Rating: 
Summary: Technobabblewit
Review: This was my first Doug Coupland novel and the only reason I chanced upon it was because of an article in Wired Magazine back in 1996 (I think). Back then, Coupland wrote it as a short story (I think) and then later expanded on it as a book. Interesting that back then, what he described as '386 droneware' was, in the book itself, to become '486 droneware'. I guess writing needs to be upgraded too!Anyway, I liked Microserfs a LOT. However, my favourite part is still the first chapter, that first original story. The book, on a whole, is whimsical and funny. Coupland's mastery of imagery seems to have developed from his earlier novels and here it's excellent. I don't consider this to be his best book (unlike many) although it's certainly the most attractively accessible. This is standard Doug Coupland - mid 20s people searching for identity and their place in the world. Here, they just happen to be computer programmers. Ultimately, a fine book, 'classic Coupland' and a good introduction to his (our) world.
Rating:
Summary: filled with life's little truisms
Review: i actually found my copy of microserfs in a lonely little corner at a big bookstore sale. what struck me was the very title, the serfs of microsoft. and it was pretty relevant to me at the time because i just got online. imagine, a douglas coupland book sitting unbought next to cheesy romance novels and selling at half the price. that was a real bargain, indeed. it never entered my mind that the book would have such a profound effect on me. why? for several reasons. first, well, i've always suspected that i've always been a nerd at heart - although i've been denying it for years. so when dan and bug and todd and karla started talking about carbon and being linear and artificial intelligence, i could totally relate. second, that thing about having and not having a life, well, isn't that just true for most everybody corporate these days. the need to accumulate and consume and eat up everything is so overwhelming that we forget why we even started doing what we are doing in the first place. our collective souls have been tainted and distorted by our need to buy the latest CD, the trendiest clothes, the next super powerbook. still, what i really like about the book is its unflagging optimism. that despite bug's bitter character or michael's geeky pose, they all got to have their colorful little lives in the end. it may be insignificant to the bigger order of things but it's a life - and that's more than anybody of us get in this world.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is clever, funny, addictive and enthralling
Review: This book has everything. You don't need to be a techie to appreciate it. It draws you into the characters world so much, you feel like they are your friends. Everything the characters feel you can feel yourself. This book is the best book i have ever read and i would recommend it to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Microsefs revels in geek culture
Review: Douglas Coupland has often been refereed to as a sort of herald for the X generation. Indeed, he coined the term, "Generation X," upon the release of his book by the same name. He is known for presenting the commonly held views of his generation, along with a few of his own, in his sitcom styled novels. He continues this tradition in the technology oriented book Microserfs. Set against the backdrop of the digital revolution of the early nineties, Microserfs rummages through the mixed up world of a group of self proclaimed geeks and tongue in cheek neo-corporate cultists. It's the story of a brief part of their lives in which, through the struggle for independence and self identity, they forge a new life for themselves out of the social wilds of a young silicon valley and a start-up company called Oop!. The charm of Microserfs lies primarily in the obscure yet popular cultural references which Coupland hands out like so much candy, referring to such cultural gems as Startrek, HotWheels, Charlie's Angels, Lego, and the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Microserfs is one part comedy and one part commentary, yet I all comes together in an enjoyable style which Douglas Coupland broadcasts with ease.
Rating: 
Summary: Read "Generation X" or "Life After God" first
Review: I dig both "Generation X" and "Life After God," but this Coupland entry dissappointed me. I refuse to give it 1 star, because at least here Coupland is, at last, trying to put some plot and characterization into his reflections. But 2 stars is the best I can give. It's cute in its presentation (its computer references do for this what the running glossary did for "X"). But beyond that, it's molasses and shallow. Coupland doesn't make me care a lick about any of the characters or their situations. If readers think the trio of main characters in "Generation X" were shallow, they were nothing compared with this bunch. The geekdom surrounding them shines through, but even that grows tiresome. When one of the fringe characters gets sick toward the climax, I didn't care. Coupland was struggling to tell the story of a very modern breed, the computer geek, but maybe he felt too close to the material or maybe he just missed. Read "Life After God" and "Generation X" before sampling this. Even then, don't shell out any money for it. Don't even steal it.
Rating:
Summary: Microserfs is FANTASTIC
Review: Microserfs is the best book out there on modern life in the 80s/90s and quite possibly the best book I've ever read. Douglas Coupland is a master at his craft, and this book is the apogee of his talent. Hilarious, moving, gripping and above all SMART, Microserfs is required reading for anybody interested in modern culture. Also, you don't have to be a geek to love this book, but it definitely helps.
Rating:
Summary: deja-vu
Review: I spent the summer of 1992 serfing at Microsoft, and when I read the first chapter of the book in WIRED magazine the following Spring, I was amazed at how Coupland nailed some of it. He obviously spent a lot of time there doing research...We'd obviously crossed paths at one point. The rest of the book became a little more depressing than my own life had become...But while at Microsoft, life was certainly a bit of hell.
Rating:
Summary: Don't laugh too hard, it just might be you
Review: This book was one of the best that I have read in a long time. Written from the point of view of the diary of Daniel Underwood, it chronicles the journey of a few friends that write computer code for a living and while they don't seem to have lives, they encounter daily adventures varying from one of the friends announcing his homosexuality to another one discovering that he is going to be a father. But the best part is this: It's realistic. A lot of books that I've read before have lots of dialouge, but it's all dramatic and doesn't seem the least bit like something that some one could have said spur-of-the-moment. In Microserfs, the conversations that people have are the same conversations that these sort of 90's geeks would really have. They discuss everything, and then suddenly when you think that there is nothing left for them to talk about, something BIG happens, and the ponderings continue. Personally, it sometimes reminded me of myself. The thoughts of each character is diffirent, and their points of views on topics are quite diffirent. For instance, Susan the ultra-feminist might have a much diffirent opinion on one topic than Todd the body builder. Rate this one a must have.
Rating:
Summary: If you have to read one other Coup book aside from Gen X . .
Review: ...this is it. I think it's the most interesting, more structurally sound Coupland book I've read so far. It is funny...and sad at the same time. The attention to details did it. All hail to the Coup!
Rating:
Summary: Puzzling
Review: A great book, but did anybody understand the couple of pages that were written in a "computer-code-manner? I sure didn't! I would be very thankful if anybody could explain this to me so that I can go on with my life!
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