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Summary: I bought this book on my honeymoon in Boston...
Review: ... and I took it to Bermuda. It was one of the least enjoyable things I did on the trip (heh-heh), but I liked having a Coupland book to read at the beach and in the early morning. This book is more like a sociology text concerning subcultural groups, yet a compelling sociology book. Coupland explores these groups of folks well, I particularly liked his comment on the innate fear of the smell of fecal matter. It was kind of like reading a Coupland travel journal, and I enjoyed it for being that. The thing that caught my attention immediately was, of course, the cover. Poor Sharon Tate. Alas, I knew her not
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Summary: never read it
Review: ????
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Summary: Unique and thoroughly enjoyable
Review: Coupland writes several beautiful tales that give true insight to the phenomena of following the Dead.He also writes from the heart his feelings on the death of Kurt Cobain and explains his emotional and spirtual ties to his homeland of Vancouver.From Charles Manson to O.J. Simpson, this book has something for everyone.Coupland really makes every item interesting.My favorite piece, "Lions Gate Bridge" is reminescent of his best book, Life After God
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Summary: Doug hits a little close to home
Review: Dear Doug,
Every time I read one of your books I curse you. Polaroids from the Dead was no exception. You see, we grew up in the same neighbourhood. Except you are ten years older and, as such, have had ten more years to become a sucessful writer. You've written about your youth before I had a chance to write about mine. So when I get around to writing about my religion-free, lazy upbringing in posh West Vancouver, I'll be covering the same territory. Thanks a lot.
As for your most recent volume, I have mixed feelings. Ten stories on the infamous "Deadhead" fans of the Grateful Dead tours are, if not scintillating, then at least sociologically instructive. I wonder when you will stop titling your chapters with ridiculous epigrams like "Tinkering with Oblivion Carries Risk" or "You Fear Involuntary Sedation".
Not surprisingly, your best work comes out of our shared, landscaped home. "Lions Gate Bridge" is a delicate, touching essay with enough detail to outweigh your habit of waxing ethereal and finding meaning in the meaningless. Your description of the bridge as "one last grand gesture of beauty, of charm and of grace before we enter the hinterlands" is nicely put. Having spent fifteen years in those "hinterlands", I ought to know. A similar gentle tone is struck in "Harolding in West Vancouver," a delightful piece about hanging about the local cemetary.
Between these essays are the awful, self-indulgent "The German Reporter" and "Letter to Kurt Cobain." The former assumes your audience is interested in how you entertain foreign reporters while the latter assures the deceased Cobain "I had never asked you to make me care about you." Doug, while you may have been appointed our generation's cultural archivist, try to keep the gushing sentiment to a minimum.
You finish with the comfortably-disjointed essay on Brentwood, home to the murders of Marilyn Monroe and Nicole Brown Simpson. While this may compel your more macabre readers, I didn't finish it.
So, Doug, recorder of Zeigeists, coiner of terms, you have offered us another enviable, mediocre text about ethically-void places and people. You will one day become a meaningful, spiritual writer. I am sure that although you are part of the first generation raised without religion, you will find one. And I am certain, or at least optimistic, that you will stop writing about our neighbourhood
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Summary: A narrative travelogue of several Gen X subcultures.
Review: Douglas Coupland is at it again. Having probed the religious impulses of the post-boomer generation in Life After God and profiled the techie-geek subculture in Microserfs, Coupland now offers a series of short essays about the Deadheads and the lingering neo-hippie subculture of the 1990s.
However, only one-third of the book is about the Dead. The second section are snapshots of various people and places, ranging from young politicos in Washington, D.C., to musings on post-Communist East Berlin and the architectural landscape of Vancouver. The third section is devoted to a socio-philosophical analysis of the Brentwood community and its residents from Marilyn Monroe to O. J. Simpson. Here he provides his keenest observations on the poverty of wealth and celebrity, something like a Gen X version of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
While introducing several interesting themes regarding the nature of identity in what he calls a culture of "denarration," the reader senses that Coupland's latest outing is merely a hodgepodge of his random thoughts and observations. This book lacks the thematic coherence of his earlier works, primarily because this is a collection of articles and essays rather than a novel. The quality of his material varies widely from chapter to chapter, as if illustrating his own struggle to portray life as a narrative. This book, like life in general, has its good and bad days. Worth reading, but not Coupland at his best.
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Summary: Polaroids from an amazing author
Review: Every time I pick up a Coupland book I am always pleasantly surprised. Polaroids is a quick and easy read. The sections are split up into 5-10 page short stories. These small pieces are set in three parts. The first being short observations of the many different people you would find at a greatful dead concert. Coupland delves into the reasons each person comes to the concert and their daily lives outside of it. He compares the opinions of true hippies to wanna-be hippies. There is a charming tale near the end of this section that is told by a mother to her children as they wait for their father to finish watching the show. The second part is a variety of observations that range from the majestic beauty of the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver, Canada to postacards from friends and a painting of an F-111 that speaks to the author on a spiritual level. The Last section brings us to Brentwood, California. This section shows us many different ways of looking at Brentwood. Coupland lists advertising displays, answers the question: what sort of person lives in Brentwood, The relationship between Brentwood and O.J.Simpson, the colors that are predominant in Brentwood, etc..etc.. This amusing book makes one take a harder look at people and their surroundings. It asks you the questions no one else bothers to ask: "Who are these people around me and why do they do the things they do?" I was quite pleased with this book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading social commentary. Also recommended: THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez
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Summary: Polaroids from an amazing author
Review: I enjoyed this book. It's not as strong as Generation-X or Shampoo Planet, but the prose style is in the same vent. The letter to Kurt Cobain here is the most interesting, especially for those of us who miss him and love his music. But Coupland's FUN "expose" of Bay Area culture, especially DeadHead culture, is right on. Anyone who has walked down Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley will smile upon reading the opening paragraphs here. And anyone who has seen (or been around) any of the Deadhead carnivals around the Greek Theater in Berkeley will also laugh and smile knowingly.... This is a groovy book, baby.
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Summary: DeadHeads, Baby
Review: I enjoyed this book. It's not as strong as Generation-X or Shampoo Planet, but the prose style is in the same vent. The letter to Kurt Cobain here is the most interesting, especially for those of us who miss him and love his music. But Coupland's FUN "expose" of Bay Area culture, especially DeadHead culture, is right on. Anyone who has walked down Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley will smile upon reading the opening paragraphs here. And anyone who has seen (or been around) any of the Deadhead carnivals around the Greek Theater in Berkeley will also laugh and smile knowingly.... This is a groovy book, baby.
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Summary: Middle of the road
Review: Lukewarm collection of stories, essays, and observations from Generation X's primary author and voice. The first part of the collection (the titular "Polaroids") consists of short vignettes involving Deadheads at a Grateful Dead concert, of which only "How Clear Is Your Vision of Heaven?" seems to be effective. In that tale, Columbia tells her young children a bedtime story (about an enchanted city beset by drought that continues on a downward spiral with the appearance of a skeleton) as they all bunk inside an Econoline van while Columbia's husband Ezekiel enjoys the concert alone. The middle of the book is the best read. "Portraits of People and Places" is a collection of essays, letters, postcards, pictures, and rants about different places that Coupland has visited and experienced. His piece of Lions Gate Bridge is perhaps one of the best pieces I've ever read about Coupland. I loved the image he created with the trumpeter playing tunes for the gridlocked drivers/passengers while the suicide jumper teetered over the edge of the bridge. Coupland's descriptions of Palo Alto, CA, Los Alamos, NM, and Vancouver are magnificent. I've never been to these places, but Coupland effectively recreates them without much effort. The final part is the "Brentwood Notebook," an interesting piece on suburban Brentwood, California, site of Marilyn Monroe's suicide in 1962 and the Nicole Brown Simpson-Ron Goldman murders in 1994, of which football great OJ Simpson was tried and acquitted in what has become the trial of the 20th century. Coupland goes through every detail of the suburb, from the fact that it is NOT an actual city, just a suburb, to details about nearby cemetaries and places of interests. A map would have been nice, however. Overall, I have to give this one a three. The first part did nearly next to nothing for me. The middle was wonderful; the end was anti-climactic. The numerous photos helped, especially the cover photo of the beautiful actress Sharon Tate, who, within the book on pp. 14-15, eerily shares space with the man who had her killed, infamous murderer Charles Manson.
Rating:
Summary: Middle of the road
Review: Lukewarm collection of stories, essays, and observations from Generation X's primary author and voice. The first part of the collection (the titular "Polaroids") consists of short vignettes involving Deadheads at a Grateful Dead concert, of which only "How Clear Is Your Vision of Heaven?" seems to be effective. In that tale, Columbia tells her young children a bedtime story (about an enchanted city beset by drought that continues on a downward spiral with the appearance of a skeleton) as they all bunk inside an Econoline van while Columbia's husband Ezekiel enjoys the concert alone. The middle of the book is the best read. "Portraits of People and Places" is a collection of essays, letters, postcards, pictures, and rants about different places that Coupland has visited and experienced. His piece of Lions Gate Bridge is perhaps one of the best pieces I've ever read about Coupland. I loved the image he created with the trumpeter playing tunes for the gridlocked drivers/passengers while the suicide jumper teetered over the edge of the bridge. Coupland's descriptions of Palo Alto, CA, Los Alamos, NM, and Vancouver are magnificent. I've never been to these places, but Coupland effectively recreates them without much effort. The final part is the "Brentwood Notebook," an interesting piece on suburban Brentwood, California, site of Marilyn Monroe's suicide in 1962 and the Nicole Brown Simpson-Ron Goldman murders in 1994, of which football great OJ Simpson was tried and acquitted in what has become the trial of the 20th century. Coupland goes through every detail of the suburb, from the fact that it is NOT an actual city, just a suburb, to details about nearby cemetaries and places of interests. A map would have been nice, however. Overall, I have to give this one a three. The first part did nearly next to nothing for me. The middle was wonderful; the end was anti-climactic. The numerous photos helped, especially the cover photo of the beautiful actress Sharon Tate, who, within the book on pp. 14-15, eerily shares space with the man who had her killed, infamous murderer Charles Manson.
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