Miss Wyoming

Rating:
Summary: What is THIS?
Review: Doug writes a Soap. That's it. A vile Soap Opera! Absolute Drivel... Suspicious: has Douglas Coupland actually written this or has he become this generation's Victoria Holt?

Rating:
Summary: Not typical Coupland.
Review: In this novel, Douglas Coupland veers away from what he does best. This work is predicable and mundane. I believe he was trying to take his story telling in another direction- a more mainstream direction, but he fails. The characters are poorly developed, the plot is thin and predictable. Having said this, I remain a huge Coupland fan and if you bored of the formula of Generation X and Microserfs, perhaps this is hte novel for you.

Rating:
Summary: Please try again!
Review: Doug, we felt we had a voice in Generation X, we felt the depth of the conclusion in Life After God, and we felt the depth of pathos in Girlfriend in a Coma, but what happened with this? It seems as if Douglas Coupland has drowned in his own cliche's. Chapter after chapter of character development with no real plot. Was I meant to pity these people? Blame their past? Their upbringing? Yes, yes I know the style, every third chapter refering to a different character, but where are we going with this? What are you saying? I felt no pity for these people written like some characters from a Jerry Springer show. However if you want 35 chapters of character development then read on. Otherwise choose something from an earlier period of Coupland - you won't be disappointed!

Rating:
Summary: WONDERFUL READ
Review: I recently read the author's work, MICROSERFS, and found it an enjoyable read. I find this novel to be as fascinating but for different reasons. The author clearly understands the Hollywood scene. The ideas explored here-redemption from the past, fated love, and the tangential nature of life-are all handled with a sly sense of humor. I highly recommend this. It is a solid effort from this novelist.

Rating:
Summary: appealing for pre-Xers
Review: I am a picky reader. Maybe it's because I'm only 18 and probably still unappreciative of more mature and profound authors that I find Doug Coupland so amusing. I like books that are easy to read, easy to fallow. I like books with characters that I can care about within the first 10 pages. If this doesn't happen, I'll put down the book. Like I said, I'm a picky reader. But despite being only 18 and probably very superficial as well as a victim of the commercial era, I am always amused, always entertained by Douglas Coupland's style. He writes about stuff I can understand. So his books may not have deep meaningful messages, that isn't what I was looking for. I'm looking for an easy to read and understand book that isn't going to appeal to my parents. That is definately part of Coupland's appeal to me.

Rating:
Summary: Boring
Review: I have listened to over a hundred books on tape, and this is one of the worst. The story switches from past to present to past to present. It is very hard to follow the story. Don't waste your money on this, there are to many good tapes out there.

Rating:
Summary: Coupland's Gen-X meanderings are rapidly becoming cliche.
Review: Miss Wyoming is Coupland's attempt to capture again what he hascaptured in every book he has written since Generation X.Disillusionment, love interest, pointless psychologically-draining scenes, unrealistic characters. The only thing that saved Microserfs from this was its hip-technological context. It is as if every book I read of his is rehashing the same material. (Notable exception: Life After God. I'm always fascinated whenever I re-read this book.)

Rating:
Summary: Would the real Miss Wyoming please stand up?
Review: Haven't we met before? Coupland's latest work is a depressingly entertaining story, but it's full of character styles, locations, anecdotes and analogies that are getting a little stale. Stale because they have all been used in his other books (can you say "Peter Mayle"?). Also, Miss Wyoming is organized in a series of flashbacks which can have some effect, but in Miss Wyoming, end up confusing things. I'm not exactly sure why the story was written this way - it's almost as if Coupland dropped his final draft down the stairs and then hastily organized the pages back together. It's time for some fresh stuff, Doug.

Rating:
Summary: Author in a coma
Review: Miss Wyoming revolves around the sad lives of former teen beauty queen and sitcom star Susan Colgate and movieproducer John Johnson. Both have been scarred and jaded by their businesses, and are now, after having been in near death accidents, trying to reinvent themselves when given a second chance. This novel is, as we've come to expect from Coupland, laden with zeitgeisty observations that make reading somewhat worthwhile. But, acute as these may be, as literature go Miss Wyoming is definitely date stamped. Plot and characterization are thin even by Coupland's lacklustre standards, and you get the feeling that you've heard all this before. And in fact, if you read Coupland previous novel Girlfriend in a coma which also dealt with issues of regeneration and redemption, you have. Maybe the author needs to reinvent himself. Trivia: character John Johnson is based on movieproducer extraordinaire Don Simpson (Top Gun, The Rock), and Charles Flemings seedy bio "High Concept - Don Simpson and Hollywood culture of excess" is equally lackadaisical but actually a better read.

Rating:
Summary: Bad Jackie Collins novel
Review: I've read better fiction from highschool students! We have six people in our bookclub and all of us HATED this novel. John Irving, he is not. Save your money and don't buy this book. If you somehow get stuck with it, it's good paper for the bottom of the bird cage.