Douglas Coupland

Canadian (Vancouver) author, designer and visual artist. His early novels feature characters struggling-to-come-to-terms-with-the-conditions-of-post-modern-life, later works tend to be comic and use Refuge in Audacity plot twists.

Needs More Love


 * 1) Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture (1991)
 * 2) Shampoo Planet (1992)
 * 3) Life After God (1994)
 * 4) Microserfs (1995) A group of junior Microsoft programmers quit their jobs and move to silicon valley to make their own product and "get a life"
 * 5) Girlfriend in a Coma (1998)
 * 6) Miss Wyoming (2000)
 * 7) All Families Are Psychotic (2001)
 * 8) God Hates Japan (2001) (Published only in Japan, in Japanese with little English. Japanese title is 神は日本を憎んでる (Kami wa Nihon wo Nikunderu ))
 * 9) Hey Nostradamus! (2003)
 * 10) Eleanor Rigby (2004)
 * 11) JPod (2006)
 * 12) The Gum Thief (2007)
 * 13) Generation A (2009)
 * 14) Player One: What is to Become of Us (2010)

Girlfriend In A Coma

 * Apocalypse How: somewhere between Classes Two and Three.
 * Dead All Along: Jared, who died of cancer while in his teens. See Posthumous Narration.
 * Depopulation Bomb: the Sleep.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: the characters get to re-live their lives, with the added bonus of Pam and Hamilton being drug-free and Jane being able to see. However,  YMMV on how happy their ending is, however - see Go Mad from the Revelation.
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero: Richard
 * The Lancer: Hamilton, who also doubles as The Big Guy
 * The Smart Guy: Linus and Wendy - she's a doctor, he's an electrical technician
 * The Chick: Pam
 * Tagalong Kid: Megan, Jane and
 * Foreshadowing: Karen's letter to Richard, in which she describes what is about to take place. Later, Pam and Hamilton experience visions of international death and destruction in tandem while they're unconscious and undergoing detox.
 * Go Mad from the Revelation: Richard, Pam, Hamilton, Linus, Megan and Wendy - at least, to outsiders who aren't aware of the things they experienced Jared is fully aware that they'll all be viewed as crazies while on their quest for the truth.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * It Got Worse: when Karen comes out of her coma, it signifies the beginning of the end of the world.
 * I Will Wait for You: Richard continues to visit Karen for seventeen years after she goes into a coma, never once even considering breaking off the relationship.
 * Jerk Jock: subverted with Jared. While at first glance he may appear to be a womanising jock - which he admits himself - he's actually the wisest character in the novel, thanks to the years of insight he gained after death, and ultimately the one who saves Richard and his friends, with Karen's help. He's also not that jerkish - he
 * Posthumous Narration: most of the book is from Jared's viewpoint, as he's the one who oversees events and acts a sort of guardian angel to the characters . Richard narrates the first part since, according to Jared, he's 'the best talker'.
 * She Knows Too Much: Karen believes this was why she went into her coma in the first place - she caught a glimpse of the future, and it wasn't pleasant.
 * Shout-Out: spot the numerous Smiths song titles scattered throughout the book. 'Oscillate Wildly', 'Every Day Is Like Sunday' and 'The Queen Is Dead', to name but three.

Player One

 * Aspergers Syndrome: Rachel. Or high-functioning autism, anyway. She's very forthright, has trouble recognising patterns and faces, has to attend social skills classes, and takes an obsessive interest in breeding white mice.