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Coupland's Cyber Fans

At the Coupland home

page, the tone is defensive

It's not easy being a Douglas Coupland fan. Or at least that's how it seems reading the Douglas Coupland Web Page in Absentee, which Derek Milhous Zumsteg, a 22-year-old University of Washington student, faithfully created for his literary hero. The sheer defensiveness of the entire homepage indicates that the harsh critiques of Coupland's prose must wear down even the most loyal reader.

As Zumsteg writes, "Incidentally, if you think Douglas Coupland is somehow personally responsable [sic] for slapping a label on a generation and shoving the definition down their (our) throats, you a) haven't read it, and b) are a clueless moron who had best head someplace more soothing. Thanks for your time, though, you've lost several million brain cells reading me insulting you!"

Zumsteg also offers the homepage peruser a few insights into what he thinks of Coupland's prose. As for Generation X, Zumsteg deems that "as good as it gets."

Shampoo Planet: "It suffers only in comparison to the book upon the pedestal [Generation X], which is something no book holds up well ... I don't believe Coupland wrote Shampoo Planet in order to prove he wasn't a one book author, and I don't believe he wrote it to prove he wasn't tied to one generation."

Life After God: "My initial enthusiasm has been dampened by other fans hashing on it, and my own realization that great moments don't make a great book."

And Microserfs: "I wanted to like Microserfs, but it's just not that great. I'm sure it's better than the attention I paid it I mean it just has to be."

Luckily, Zumsteg went back and re-read the book and now has reassessed Coupland's latest masterpiece. "I'm such a Coupland fan because for the time money you spend reading Coupland's writing, you get so much more out of it than, say, a John Grisham novel. Forgive me for straying; I'm all better now."

Jennifer Davies