etc.

I have this thing about Douglas Coupland. I’ve read every single one of his books and disliked maybe two. I enjoy his style, I tend to read his novels at a brakeneck pace, mostly because that’s the way they are written, and more often than not, I don’t find his stuff memorable (except Life After God, which is easily one of my favourite novels). After reading All Families are Psychotic last year, I hit saturation point with his dysfunctional characters absurdly wrestling their way through variously soporific situations, and I was ready for something different, something more, something insightful, something mature, whatever the hell that means.

Hey Nostradamus! is what I’ve been waiting for. It recounts the emotional aftermath of a high school massacre, reminiscent of Columbine, told in four parts from the points of view of four related characters. Coupland goes back to dealing in the stuff that made Life After God so compelling, namely God and religious fanatacism and morality and how and where all three intersect in the lives of his narrators. This is probably Coupland’s most emotionally charged, delicately woven novel, and I think he might have stumbled upon a winning formula because four days and one book later and I still can’t stop thinking about it.