Life After God

The book quality is bad.

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.