Journal Response #2 (Doug Coupland in the Novel)

First off, this is a warning to anyone who hasn't read the novel, and doesn't want to be spoiled. This post contains critical incidents from the book! BEWARNED!

That said, right from the start of the novel, first dialouge said, he includes himself. By this, I mean he wrote himself a part in the novel. The characters know him for his works from the start, as they constantly say lines that refer to "Doug Coupland's Novels".

Page 17: "Oh God. I feel like a refugee from a Douglas Coupland novel!"

Page 117: "If I were Douglas Coupland, I'd have sued the pants off Aaron Spelling."

Page 217: "Drinking Zima is something Douglas Coupland would make a character do."

(I just realized this as I typed out all the quotations, but freakisly they are all on a page in an incriment of 100 plus 17. Strange..)

Anyways, halfway through the book, when Ethan is traveling to China in first class, he sees Douglas Coupland. Having ordered Scotch, Ethan is partly drunk when he accidently stumbles upon Coupland. They begin to talk however, and Ethan explains this wacko situation he is in(His mother had a stalker who was also Ethan's boss, A friend of the mother made him addicted to heroin and sent him to China to work in a shoe factory, so he had to go get his boss to save the company's project). From this, Coupland is interested in Ethan and asks for his Laptop. When Ethan awakes from his drunken slumber, he finds a note on his Laptop, saying how much of an idiot he is for giving it to a random stranger. Later they meet again and Coupland is asked to help Ethan, but Coupland only agrees to help if he can have his laptop. The purpose of this is so Coupland can write a novel about the interesting life that Ethan leads.

Now I found this part interesting, because Coupland asks for Ethan's second laptop saying that he would be writing the novel. It posed the question: "Is this real?". It made a so unbelievable novel, with all its quirks and weird instances seem like it had all happened. So I did a little research:

1. Through the power of the internet, I have found there are no people with the names Ethan Jarlweski, John Doe, Kam Fong, or any other characters from the novel in Canada. Bummer..
2. There is also no new peice of technology the is even similar to Dglobe, which is a new invention in which Coupland hires all the Jpodsters to work on. (This thing was awesome, I'd buy one!).
3. Most of the email addresses given to the Jpodsters, do not excist, except for Cancer Cowboy's and Evil Mark's addresses.
4. There are no Missing Person reports similar to that of Steve Lefkowits or Tim (?).

Another thing that threw me off: He potrays himself as an arogant bastard. This is confusing because if I were writing about myself, I'd make myself look good. Then again, he is being described through Ethan's perspective, and from Ethan's P.O.V., I would agree. I found the reason why he based his character like he did. He was putting himself out there as the media, or rather the internet, had potrayed him. In later interviews he calls himself the "Anti-Doug".

From this, I have to put off my theory that Doug Coupland actually took something non-fictional and made it into a novel. Through the way the novel is written though, he could fool anyone without a computer to research the book(Yes, I was without a computer on my 5 hour drive in which I read it).

Journal Response #1 (Book Construction)

First off, when I took this approx 500 page book called "Jpod"*, I expected a bore of a read relating to iPods and technology in today's society. Something corny I suppose. One weekend later and I've finished the book, regretting that I had not taken the time to enjoy it more.

The way the book is composed at first glance is different. When I first flipped through the pages, I realized that randomly the text was broken up. Large lists of random numbers, Chinese text, and what seemed to be screenplay all scared me to what this book could lead to. However the construction of how its all meshed together is quite effective in keeping the readers attention.

For the most part, the book is written in first person by Ethan Jarlewski, who is self-defined as a techie. The way Coupland has chosen to narrate the book through Ethan is amazingly witty. There are so many characters in the book, with problems and whatnot, that Ethan weaves his way through. In the end, all of their stories and experiences all come together, as weird as they all might be (From deaths of helium intake, to marijuana grow-ops, smuggling of refugees, and ballroom dancing).

When Ethan is not narrating the book in first person, the pages are littered with tid-bits of information relating to the story, or perhaps what Ethan or his co-workers are seeing on their screen. For instance, to introduce the 6 programmers who worked in "Jpod"*, Ethan declared he would "draw up a standerized list that itemizes everything special and unique" about his coworkers. This was an effective way to create a basic outline that didn't completely define each character, but was a good start to build from.

The plot is seemlessly scattered, and does not follow the rules of "Climax" and "Rising Action" at first glance. It follows more of a TV Show outline(Which I found later, has already been made in 2008). Events happen, and in the end they all coordinate together. The Climax in my opinion would be (Spoiler Alert) the first time Doug Coupland asks for the laptop from Ethan.

* "JPod" is defined as the pod(a group of cubicles), in which these programmers work at. The reason they call it "JPod" is because all the members in this pod, have a first/last name starting with J. (Ethan Jarlewski, John Doe, etc)