Hey Nostradamus! - Book Review

Today's post is a book one. Rejoice! I originally picked this book up for two reasons.

• It was £2
• It is by Douglas Coupland

I read Girlfriend in a Coma when I was a teenager (no, I didn't know who The Smiths were then), and remember loving it for being both honest about life, and at the same time utterly surreal. It was different from the others.

Anyway, let's get some stats because I am a stats lover.

Hey Nostradamus! - Douglas Coupland

First published: July 1st, 2003

Pages: 244

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA 

Blurb: "Cheryl Anway, 17, secretly married to her high school sweetheart and pregnant, doodles 'God is nowhere, God is now here' on her class binder. Hours later, clutching the same binder, she is shot dead...'

Dates read: August 18th 2013 (a one dayer!)

My Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Note to self get cool graphic for this)

Hey Nostradamus! is also different from the others. The book is split into four parts, each told by a different character...

We start with Cheryl. Bit by bit we learn what happened to her, the death scene is interspersed with her own flashbacks of her days leading up to her death. This was my favourite part of the four, it was well paced and I rushed through it to get to the all important scene where her life ended (I'm not morbid, much).

The next part is told by Jason (Cheryl's secret husband) 11 years after her death. As I said, this book is different, and I like that Coupland doesn't see death as the end of the story, but rather the start. This book doesn't follow a typical build, build, climax structure. I won't give away too much about what Jason is getting up to 11 years post Cheryl, I am not in the habit of publishing spoilers.

I will say, the third part is told by Heather, this is someone that meets Jason in his adult life. The fourth part is by Reg, Jason's dad. The fourth part is the shortest but perhaps says the most, kinda. Mysterious, I know, perhaps you should read this book. It only takes a day, two if you have a job.

Do not read this book if you like neat, happy endings. This book does not give reason, conclusions or answers. It poses a lot of questions, and then leaves you to decide your own answers and beliefs. Which I love. The more complicated things are, the happier I am.

The reason I gave 4 stars and not 5 is because I was not always tied to each word, some pages I skimmed for the vitals, but this is more because I am impatient and wanted to know what was going on. I also found it hard to relate to all four of the characters, but this is not neccesarily a bad thing, if I only read books about people similar to me, I'd be pretty bored. In the end, there are aspects in each of the characters viewpoints which I could reason or translate to my own views.

If you are a Douglas Coupland fan, I think you will like this, and if you're a Douglas Coupland virgin, give this book a go! If you want something even weirder, check out Girlfriend in a Coma.

In related news, I have a Goodreads account. For those who aren't sure what that is, it's a brilliant place where you can track the books you read, and discover more, and if you really must, befriend other people who prefer books to friends. My account is here: GOODREADS,  I will accept you because I like books and by extension booklovers...