About this title: A teenager falls into a mysterious coma in 1979, then awakes in the late '90s to a radically different world, including an apocalyptic virus that threatens to destroy the world.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: ReganBooks
Date Published: 1971
ISBN-13:9780060391782ISBN:0060391782
Description: Good in VERY GOOD jacket. First Edition. First edition. 1st printing Ex-lib. Library marks as expected. DJ is still in plastic jacketSewn binding. Paper over boards. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
Description: Good. Book shows minor use. Cover and Binding have minimal wear and the pages have only minimal creases. A tradition of southern quality and service. All books guaranteed at the Atlanta Book Company. read more
"Great book. The overarching narrative looks at the way in which individuals respond to loss and grief works really well which gives almost a sense of emotional catharsis. One of the novels great strengths is that it allows you to become emotionally invested in the character which both keeps you involved in the book as well able to grasp the larger point Coupland's trying to make (see the meta-narrative bit). As per usual Coupland's descriptive language is beautiful "Karen lit a number 7 cigarette, her bony cheeks inflamed with blood, burning pink in the bic lighter's heat, like a doll inside a burning dolls house. My arm draped her shoulder; we both felt safe, as if we were a complete solar system unto ourselves, dangling in the sky, warm heated planets inside a universe of stars""
"Girlfriend in a Coma is broken into three parts. The first part is told by Richard. His high school sweetheart, Karen went into an unexplained coma the night she lost her virginity. For weeks before she has had strange dreams. Premonitions of what is to come. She feels that she has seen something in the future that she shouldn't have seen and feels like she is going to be taken away - taken hostage because of it. And she is.
She was impregnated the first and only time she ever had sex and her daughter is borne to her while she is in her coma. She remains in an uneventful coma for nearly eighteen years. Her close network of friends try to grow up during this time. They try to find deeper meaning in their lives, but they are left unfulfilled. Richard especially is a mess. He's living for the day that Karen wakes up from her coma instead of living for himself, for his daughter or for his friends.
The second part is in 3rd person. Karen wakes up from her coma on a day holds many coincidences for her friends. Good things keep happening to Richard. Two of her friends, Pam and Hamilton arrive at the hospital ODing on heroin. They have stereo drug-induced dreams which they later describe as video snapshots of the end of the world. Both dreams are identical.
Karen wakes up and tries to get on with her life and tries to recover, but she is haunted by the reason she went into her coma in the first place. Something's going to happen. Soon. She gives a date to the events to come and waits.
The third part is told by a ghost named Jared. Jared went to high school with Karen, Richard and their group of friends. He died during their junior year of leukemia. The end of the world has come and leaves only Karen, her daughter, granddaughter and her network of friends behind. Jared is there to explain to them why this happened and what they can do to fix it.
I think this book had the potential to be so much more interesting. Instead it became preachy and weak. We have overtaken the Earth to a point beyond where it could repair itself if we weren't here. We need to be content with our life and that means actually doing something with our life. Questioning our life. Questioning other's lives.
I hated the ending. Again, I thought it was completely weak and it could have been so much more with more meaning. The author tries to make you think, but he does so in a way that he doesn't explain anything at all.
There was something about the book I liked. As with Hey Nostradamus I was left with an eerie, haunting feeling and I think that's good. There's something about Douglas Coupland that I DO like, I just can't put my finger on it. Both of the books seemed to dance around issues, leaving you to guess what happened. Neither book really had any resolution at all.
I'll probably try one more Douglas Coupland book to see if I like this author or if he just leaves me unsatisfied."
"I realized as I was reading this that I really didn't have any clue what it was about. Reading the blurbs on the back and the reviews on Amazon had left me thinking it was an entirely different book. That was refreshing in it's own way because it was all surprising. I won't say much here so I don't spoil that for everyone else. Then at the end it veered off in a completely different direction and went all 'Daniel Quinn'. The writing is great and if you appreciate the moral, go read "Ishmael" I think that's a book everyone should read anyway."
"A strange book, even by Coupland's standards; girl and boy have sex, girl falls into coma whilst pregnant, baby is born anyway, twenty years pass, girl wakes up, the world ends, the only ones surviving are her friends.
The good: hysterical at parts, Coupland has a gift for making pretty much everything (even things that seem utterly pointless) entertaining. Also is nicely written, as always by Coupland, in that very modern and unique style of his.
The not-so-good: A little redundant and plotless; there are parts (not too many, but they're definitely noticeable) that just seem to be leading no where - that doesn't mean that they're aren't good aspects of these sections, but they are weak in direction.
Overall, Girlfriend in a Coma is an interesting and entertaining work, perfect for a lazy read."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
