Life After God

Douglas Coupland is one of my all time favorite authors. I have all his books and while I was going through the Nerd Cave and decluttering I became a bit nostalgic and wanted to go back and read the books that meant the world to me growing up. I decided to read this book because I have this permanent memory of this book speaking to me during a certain phase in my life. I have not touched this book in over 10 years easily if not more.After reading this book I don't know that it is always a good idea to read a book again. I feel like this book was part of a moment in my life that should not have been tampered with. The second reading of this book did not speak to me the way it once did. I am married, have three kids, love my job and life. I don't feel lost in a society where I am trying to figure out who I am and what I want to become. That was an earlier self. During that time this book connected with me through the stories. I did not connect to it this time because I am in a different place and different time.This does not deter from the greatness of the book. I still read it in one sitting. I cannot wait for his new book and will probably go back and reread his other books just because I love this writing that much.It is perhaps not a book designed for those who are not lost souls. He has always been rendered as the Salinger of our generation. Everyone has to grow up sometime. I have done that, but the book will always hold that special place in my mind. I just did not need to hear the words again.

SPOILER ALERTI've read quite a few other Coupland books and have found the last couple of be a bit of a chore to get through compared to his earlier work. As an atheist and from the description and reviews I thought this might it might be worth giving him another shot. It was a quick and easy read but the apparent "conclusion" in the final pages left me disappointed. After reading a lot of short vignettes that nicely highlight some of the existential angst and fears and problems of life all people have probably experienced Coupland's conclusion seems to say, that when push comes to shove - for the generation raised where God is not the default, go to explanation of everything we can rely on - we still really need God. To quote "My secret is that I need God - I'm sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love as I seem to be beyond being able to love". So I only got a 'C' in English literature but I'm pretty sure the Coupland is actually saying the generation raised without go is going off the rails emotionally without God and that we need to have a belief in a magical deity to make life bearable.Obviously as an atheist I'd disagree with that but I'm not going to give it a one star rating just because I disagree with the conclusion - like I said the writing is nice and it's a quick and easy read that finds resonance with many people's feelings about life and the "what does it all mean" and "where did I miss the boat" experiences we have as we get older. Those are well observed and translated into some characters and the short stories about them. But I have to ding my rating at least somewhat since I really think it does a disservice in presenting God as the only thing that can bring meaning and answers to live. Seriously, the generation living "after god" can aspire to greater things than falling back on the familiar magical crux of religion.

"Life After God" is a collection of short works, some of which are obviously fictional and some it is hard to tell. The common theme running through all the stories is of life without the certainty of the existence of God. In various ways the author grapples with the implications of a world without God through telling stories of the people struggling to find meaning and purpose in various, and sometimes very strange, situations. This book is a lament for something lost with comfortable modernity, but it poses no answers and there is very little certainty between the covers of this little book.I found myself devouring the pithy, but often beautiful prose as I stumbled with the characters through shattered inner landscapes amid malls, airports, cubicles, and family homes. I haven't read something so melancholy and true for a very long time. As you read Coupland's struggle will resonate with you on several levels. You'll see yourself, your friends and loved ones, and our culture at large. Even though this was fiction it was honest in a way that most writing isn't. So, read this and think deeply about our loss. What will become of a world without God? Coupland doesn't know, and doesn't give any indication that he believes in God. Let me close with a quote from the book that sums it up nicely without giving too much away."My secret is that I need God - that I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I no longer seem capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love."This is definitely worth your time.

Many first person books are designed to help you put yourself in the shoes of the character and feel what it might be like to be in his shoes. This book accomplishes that better than most any book I've ever read.You will notice some oddities about the style of the book. The doodles, the shape of the text in places. They are there intentionally to through you off and break the old familiar program of just reading the book, and make you think on another level. This book does a marvelous job of getting you to examine what life might be like if you were this dude.If some bad theology is going to get on your nerves and make you scream, then this book will bother you, however the point of this book isn't so much to highlight theology, but to highlight that that we experience the world from within ourselves. How our emotions and our brain work will mix with our experiences to give us the unique life we have. We are all trying to figure life out, and no two of us get the same impression of it.

Recommended to me by a friend, this book struck me straight away in its style and approach as an exploration into the mind of an intorspective soul figuring out their personal crisis.Being on medication - especially for things like depression / or as I am - being on medication used to treat depression but given in lower doses to treat my nerve related problems - you will know that keeping a clear mind - your focus - self awareness becomes harder to do. Your short term memory dominates everyday proceednings. In my case I have been struggling to read all year - and before my much needed medication, I was a milkshake on a hot day reader, I loved reading all the time.Coupland cleverly writes this book so each moment of thought by the narrrator is capturing those moments of introspection and concentration. This is a character very much unsure of their next steps in life, and also has internal conflicts related to having belief in a God or not. The character very much relates their experiences to a battle against nothingness vs not being alone and having belief as the story goes on. Discussions with his child and childhood friends, incidental moments that present mostly brief highlights of conversations in cafes and cars - all of them point towards a revealing of the characters upbringing and choices made. There are beautiful poetics in the 'on the road' style narrative and I love the illustrations that header each moment.But the main thing that I related to was how important it was to the character to place their own identity. This character identifies with belief and explores where he is at in his own mind. and what is especially powerful is the moment he comes off his medication - how much he is inspired by soon feeling like himself once again - as if the drugs themeselves inhibit his personal inner progress and thereforethe quality of his own determination to move on. He emerges as if from a cloudy hybernation. That I related to alot.In religious terms I have some quarms with the idea that this character would be satisfied by the idea of a God - for me I related more to the stories about nothingness vs belief - a bit similar to the Vishnu story in the Hindu relgion - No Knowledge is the negative force there - and Chaos is where existence and conciousness emerges. For me such a self aware and observant character would perhaps have explored other stories in more detail.That said I really empaphised with the narrative, poetry and feel of the character - it felt almost Aesop Fable like - and as my first go at a Coupland book - indeed just the taste of satisfaction at completing a book - I was able to relate to the characters own eventual baptism and awakening - more in an emotional sense - even if I did not entirely agree with the characters established views at the end.Anyway it was a great book in my current circumstances and really brought the buzz of reading back. Nice one!

20 years since I first read this. 20 years that have vanished before I even thought about them starting....so many lifetimes..lovers, children, divorce, careers, loss, fortune, the town and the city and all the spaces in between, my babies become teenagers and I move to grey and a nagging/boring obsession with my waist size..I have memories of this book: beautiful and simple and elegant and moving and spiritual with a small 's'..and I've recommended and bought this for so many that I wanted to see if it still means what it did.It does. Coupland still makes me smile in ways I only recognise when I read him; ("he was so curious to know what being shot would be like. To facilitate shooting he would always wear his shirts wide open at the chest, like a 1976 person"), ("there were no clean spoons around the house so I ate cottage cheese with a plastic tortoiseshell shoehorn that was lying next to the couch - so I guess I've hit a new personal low"), and now gives me that added ache of nostalgia..the saddest of the loss emotions. This has the strange comfort of a Hold Steady song - reminding me somehow of a time long since passed, or the smell of my favourite Chivas Regal 25, and could make me cry on a deeper, more pale afternoon. Tempting to be cynical of course..Coupland with his oh so meaningful 20 something generation little baby nothing small life lessons, and too cool for school ain't I tortured and interesting characters, but that would mean reading this with head not heart and there are plenty of other reading experiences for that. These are snatches of meaningless conversations, (like most words exchanged), sketches of moods ("..summer was over. The cold air sparkled and the maples leaves were rotting, putting forth their lovely reek, like dead pancakes."), the nuclear dead speaking after their everyday mundane flashpoint deaths in shopping malls, offices and hair salons, and clever little metaphors ("counting the Rothkos of skid marks of long-dead car collisions on Interstate 15's white cement lanes").Some days we need to disappear into a foggy world of dreams, and not return to this, our real world. Life After God allowed me that opportunity today. I slipped through, just for a couple of hours..slipped my own chains. In the words of another great Canadian: "only love can break your heart"."Time is how the trees grow. I will fall asleep for a thousand years, and when I wake, a mighty spruce tree will have raised me up high, high into the sky"

I just adore Douglas Coupland and this is an early but great book from this author. Great and often poetic use of language. A great read.

Interesting book. The meaning and intention of the autor comes at the end of the book. One doesn't quite understand what he is trying to say at first, as it starts with several unrelated stories.

OK, they're all my favourite but this is my favourite favourite. Moving, funny, compelling and written beautifully, as ever, by British Columbia's favourite son.