of the queue for the next one.