Shopping in Jail: Ideas, Essays and Stories for an Increasingly Real Twenty-First Century

by Douglas Coupland

Nine short non-fiction pieces with a forward by Shumon Basar.

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Philosophy, Short Stories, Politics

92 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Douglas Coupland is Canadian, born on a Canadian Air Force base near Baden-Baden, Germany, on December 30, 1961. In 1965 his family moved to Vancouver, Canada, where he continues to live and work. Coupland has studied art and design in Vancouver, Canada, Milan, Italy and Sapporo, Japan. His first novel, Generation X, was published in March of 1991. Since then he has published nine novels and several non-fiction books in 35 languages and most countries on earth. He has written and performed for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, England, and in 2001 resumed his practice as a visual artist, with exhibitions in spaces in North America, Europe and Asia. 2006 marks the premiere of the feature film Everything's Gone Green, his first story written specifically for the screen and not adapted from any previous work. A TV series (13 one-hour episodes) based on his novel, jPod premieres on the CBC in January, 2008.

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Retrieved 07:55, May 15, 2008, from http://www.coupland.com/coupland_bio....

Reviews

[Sam Quixote]

At the end of the 20th century, Douglas Coupland was part of a futurist think tank assembled by Steven Spielberg to accurately predict what the future might look like for his Tom Cruise-starring movie, Minority Report. 15 years later and Coupland has gone from predicting the future to asking his audience what it could be.

Coupland’s latest book, a 92-page collection of miscellanea (7 out of the 9 pieces here having previously been published elsewhere) called Shopping in Jail, coasts of his reputation for imagining what our world will be like as he all but shrugs: “who knows? The present’s pretty weird though, eh?” (He’s Canadian)

The pieces range from a review of Hari Kunzru’s novel Gods Without Men, to an introduction to the 20th anniversary edition of Generation X, to musings on whether craft is more worthy than art, to how he came to write a biography of Marshall McLuhan, to a time-hopping narrative of his beloved British Columbia weaving in his own family’s history. One piece, Everybody on Earth is Feeling the Exact Same Thing As You: Notes on Relationships in the Twenty-First Century, are basically just leftover scraps from his novels that he didn’t end up using or edited out.

Patches here and there are good but none of it feels particularly special or brilliant. His extended fantasy on endless data doppelgangers comes off as tiresome and weak than inspired, though I did find his weird daydream about transplanting George Washington to 2013 for a makeover before plopping him back in the 18th century oddly gripping(!).

All Governments Seem To Be Winging It Except For China was the only essay that stood out for me and only then because of the speed at which China as a country is evolving and the sheer numbers involved. But it still read like a magazine piece anyone could’ve written rather than being special because of Coupland’s voice or treatment of the material.

There aren’t many insights into our culture. Most of Coupland’s observations circle around the internet and social media as he repeatedly wonders where the internet, as an entity, could be heading, changing into, etc. and what that means for humanity. His riffs felt like he was feeling out ideas for a potential comedic sci-fi novel rather than forming coherent thoughts.

I suppose if you’re a big Coupland fan like me who’s eagerly awaiting his next novel and you need something to gnaw on in the meantime, you might get something out of this, but don’t expect much if you do. Collections of miscellanea are rarely must-reads and Coupland’s is no different.

Instead, I’d recommend reading Coupland’s last novel, Worst Person Ever, if you haven’t already done so - it’s about a B unit cameraman on a Survivor-esque reality show living after the end of the world thanks to filming in the tropics. It was the funniest novel of 2013 and you’ll love it so long as you have a dark sense of humour and realise that the main character is supposed to be a bastard - it is called Worst Person Ever, after all!

[Michaela]

This is the first Coupland book I've read. I now want to read more! As stated in the intro, his work is reminiscent of Marshall McLuhan's a generation before. It will be of interest to those who enjoy thinking critically about the impact of technology upon culture, and those who enjoy irreverence and wit.

[Ashley Kjos]

Occasionally interesting. Essays are insightful but a little dated, and it’s just around 2012, which is how things go these days.

[Jeremy Walton]

Buy the way...
This is a very short collection of essays by Douglas Coupland, most of which have previously appeared in journals, magazines and catalogues. If - like me - you enjoy Coupland's idiosyncratic, quirky view of the world (in particular, those parts of it concerned with technology, religion and postmodernism), then you'll appreciate his publishers going to the trouble of pulling these pieces together. Every now and again, he catches the reader's eye with a snappy, well-crafted phrase (e.g. "The zeitgeist of 2012 is that we have a lot of zeit but not much geist" [p24]) which pulls you in, and you stay to share his view of topics such as British Columbia, biography, China and Hari Kunzru's Gods Without Men. Some of these pieces are more successful than others but, overall, it's a pleasant and stimulating read.

Originally reviewed 13 September 2016

[James Payne]

I enjoy reading collections of essays, but often if I stop to consider any individual piece, I start to question the point of that writing being published in a book. Douglas Coupland-tier observations to be found in this one for better or worse.

[Sophie]

hit or miss

[Joost]

Insightful, clever, brilliant, funny, entertaining all in once.

[Gerald]

Had a distinctly odd feeling that I’ve read some of the pieces here elsewhere before. Turns out 7 of 9 were published elsewhere. Some really fun insights and rambling.

[Jennifer]

Peak Coupland. Especially liked the section about McLuhan and our cloudgängers.

[David Rullo]

Douglas Coupland essays read like Douglas Coupland fiction, there is simply no long form narrative stream. I really enjoyed this collection of essays. The subject matter is man's place in the 21st century, he has a history of pondering man's position. It's his eye for detail that is on full display in this collection and Coupland makes you notice details occurring in the world around you. If you like Coupland and have enjoyed his articles and essays in the past you'll like this collection. If you don't like his writing, I can't help you.

[Paul]

So worth a read. I couldn't put this book down. As usual with Coupland he probes that region of things we notice and are all around us but just below conscious thought. Surrealism and flicking through TV channels, the crafts craze. a review of Hari Kunru's Gods without Men and the translit movement, gen X-ers and the obligatory fond descriptions of British Columbia. Only the last futurist piece disappointed a little.

[Kevin]

I would argue that this is one of the best books of essays of 2013. Coupland has a knack for making me question my relationship to digital media and culture in general. Especially delightful is his first essay, about the misuse of the word "surreal" in contemporary culture, as well as his essay about biography. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the Internet, life, or what it means to be a human in the 21st century.

[Cherie]

A+ Amazing, even if a quick read (pretty short) but a LOT to ponder. A lot on the Internet (I don't even remember my pre-Internet brain….such a different way to live), generations, BC, China. I love DC and would like to be roommates with him.

[Caroline Tuck]

thoughtful and wandering musings summarized up in tasty writing style. since it was written in 2012 it’s a bit dated… but that doesn’t necessarily hurt. in fact, in some places it actually promotes a level of self reflection as to how things have changed since this books’ publication.

[Kate]

So good. Coupland is so interesting, funny, heady yet easy to read. What a great collection. Love it. Was quite hard to find. But loved it.

[Annett]

Best man for musings, weird and smart and wonderfully entertaining.

[Bill Doughty]

A mixed bag. Some interesting ideas on art, science, politics, pop culture, the future, and more, but repetitious at times. My interest definitely waned in the longer pieces.

[Steve]

Hastily thrown together? As usual full of the interesting ideas that make Coupland Coupland, but seems to me this could've been made into something slightly more substantial and cohesive.