It’s 1988. On a morning unlike any other at a suburban high school in Vancouver, 3 teens attempt to achieve the highest kill count in the history of school shootings. Flash forward 11 years into the future; the incident has more or less been forgotten by most but remains ingrained in the memories of a select few closest to the tragedy.I was really enjoying this book; I could go so far as to say I was loving it. However, right up to about the halfway point, something so insane occurred that it took me completely out of the story and nearly ruined the entire novel for me. Coupland spends a decent amount of time building a world in which I bought in to, characters that I truly felt sorry for. He then throws this ridiculously unnecessary event that wasn’t even needed! I’ll tag a spoiler at the end so I can complain about it.That being said, I really did like the characters in this novel. Well, aside from Reg, but you're not supposed to like him anyway. I have this thing with overly self-righteous parent figures that can drive me up the wall. I think it comes from having a few in my family, however, I'm not going to subject you to that.In terms of writing, it had its fair share of memorable quotes and passages. I can complain all I want about that one problem, but Coupland proved he has some serious writing chops.It has been drilled into us that to feel fear is to not fully trust God. Whoever made that one up has never been beneath a cafeteria table with a tiny thread of someone else’s blood trickling onto their leg.Trust me, you spend a much larger part of your life being old, not young. Rules change along the way. The first things to go are those things you thought were eternal.Those two, especially the latter, really connected with me. Hey, I'm not exactly old (27 years old, here) but I'm starting to get that outlook. I understand exactly where he's coming from. As iffy as I felt after reading this novel, I’m really excited to try something else of Coupland's. I thoroughly enjoyed his style, I hope that he's bound to impress me. There was enough within these pages to draw me back for another round.(view spoiler)[Okay, so I can believe that Jason needed Barb to marry him before he fathered her child(ren). What I have a hard time believing is what followed. For starters, that Barb actually agreed to it and flew to Vegas with Jason to fulfill his wishes. And second, the worst part, is that totally unnecessary murder! I actually said out loud, “What?!” when it occurred. I was so distracted by how ridiculous it was that it nearly ruined the whole thing. I’m still mad about it! It took what could have been a 4.5 to 5 star experience right down to a solid 3. (hide spoiler)]
Douglas Coupland always runs hot or cold for me. As a child of the 90s his novels were a huge influence on me -- Microserfs being one of the few books I can honestly call life-changing -- but more often than not my now-jaded near-thirtysomething self finds the reflexive irony and shameless zeitgeistiness of his books too cutsy for their own good. After jPod I was about ready to write Coupland off altogether, but on a whim I picked up Hey Nostradamus! at a used book shop over Christmas vacation. I'm profoundly glad that I did.Perhaps owing to the darker-than-usual material of four individuals orbiting the aftermath of a school shooting in North Van, Coupland had to tone down his trademark-kookiness in every aspect of this novel. What remains so astonishing for me is just how much better said kookiness works in small doses; when pop culture is used as flavour rather than the primary ingredient, the material leaps off the page, and his almost-Lynchian off-kilterness ends up feeling natural rather than shoehorned in.Coupland's tackled meditations on life after death, both with respect to the deceased and those the deceased's left behind, in many of his previous novels, but it's never worked particularly well for me (consider the abrupt and quizzical end of Microserfs, for instance). Here, though, I think he found the right balance of sorrow and joy, of family love and lunacy, and shades of the supernatural, both real and imagined, to really guide us through the experience of loss, in all its aspects. Hey Nostradamus! is one of Coupland's best.
What do You think about Hey Nostradamus! (2004)?
*mild spoilers below*I love Douglas Coupland. He just has this way of seeing through the superficialness of our culture and pulling so much depth and meaning out of it. His characters experience such tremendous growth. And he is so funny. I am always alternating between being on the verge of tears and laughing outloud. Sometimes it happens at the same time.This story is about a girl who is killed in a school shooting and how the lives of those who love her are affected by it. The first part is told from her point of view, the next three parts from other points of view. The first part of the book is amazing. This high school girl, telling her tragic story, is so sweet and forgiving and loving. She tells it so beautifully. The rest of the book takes place later, after the tragedy, and you get a look at the damage that it has done. It is a strange, funny look into the lives of some of the other characters, and there are some good bits in there, but I thought it was nowhere near as good as that first part of the book. If I could rate them separately, I would give part one a five and parts two through four a three. Overall, it gets a four and is definitely worth a read.
—Ruth
This is not a book that might have gotten my attention on the bookshelf, but was recommended to me by two close friends. So I picked it up at the bookstore when it was on the bargain shelf for $5 and I had a gift certificate. It then sat on my shelf for a few months until I started this whole reading marathon.I'm sorry I waited so long to read it. The way the 4 narrators told their stories and how you were able to understand how the actions of one person can affect so many people was wonderful. It made me think about how I personally feel about other people's actions and how I might not know the full story behind the scenes that led to how they might act. I definitely recommend this book. It was a great read and one I'm glad I finally gave a chance.
—Amanda
This is the worst book I've ever read and I've read in-progress drafts from beginning writers. There's zero difference in the narrative voices. There's a gimmick for how the story is being told (ex: a letter, notes by a court stenographer compelled to tell her story). The plot is laughable and the character reactions could be called "unrealistic" if the characters themselves behaved the least like actual people. I mean, "Well someone saw us together in this Vegas hotel lobby so, naturally, I killed him." (not actual quote, just actual storyline)I read this for a book club. It was the only book I read for the book club. I would sell it except that I feel wrong inflicting this literary pain on other people.BTW: Coupland seems to have some very rabid supporters. When I blogged a longer review after reading it and then a shorter, softer review at Amazon, they came out of the closet to tell me how I didn't "get it" and how ludicrous my opinion is. They're entitled to that opinion and I'm entitled to mine: this book sucks.
—Stephanie
