Joyful Jubilant Learning

Girlfriend in a Coma- Douglas Coupland

Girlfriend in a Coma is a novel by Canadian writer and conceptual artist Douglas Coupland. I've never been too sure about how to pronounce his name "Cope-land" or "Coop-land". Most times I just settle for Doug. I've had a long standing adoration for Coupland's work both written and constructed. I made a special visit to the Canadian High Commission in London to see some furniture Coupland had designed around notions of what it is to be Canadian. I also trekked to Stratford Upon Avon where I was shocked by Doug performing his play "September 10th, 2001." This sexy sounding Canadian had turned into Ernest Hemingway without anyone warning me.

How you'll respond to this review will probably depend on your previous encounters with Doug. People are generally divided into two categories: 1) those who think he's ultimate social commentator and 2) those who think he's just another pop culture junkie. I fall into a third category 1.5) those who are unsure whether Doug adores pop culture or if he's gently mocking it. I got to have the briefest of conversations with the Big Man Himself in Stratford after the show and I asked him directly. He smiled enigmatically and said "No one's asked me that before..." and drifted away humming. I was, like, totally bummed.

"Girlfriend in a coma" is a Smiths song title. The song contains the haunting lyric "let me whisper my last goodbye" which is a good way into the novel. The novel tells the story of a group of friends growing up in Vancouver, Canada in the late 1970's. On the night of a teenage house-wrecking party Karen, falls into a coma. More alarmingly, she seemed to expect it, having given her boyfriend, Richard, a letter detailing the vivid dreams of the future she had experienced and how she wanted to sleep for a thousand years to avoid that vision.

The opening of the novel is a vision of what happens after the end of the world relayed to us by Jared, a ghost. It's a shocking and despairing vision of a world without people, technology and concern. Jared tells us that most of us don't learn from second chances that we really learn from third chances- "after losing and wasting vast sums of time, money, youth and energy". The first part of the book covers the next 17 years in the lives of Jared's friends- the friends who "finally learned their lesson". The story, as Jared puts it, gets bigger than any individual and includes all of us and ultimately becomes Jared's story.

I don't want to flesh out the plot lines as the organic growth of the novel is something to savour. Meeting and getting to know about the characters, following their stories and ending up at one of the most chilling finales in fiction. Anyone who liked, loved or was moved by "it's a wonderful life" will enjoy GFIAC.

Which brings me to the "why" part of my post. Why should this be part of the Love Affair with Books? I can promise you this book won't make you a better manager, won't help you be a better lover, won't improve your social life, won't give you six/seven/eight handy hints on how to be more effective. This book will however draw you in, lull you into thinking you know how it will end and then chew you up, break you into small pieces and then spit you out. Then ending of the novel is a rallying cry for awareness, questioning and being totally present. It's the ultimate "plan b" for humanity. Plan A isn't doing us that well and Doug provides us with a way of creating a new paradigm. Buy this novel. It will change you.

~ Ben Whitehouse

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Ben Whitehouse works at the Guild of Students at the University of Birmingham in the UK. He has a blog here: http://beninbrum.blog.co.uk/ In his spare time he runs a book group, film club, and finds time to campaign on issues around LGBT rights, local residents rights and he also helps entertaining his three nephews who he loves very much.

This is the second book Ben has reviewed for ALAWB; his first review was on Speak Truth to Power by Kerry Kennedy.

"Speak truth to power" by Kerry Kennedy

The title, Speak Truth to Power, is taken from a Eighteenth Century Quaker pamphlet. Within that idea dwells speaking truth to people who hold high places and bear the terrible responsibility of leadership, to people who values and expectations set the limits of those who exercise authority and to the broader notion of an age.

Kerry Kennedy (and Eddie Adams deserves a huge mention as it's his beautiful black and white photos that feature through the book) has crafted a symphony of voices from different backgrounds, races, religions and nations that sing one question over and over through the pages of this mighty book- How will you live?

It's a question that we face daily but push aside or swallow in an effort to appear normal. People you work with aren't going to want to hear you asking questions of personal ethics, oppression and social justice. Chances are they're struggling with similar questions. Speak Truth to Power is like a series of doors that are left ajar for you to be invited through and meet someone ordinary who has faced something extraordinary and not turned away.

From His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Vaclav Havel to Sister Helen Prejan and Digna Ochoa there are names that are familiar and names that aren't. Kerry Kennedy presents a brief introduction next to the huge gorgeous black and white photographs and then the "defenders" are allowed to speak for themselves.

For me the beauty of this book is the challenge it presents to how I live my life. The book allows me to stand alongside these people and wonder "could I have done what they did?" and also ask "how shall I live?". Within the stories there are nuggets to contemplate: Desmond Tutu meditating on the nature of forgiveness, Patria Jiménez talking about the fight for rights of LGBT people in Mexico and Helen Prejean talking about the need to end the death penalty.

This isn't a book to be attempted in one sitting.. you won't get that far, these voices, lives and images will stop you in your tracks. This is a book to leave on your coffee table, dip into and reflect on. It's a rewarding read. It changed my life, it changes me on a daily basis and inspires me to work locally and campaign for a better fairer future.

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Ben Whitehouse works at the Guild of Students at the University of Birmingham in the UK. He has a blog here: http://beninbrum.blog.co.uk/ In his spare time he runs a book group, film club, and finds time to campaign on issues around LGBT rights, local residents rights and he also helps entertaining his three nephews who he loves very much.