Binge: 60 stories to make your brain feel different

by Douglas Coupland

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

The first new work of fiction since 2013 from one of Canada's most successful, idiosyncratic and world-defining writers, Douglas Coupland. He's called it Binge because it's impossible to read just one .
 
       Imagine feeling 100% alive every moment of every minute of the day! Maybe that's how animals live. Or trees, even. I sometimes stare at the plastic bag tree visible from my apartment window and marvel that both it and I are equally alive and that there's no sliding scale of life. You're either alive, or you're not. Or you're dead or you're not.

         Thirty years after Douglas Coupland broke the fiction mould and defined a generation with Generation X, he is back with Binge , 60 stories laced with his observational profundity about the way we live and his existential worry about how we should be the very things that have made him such an influential and bestselling writer. Not to mention that he can also be really funny.

         Here the narrators vary from story to story as Doug catches what he calls "the voice of the people," inspired by the way we write about ourselves and our experiences in online forums. The characters, of course, are Doug's crackpots, cranks and sweetie-pies, dad dancers and perpetrators of carbecues. People in the grip of unconscionable urges; lonely people; dying people; silly people. If you love Doug's fiction, this collection is like rain on the desert.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Canada, Audiobook, Contemporary, Canadian Literature, Adult Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 2021

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.

--------------------------------------

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

Reviews

[Ron S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coupland's best work since his earliest: these interconnected micro-sized stories are insightful, honest, often uncomfortable and frequently hilarious.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 2 out of 5]

Binge is Douglas Coupland’s first work of fiction since his excellent 2013 novel Worst. Person. Ever (I gather he’s been busy focusing on his visual artwork in the interim). So, even though as a fan I’m glad to see him publishing again, it’s a shame that it’s not particularly good.

The subtitle is “60 Short Stories to Make Your Brain Feel Different” which they don’t though the stories are all really short - 3-4 pages on average. That’s one of the biggest problems - because they’re so short, they make little to no impression if they’re not particularly brilliant, and most aren’t, so they’re nearly all instantly forgettable.

A number of them are connected though so you’ll notice small storylines developing over the course of the collection. Like the story of a dude who beats up his high school coach for molesting him when he was a kid, or the woman who hires a hitman to off her husband, and the story of how a young teen couple meet and their journey together.

Some of the dialogue doesn’t feel real - like in Tinder and Botox - and I’m not totally convinced that “dad-dancing” (a lame dad dances and his video goes viral - one of the dances is Courteney Cox’s in Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark video, hence the cover) would be quite so profitable. Didn’t The Cleveland Show do something similar too?

Coupland’s writing is fine so the stories aren’t difficult to read and some are fun. Like the kid working at a supermarket who comes up with a winning marketing strategy, the shut-in who’s secretly a millionaire, the Rubbermaid Tubs survivalist dreaming of leaving for New Zealand, and the hoarder who discovers the benefits of Adderall.

The saga of the guy who finds a message in a years-old bottle of Dasani is clever and I laughed at the Team Building story where a woman is repeatedly brought birthday pancakes for each of her meals while on her company’s team building retreat.

But there aren’t many great stories here amidst the 60 to recommend it, even if you’re a Douglas Coupland fan. Maybe if some of the stories were more developed and that number was brought down, this would be a better collection. On the whole though, I found the majority of the stories to be all-too-brief, uninteresting and unmemorable.

I don’t think the short story form is for Coupland - here’s hoping we don’t have to wait nearly so long for his next work of fiction and that it’s a novel rather than another underwhelming short story collection.

[Kilburn Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Douglas Coupland, the maestro of cultural dissection, invites readers into the frenzied feast of Binge, a concoction of 60 precisely honed micro-fiction pieces that serve as an X-ray of our contemporary world. Each story, on average 4.2 pages in length, unveils a blackly funny tableau, capturing the essence of our times with wry and often biting humour. The recurring characters, narrated by individuals of various ages and identities, navigate between tales of escape and witty accounts of being stuck in the quagmire of existence.

The hooks embedded in Binge reel readers from one bite-sized story to the next, introducing compelling characters like the unnamed narrator orchestrating murders with casual nonchalance or the poignant 18-year-old Olivia, yearning for a sex life amid the shadow of cystic fibrosis. Erik/Trashe Blanche, the acid-tongued yet kind-hearted drag queen, emerges as a recurring delight, leaving readers yearning for more. In this literary smorgasbord, Coupland cleverly weaves stories that capture the quirks, obsessions, and absurdities of our digital age.

The theme of digital search histories serves as the linchpin of Binge, exploring the trails left behind in both fiction and reality. These virtual footprints, often deemed the eighth deadly sin, become a lens through which Coupland examines the complexity and chaos of our inner worlds. The stories, whether delving into clickbait curiosity or exposing the unerasable data stain of our online pursuits, offer a voyeuristic glimpse into the psyche of a culture entangled in the labyrinth of technology.

Binge mirrors Coupland artistic evolution, embracing the format of micro-stories that resonate with his fascination for gathering small elements into larger structures. The collision of art and writing finds its expression in these succinct yet potent narratives, unravelling the fabric of our reality with humour and insight. In the end, Binge becomes an exploration of our collective search history, a revealing journey through the intricacies of the human mind, leaving readers both entertained and contemplative in the wake of its literary extravagance.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read all of Douglas Coupland’s books and I think this was my favorite—I absolutely loved these brief interlocking stories. Astonishingly entertaining!

[Blair Colwell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. I listened to the audiobook cause it had some familiar names from my youth and good reviews. This was .. embarrassing? Maybe Coupland used to be cool but this is a 60 year old man writing gen z who speak in elder millennial slang incorrectly. —nothing wrong with older folks writing young but he didn’t seem to grasp the generation he was trying to capture,

The “stories that make you think different” seem to be nothing more than a set of horribly one dimensional characters in situations from New York Times headlines —but the author didn’t seem to bother getting through the pay wall.

Incels, dad-bod, adhd, stormy daniels, drag queens, drones, Covid, fentanyl, porn.. it’s every “edgy” topic delivered with zero imagination.

[Alan (on December semi-hiatus) Teder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Does It Count if it Makes the Brain Angry?
Review of the Random House Canada hardcover edition (October 2021)

It didn't take very long into reading Binge: 60 stories to make your brain feel different that I realized there were going to be connections between the stories. Knowing in advance that this would frustrate me into having to search back for the earlier mentions, I started to make notes after each sitting of several stories. These are copied below under Spoiler, as some of them give away details, although mostly I tried to stick to setups. Yes, the reason actress Courteney Cox from the Bruce Springsteen Dancing in the Dark video is on the cover photo is explained in story #27 Dad Dancing.

So the 2 rating is primarily because of disappointment that the story crossovers didn't really go anywhere. There were no major resolutions for any of the several ongoing plotlines or for several of the one-offs. It just kind of fizzled out. I guess there is also a bit of anger that I put in the extra work for no seeming benefit. Anyway, on to the next book...


1. Alexa The title character has an eidetic memory which is an inconvenience in their life until they become an artist. They observe a series of name tags (which after a while starts to look like the names of all the people in the rest of the stories, except several key ones are missing).
2. Radiation Craig and Lucy host a party for Craig's 40th birthday. Nathan, Claire, Noah, Jeannie, Tom & 1 other adult attend. Noah reveals that he is being treated for thyroid cancer. There are children Howard (son of Craig) and Simone (daughter of Claire) and 3 smaller kids. They all observe an eagle stealing crow chicks from a nest.
3. Splenda 18-year-old Olivia, who has Cystic Fibrosis, has escaped from her religion obsessed parents who had not allowed her to have medical treatments. She lives in a basement apartment where her neighbour is Erik aka Trashe Blanche, a drag queen. Olivia has a compulsion to steal Splenda sweetener packets from restaurants.
4. Rhnull Lorraine has the rare RH null blood type. She marries researcher Steffan and moves to France where they have a daughter Kelli, who also has the RH null blood type. She discovers Steffan is selling her blood to other researchers.
5. Thong Logan, a younger brother of Erik (from 3.) talks about his red thong underwear which he says is attractive to women. He reveals that he killed someone 21 years ago. Because Erik has sent his DNA in for hereditary analysis, Logan believes the authorities will trace him for the murder through the familial connection.
6. Theme Park The unnamed story teller and Sarah meet cute at a bargain basement theme park where they were playing mascots Rooster Rick and Miss Belle in chicken costumes.
7. Airplane Mode Erik (from 3.) is taking an airplane to a Florida drag convention when they are targeted by airport security based on the objections of a conservative couple. Erik manages to get Olivia (from 3.) to call in a false allergy tip which gets the couple removed from the plane.
8.Lube A divorced unnamed man in his early 60s is filmed by a drone while pleasuring himself on his rooftop patio. Eventually his boss at work discovers the video on the web.
9. Incel Ben, who self-identifies as an incel, travels to Florida on the same flight as Erik (from 3. & 7.), who gives him romance advice.
10. Team Building Carl, Peg, Lance and an identified storyteller are at a 4-day team building conference from work in Irvine, California. Carl annoys Peg by constantly telling restaurant staff that it is her birthday (every day) and getting the staff to serve pancakes or cakes with sparklers.
11. Vegan The unnamed vegan storyteller gets memed when she is filmed puking in a 7-11 over a hotdog. She confronts one of the memers named Dylan at her high-school digital club, and he turns out to be vegan as well, so they meet cute.
12. Gum Deena is in a grocery store to buy gum as an alibi during a crime that she has contracted for. Behind her are several people including a no-name biker, Wayne (presumably the name of 8.) buying lube, Sarah, Beth, Kellyann (who has forgotten her baby in the car), Janelle and you. Various flashforwards tell you the future of some of the characters.
13. Unleaded The unnamed storyteller talks about all his affairs while his wife Leah was dying and in palliative care. He also is in a store ensuring an alibi while an end-of-life procedure happens to his wife. He might have been in the line during 12. but was not described in that story.
14. Lego The unnamed storyteller and Dylan from 11. make up an event for the school fair using discarded fake Lego blocks. They unknowingly trigger an ex-student, now-homeless man's flashback about molestation by the school's football coach.
15. Resting Bitch Face A dentist named Vaughn suggests to his patient Kim that if she took botox injections it would make her face look more pleasant.
16. Lurking Account Leah from 13. lurks on dating sites to monitor her husband Duncan's (now identified from 13.) affairs. She herself is having an affair with her nurse Matteo in hospice. Her friend Erik (from 3. 7. etc.) comes to visit her in hospice.
17. Hip Hotels Sue and Horace (Orazio) meet cute while she is on her undercover job of rating the hotels in her chain.
18. 23andme The at-first-unnamed storyteller talks about how he and his friends drifted away from Dean, whose cabin they used to party at. His girlfriend Casey suggests he reconcile but he ends up accidentally killing Dean. We realize he is Logan from story #5.
19. Sharpies The unnamed storyteller meets a panhandler Isaac and a broke Julie outside the liquor store. Isaac's sign is drawn with sharpie pens. Isaac is possibly the homeless man in 14. They are going to the hospital to get the gash in Isaac's leg looked at.
20. Romcom The unnamed storyteller is a 52 year old single woman who has given up on ever finding a partner. She meets an old friend Adrian who is now a sex worker. Adrian advises her on how to act if she is ever hit by a car and wants to claim insurance money.
21. Subway Julie aka Rumwoman from #19. attends an AA meeting and adds more to that same story with Ned and Isaac. Ned buys them sandwiches from Subway.
22. Hyundai Kellyann (from #12.) tells the background story of how she forgot that she had her baby in the car.
23. Southwest Airlines Ex-heart surgeon Dr. Jones talks about how he became a back alley doctor. He makes disparaging comments about Southwest Airline workers. He is the doctor that Ned & Julie take Isaac (in #19.) to have his gash stitched up, since they can't go to a real hospital.
24. Tinder M: 28 and F: 34 have a road rage incident. They later go on a blind date through the Tinder dating app and recognize each other, but they make up and meet cute by bonding over coffee, no dairy and vegan lemon loaf.
25. NSFL = Not Safe for Life, i.e. traumatizing events that never leave you. Isaac (from 14. 19. 21. 23. etc) tells the backstory about how he was groomed by the school's football coach.
26. Gender Reveal Party During the pandemic, the narrator breaks away from lockdown to attend her friend Macy's gender reveal party. Her husband Christian breaks away to have an affair. Their kids Brandon and Kellie break away to play on the neighbour's trampoline. While they are all away the house catches fire due to a soldering tool of Christian's short circuiting.
27. Dad-Dancing The father of Nate and Ella turns his embarrassing dad-dancing habit into a money making venture on YouTube with his dad friend Keith and others. This story finally ties into the Courteney Cox cover by mentioning that his dad-dancing is an imitation of her appearance on the Bruce Springsteen 'Dancing in the Dark' video.
28. Laptop The unnamed storyteller is a laptop repairman who laments the amount of pron that he finds on the laptops he repairs (which he admittedly copies for his own amusement).
29. Karen The business manager of the Dancing Dads (from 27.) confesses she is a racist and homophobic, but that she is attracted to black dad Derek.
30. Taco Bell A deaf woman talks about how people react to her. She hooks up with Dancing Dad Derek (from 27. & 29.) after meeting him outside a Taco Bell restaurant.
31. Kirkland Products Chloe who works as a cashier at Costco makes a staff suggestion to get people to middlename their kids as Kirkland in exchange for $ from Costco. After that success, she joins Karen in marketing the Dancing Dads.
32. Search History The storyteller divorces her husband Ken after discovering porn via the internet at the library. Her adult kids Laura (single w/ flower shop) and Jenny (married, 3 kids) are ok with it. Her son Luke who never leaves his bedroom is not.
33. Clickbait The initially unnamed storyteller (later revealed as John) kids their mother about clicking on baited articles on the internet. He has an uncle Greg. His wife is Hayley and son is Mason. While visiting they go through their mother's internet search history (which includes dad dancing).
34. 18+ The unnamed storyteller F-28 tells of shaving herself in an effort to tempt her boyfriend Jeff to take her to Burning Man. Mistakes occur.
35. SPF 90 Jayden, a teenager is volunteered by his mother (on the advice of aunt Celia) to assist the local reverend Gerald Harris with parish office work for the summer. The reverend has very pale skin.
36. Lotto A 23-year old still living at his mother's house, never leaves his bedroom. He has won millions on the online Lotto through various flaws in the system and his own statistical tricks. He is interested in the quirky girl who lives in a basement apartment next door.
37. Gaga An unnamed woman has 2 parents who contract early onset dementia. She and her husband Daniel worry about it being hereditary for their child.
38. Liz Claiborne Sheets A Canadian border guard laments the amount of lies that he hears from travelers. His coworker Judith and supervisor Brenda are especially tough on people and the guard's own parents suffer an inspection.
39. IKEA Ball Pit A germaphobe named Jordan meets cute with another germaphobe Jody post SARS. They get married in an IKEA ball pit. 14 years later... COVID.
40. Bic Lighter Two 17-year-olds, Dylan and the unnamed storyteller torch a car that is double parked in disabled parking when no one else will do anything about it.
41. Dasani A mudlarking metal scavenger finds an old Dasani bottle with a note inside it from someone named Katinka. They go to Katinka's house and meet her mother Ally.
42. Oxy The unnamed storyteller talks about seeking a hitman to get rid of their spouse Paul. They hire Grant but then also get rid of Grant using oxy-fentanyl. Eventually they get rid of their daughter Kayella's tattoo artist boyfriend as well.
43. Effexor Ally (from 41.) talks about how Clem (also from 41. & now identified) came over with the Dasani bottle with Katy (Katinka)'s last message. She mentions that her son Terry, a tattoo artist (presumably from 42.) was also dead. Clem offers to come clean Ernie's boat.
44. Rubbermaid Tubs An unnamed florist who is a survivalist talks about wanting to go to New Zealand when the apocalypse comes. They have their essentials packed in rubbermaid tubs.
45. CCTV Kayella (from 42.) talks about her tattoo artist boyfriend dying from an overdose. She is now with Nathaniel (likely the no-name biker in #12) and he has taken her along on his carbecue evidence destroying escapades while avoiding CCTV.
46. Fentanyl An Obit taker at the newspaper takes the obits for Paul the murdered husband of the unnamed storyteller in #42) and for Terry, the overdosed tattoo artist (from 42. & 43.) from the mother Ally.
47. Adderall Cory, a hoarder whose partner Denny died in a car accident, is visited by her younger half-brother Liam and his girlfriend Jane. Jane gives her an adderall tablet saying that it will likely benefit her.
48. Risk Aversion The unnamed storyteller talks about how he almost lost his nest egg through a stock tip from a shady character Vince. Vince is later arrested a different scam and the stock recovers enough that the money is restored.
49. Hoarding Jane (from 47.) revisits Cory (also 47.) and finds that the house has been somewhat cleaned up. Liam later tells her that she'll regret helping out as Cory will relapse.
50. craigslist.org The unnamed storyteller plans her weddings as does her friend Andrea. She hopes to avoid inviting her half-sister Cathy and her autistic son Ian, but has to anyway. With the ceremony ruined she plans revenge and finds a possible method on the buy & sell website craigslist.
51. Clipart A clip art model named Gary is given a nickname by a photographer.
52. Nike Lisa, who does museum displays, includes a fake foot inside a Nike shoe in an aquarium display of plastic waste which upsets some children. We realize that she is the murderous mother in story 42.
53. iPhone A unnamed policeman is assigned to stop a suicide jumper off a bridge. He does so with the aid of Laura in a police helicopter, but 'Sinbad' the jumper's iPhone falls into the river and he is upset about that.
54. LAN A motivational speaker is stuck at home during COVID. He discovers a neighbour is printing questionable material through his home network server. He meets the neighbour, who calls himself 'Jack', with fateful results.
55. Olive Garden Jane (probably not the girlfriend in 47. & 49.) pesters her children Bryanna and Duncan about having kids so that she can be a grandmother. Then the same for her niece Chloe and nephew Darnell. Later her brother's wife Sheila is upset about it. She meets her daughter Bryanna at Olive Garden to talk it all.
56. Dipping Sauce Sharon, a hospital dietician is upset about McDonald's chicken Mcnuggets and chicken wings and vows to become vegetarian and then vegan. Her husband Taylor and sons Taylor Junior and Brandon meanwhile have ordered multiple chicken wings for Superbowl weekend and Sharon moves out of the house.
57. Using Taylor Jnr. from 56. talks about the effects of his mother leaving home, including him becoming addicted to drugs and needing rehab.
58. Starbursts Dan, once a cop (not sure if the same as #53) is now a detective and is following his client's wife Kerry-Ann who is suspected of an affair. He meets cute with her and they share Starburst candies. She reveals that she is only meeting her ex-husband Reid who is transitioning into a woman. Dan and Kerry-Ann become a couple and work as detectives together.
59. DUI Dave goes to his friend Patti's after having a car accident with a mother and her two kids. It was the mother's fault but Dave had been drinking. Patti threatens to turn him in to the authorities and Dave reacts somewhat similarly to Lisa (from 42. & 52.) with a similar disposal method.
60. Norovirus Erik (from #3, #5, #7) gives the backstory of how he became drag queen Trashe Blanche. When working on a cruise ship where the entertainers all sickened with a norovirus and Erik filled in with a quickly put together stage show.

[Ryan Lottermoser · Rating 3 out of 5]

“People don’t change. They decay. They adopt ridiculous beliefs to pretend they have control over a world that is utterly indifferent to them. But they don’t change.”

[Maud Bouter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ik denk niet dat het niet voor iedereen is maar i was OBSESSED and HOOKED besties. soms komen karakters van één verhaal terug als side karakter in een ander verhaal wat ik helemaal leuk vond. de laatste +- 10 verhalen waren wel een beetj absurd naar mijn mening which isnt really my vibe maar overall ben ik zo enthousiast (omdat normaal short stories ook niet mn ding zijn) dus 5 sterretjs nog steeds van mij hoor!

[max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, addicting, sometimes a bit too real… I enjoyed the crossover between stories but was kind of depressed after.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many great short stories! Sometimes frustrating though because you want to follow the characters for longer.

[b · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coupland’s fixations shy away from obsessions (you know, the stuff of real writing), he’s not ahead of anything resembling ‘the curve,’ and aside from being the standard-bearer for Gen-X-ers Who Were Boomers All Along (+ aside from wanting him to admit to that), I’m not sure he’s got anything worth listening to going on in any of his work. Of the 60 stories, two have literary-ish endings, and they’re both much better for it. It’s hard to believe he’s just that bad at endings, so it might be he knows he doesn’t know how to do them and kneecaps his own writing on purpose, or it might be a symptom of boomerism where he doesn’t even realize he doesn’t know how to write an ending. The bite-sized digest length doesn’t hold much water either.

Beyond milquetoast. The one redeeming feature is the lite gossamer of interrelated plot elements, but half the time he’s written one version of the story worth reading and then another that should’ve been cut (and I think he knows it, too).

Don’t bother with this one.

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this! Super short stories, easy to pick up and read a couple on the go.

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like a jigsaw puzzle. Trying to fit the pieces together and some of them do not connect.

[Cherie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this book the day it came back, and this reminds me of back-in-the-day Coupland. These snippet stories are the worst and the best and the funniest of our society, and often connected. I loved the unexpected connections, twists, and turns. Brilliant, impossible to put down. After reading it once, I need to reread it to capture more of the brilliance, and to see the connections again. LOVED THIS!

[Angus McKeogh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly not a novel per se, but I wouldn’t categorize it as the cover does as “60 stories” either. While it wasn’t a traditional linear narrative all the stories were actually linked and shared the same characters with a wider narrative that did coalesce in the end. And it was good and entertaining on top of that. I’d recommend it.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding! These tremendous stories did make my brain feel different. What a treat.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading Catcher in the Rye as a teen and sort of being annoyed with Holden's kind of hokey old fashioned teen speak. I thought, "people don't really talk like that, do they? It seems so artificial."

I am at the tail end of Generation X, and when I read Douglas Coupland's book (of the same name) as a 16 year old I thought "Here is an authentic voice of the youth!" I found his language to be edgy and unique.

Now almost 30 years later, reading his newest collection of intertwined short stories, I'm afraid that I now find that Gen-X voice of his (and so may bloggers of the same generation) to be just as artificial and annoying as I found Holden to be.

That being said, I did binge on reading this collection and there were many moments of brilliance. Overall, though, I found this collection to be a very pessimistic and cynical view of humanity, despite some lovely stories filled with redemption and hope.

[¸.•*¨*•Gina *A Bookwyrm in Belgium*•*¨*•.¸ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read very much fiction you would describe as set in the 'Real World', but I was recommended this title by a friend. I have passed over Coupland's books on many occasions, having decided they weren't for me. Boy was I wrong!
Despite what I would describe as an extremely dull jacket, this book was excellent. Genuinely thought-provoking, sometimes funny, often troubling, and ultimately very original. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style, and the myriad voices of the vast cast of characters.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Impressive in structure, and inventive as always. About 5 stories in, you start to think "hey, wasn't that person from the last story... could that be the sister that this minor character just mentioned?". This is a real ensemble piece, but it's really about the internal lives and motivations of the (always unique) characters. This would make a very good movie.

[Matt Duboff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm slightly biased because Coupland could write anything and I would love it. This is a great collection of stories - each able to stand alone, but also loosely tied together enough to create a greater story.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enjoyable. Recommended for a weekend when you have a full day free and want to take your mind off something (like the threat of nuclear war).

[Marin Fischer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loooool started this around midnight at work, finished right at shift change at 7am! I quite enjoyed this. Dug the mosaic of short interconnected pieces. Snappy, hilarious??, cynical commentary that felt weirdly more profound at 3am. A strangely cohesive portrait of loneliness, distraction, and the ways people cope in the 21st century. Bingeable!! (haha)

[Kerri D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and connected bizarre stories. Quirky and funny and I loved it. Going to read other Coupland now.

[Maya Geringer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite enjoyed this. Not like anything I’ve read in a while

[Sofia Ashford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading a Douglas Coupland book is like experiencing a stream of random meet cutes intermixed with Am I the Asshole reddits posts, but Binge takes the cake.

This book was like an unholy version of A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and I loved every second of it.

[Özgür · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coupland returns with signature sarcasm and more grotesque subjects...Enjoyable read.

[Jayme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever trendy, Douglas Coupland published a book of flash fiction at the exact moment when I was thinking, 'I should really find out what the deal is with flash fiction'. The stories are loosely interconnected with several characters and story arcs running through the collection. Side characters in one story might pop up with their own point of view later on or the stories hop forward or backwards in time to give new insights into the goingson.

On another cool note, this collection also included several neurodivergent and queer characters. Douglas Coupland's Wikipedia page now says that he's a gay, autistic guy (and really not much else). Progress. Love it.

The reading for this book was also a blast. Rather than read stories himself, he had famous friends record their versions and even a member of the audience (who totally nailed it on a cold read - very impressive).

[Aaron Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Douglas Coupland is freaking amazing.
Regardless of what you've heard, or read on the cover of this book, it's not 60 short stories. What it is is a beautiful novel with 60 chapters, told from 57 characters. I know what you're thinking... This has been done many times before, where short stories connect to each other to form a bigger story... David Mitchell is a master of this style...But Douglas Coupland but the magical Coupland spin on this one.
I flew through this book in record time because it was so much fun.

[Stellakat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. I hope that you’ll read it too. It’s got colorful characters and is especially good for people like me with short attention spans, as it’s made up of short stories. I love that many of the stories are interconnected too, telling the same story from another perspective.

[PJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Coupland is a great writer and I’ve enjoyed a handful of his previous books. But I found this one so disappointing. Is this book meant to be depressing? Most of the stories are about sex and/or humans behaving badly.