2006-09-28 21:51:02 · 8 answers · asked by Richard H 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
He is the author of 'Generation X'
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Generation-X-Tales-Accelerated-Culture/dp/0349108390
2006-09-28 21:59:53 · update #1
Btw Coupland didn't coin the phrase Generation X, he nicked it from the sixties!
2006-09-30 09:48:09 · update #2
God yes! Anyone who describes himself as being the greatest author of his generation thinks too much about himself to have any kind of insight into human nature
2006-09-30 15:57:40 · answer #1 · answered by krisr22 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some of his books are very good - I really enjoyed Microserfs, and Miss Wyoming and Hey Nostradamus were enjoyable reads.
But a lot of what he writes is rather self-satisfied and superficial - Postcards from the Dead, Life after God and so on.
I think he's an okay novelist but probably overrated as a "zeitgeist commentator". He's become one of those people always asked for a comment and often comes up with something that's more clever than true.
2006-09-29 05:04:04 · answer #2 · answered by gvih2g2 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No! It isn't everyone who gets to be the voice of their generation & write a brilliant first novel that actually coins a phrase used from then on to describe that generation! As a Gen-Xer I'm pretty impressed. But maybe I'm easily impressed. Hey, I had a few poems published in literary journals & I was thrilled. Let he who has written several pulitzer prize-winning novels cast the first stone...ha ha
2006-09-29 05:00:10 · answer #3 · answered by amp 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No I don't think so. I haven't read anything more recent than All Families Are Psychotic so maybe he's getting worse. I loved most of his books that I did read though.
And I don't know if referencing yourself is uncool (though I haven't read how he did it)--I know Bob Newhart did it in Newhart; he was defending all the old tv shows and Michael was dissing them:
Dick: Mary Tyler Moore, (I don't know, named a couple)
Michael: And the one about the shrink who stuttered?
Dick: Sta-sta-sta-stammered
Hey man, never easy being the voice of a generation!
2006-09-29 05:40:13 · answer #4 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Like with so many authors that get huge accolades early on in their career, he seems to be getting progressively worse. I loved his earlier work, maybe because I was younger too??, but his last two novels have been awful. JPeg was rubbish, and how pretentious (NOT clever) can someone be by referencing themselves in their own book. Shame as I used to love his books.
2006-09-29 05:11:06 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, not wildly overrated, rated just about right.
However I will admit the self-referential-ness (if such a word exists) of his latest novel - Jpod - is too much.
2006-09-29 05:51:01 · answer #6 · answered by sarcasticquotemarks 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, very
2006-09-29 04:54:12 · answer #7 · answered by sdrose17 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He can't be that over rated - I've never heard of him.
2006-09-29 04:56:05 · answer #8 · answered by babyeddieuk 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋