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Generation A – Book Review #3

Posted 18 Sep 2009 - No Comments - leave yours now!

Some books seem to transcend their subject matter; they have deeper meanings than it appears at first glance. I’ve always found this to be the case when reading Douglas Coupland novels, and that is part of the reason why I believe I can label his books as inspirational.

In many ways Coupland’s books are unrelated to Graphic design but in a lot of other ways they are related to everything.
I’ve been thinking of writing a review of Coupland’s career as a writer as a source of inspiration for a while. I started his latest novel this week, which made my mind up.

Generation A, by Douglas Coupland

Blurb: In the near future bees are extinct – until five unconnected individuals, in different parts of the world, are stung. Immediately snatched up by ominous figures in hazmat suits, interrogated separately in neutral chambers, and then released as 15-minute-celebrities into a world driven almost entirely by the internet, these five unforgettable people endure a barrage of unusual and highly 21st-century circumstances. A charismatic scientist with dubious motives eventually brings the quintet together, and their shared experience unites them in a way they could never have imagined.

There is a scene in the book that made me write this review, the image was so strange and unsettling to me that I had to write about it.
When the characters get stung they are transported to ‘neutral chambers’ for about a month. There rooms are completely devoid of sensory input. Nothing has any colour, but more importantly there are no logos on anything. No labels on the bed sheets, no branding plates on the bed frame or medical equipment. The characters find this so unfamiliar and strange because corporate identity has reached saturation point. A corporate logo is a given, you expect to see it on everything, can you imagine a world without corporate branding?

When the stung characters are bought together they are asked to tell stories to each other. The near future world that is described in the book highlights how, with technology we can become disconnected as a society, stop interacting and become insular.
Coupland seems to be suggesting that through storytelling we can connect or re-connect with each other and discover the important things in our lives instead of the distractions that we constantly invent for ourselves.

I’d like to push this line of thinking a bit further. I think this book hints at the good and bad sides of the design industry. The image of the logo-less room, made me think how design has saturated the world we live in. Every surface we traverse is plastered with design communication shouting at us to do things. The more messages there are the more their messages are diluted.

The other line of thought is about the central message of the book. How communication and creativity are some of the most powerful tools humanity has. As designers we are perfectly positioned to use these tools, and it’s up to us to utilise them responsibly and well.

This is the main reason I find Douglas Coupland’s books a source of inspiration, they kick-start my brain, they make me think, they make me ask questions. Sometimes they make me curious about things; which leads me down a creative path that I never would have explored before. They also make me laugh, which can never be under-appreciated.

Coupland has always had a knack for analysing a small part of society; poking around and discovering the way they live and think, then expanding upon it make it accessible to all.

Here is a list of his past novels.
Generation X : Tales for an Accelerated Culture (1991)
Shampoo Planet (1992)
Life After God (1994)
Microserfs (1995)
Girlfriend in a Coma (1998)
Miss Wyoming (2000)
All Families Are Psychotic (2001)
Hey Nostradamus! (2003)
Eleanor Rigby (2004)
j Pod (2006)
The Gum Thief (2007)
Generation A (2009)

Of course each one is different, they each have their own themes, but they all give me the same feeling. They all switch my brain on. I find them inspirational.

Let me know if you have any strange sources of inspiration? Do you already enjoy Coupland’s work, do you find it helpful. I’d especially like to know what you think if I’ve helped you discover these books.

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