Review:JPod by Douglas Coupland

Last night I finally finished Douglas Coupland’s JPod. I skipped most of the word puzzles, which took up ample amounts of space, and didn’t mind doing it. Usually I’ll attempt to follow puzzles, but figure that if this book was directed to game-creators and those with knowledge of C++ and I’d never catch up. Not to say I didn’t get the joke(s). It was definitely an interesting read, especially with Douglas Coupland as one of the characters in the book. That would’ve been confusing had I not been familiar with his writing. I started out with Nostradamus, which I loved, then went sort of backwards and read some of his earlier works. He’s pondered on his website (coupland.com) about reading his works out of sequence, as I had done. And I remember when reading his earlier stuff I distinctly felt out of order – until I read the book previous. I’ve got to say, JPod was wild in its adventure, but my favorite is still Eleanor Rigby. If I were concerned about anything in JPod, it’d be the obsolete-ness of the content. Which is understandable in any novel concerning the tech industry… I suppose that just comes with the territory. I’m thankful that I read it this year, and not a year or two down the road (which is generally when I finally get a new book at the library) when it’d just irk me every time I come across something that is just so absolutely obsolete. To conclude, I’d say read it if you’re familiar with Douglas Coupland’s style. If you’re not – you may want to ease into it by reading another one of his books (Generation X). Or just live on the edge and jump in cold. I like his writing and read everything he's done (bookwise). The next thing, in regards to Douglas Coupland, that I’ll do is rent his film “Souvenirs of Canada”.