My goal is to read a novel a week in 2015. I’ve made it to nine.
-Douglas Coupland, Generation X: Tales: Tales for an Accelerated Culture (1991)
I grew up in the 90s. Even though I wasn’t old enough to be a part of it, I remember the term ‘Generation X’ being thrown around quite a bit. Did you ever wonder where that term comes from? Some say that Coupland actually coined the term. He certainly coined the term ‘McJob;’ he even defines it in the margin on page 5:
MCJOB: A low-pay, low-prestige, low-dignity, low-benefit, no-future job in the service sector. Frequently considered a satisfying career choice by people who have never held one.
Once upon a time, McDonald’s even unsuccessfully sued the company responsible for The Oxford English Dictionary to try to get the term taken out. But I digress.
Generation X is a picture of young adults in the early 90s. These were the days of Nirvana and Grunge. The days described so wittily by Portlandia in The Dream of the 90s.
A couple of highlights: First, the definitions in the margins are priceless. I’ve already mentioned ‘McJobs.’ Some of my favorites include:
- Personal Tabu: A small rule or living, bordering on a superstition, that allows one to cope with everyday life in the absence of cultural or religious dictums (p. 74).
- Cafe Minimalism: To espouse a philosophy of minimalism without actually putting into practice any of its tenets (p. 107).
- Air Family: Describes the false sense of community experienced among coworkers in an office environment (p. 111).
- Anti-Victim Device (AVD): A small fashion accessory worn on an otherwise conservative outfit which announces to the world that one still has a spark of individuality burning inside…(p. 114).
Second, Coupland’s description of 90s Yuppies is interesting:
He embodies to me all of the people of my own generation who used all that was good in themselves just to make money; who use their votes for short-term gain. Who ended up blissful in the bottom-feeding jobs – marketing, land flipping, ambulance chasing, and money brokering. Such smugness. They saw themselves as eagles building mighty nests of oak branches and bullrushes, when instead they were really more like the eagles here in California, the ones who built their nests from tufts of abandoned auto parts looking like sprouts picked off a sandwich… (p. 81).
Finally, the stories told by the characters are great. At one point, Elvissa calls on the central group of the story to tell their own stories:
‘What one moment for you defines what it’s like to be alive on this planet. What’s your takeaway?
There is silence. Tobias doesn’t get her point, and frankly, neither do I. She continues: ‘Fake yuppie experiences that you had to spend money on, like white water rafting or elephant rides in Thailand don’t count. I want to hear some small moment from your life that proves you’re really alive (p. 91).
One of the more memorable stories is this:
‘I know my earth memory. It’s a smell – the smell of bacon. It was a Sunday morning at home and we were all having breakfast, an unprecedented occurrence since me and all six of my brothers and sisters inherited my mother’s tendency to detest the sight of food in the morning. We’d sleep instead…
I remember very clearly standing by the stove and frying a batch of bacon. I knew even then that this was the only such morning our family would ever be given – a morningwhere we would all be normal and kind to each other and know that we liked each other without any strings attached – and that soon enough (and we did) we would all become batty and distant the way families invariably do as they get along in years.
And so i was close to tears, listening to everyone make jokes and feeding the dog bits of egg; I was feeling homesick for the event while it was happening… (p. 95).
Anyhow, I really, really like the book. It has to rank as one of my favorite novels at this point. You’d have to read it for yourself. I can’t really describe it. Coupland is a great writer. He is also very interested in Marshall McLuhan and Media Ecology, which is a plus in my book. I’ve already added two more of his books to the list of novels I plan on reading this year.
Really?