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eBook editions

Microserfs

by Douglas Coupland

Microserfs Cover

ISBN13: 9780060987046
ISBN10: 0060987049
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Narrated in the form of a Powerbook entry by Dan Underwood, a computer programmer for Microsoft, this state-of-the-art novel about life in the '90s follows the adventures of six code-crunching computer whizzes. Known as "microserfs," they spend upward of 16 hours a day "coding" (writing software) as they eat "flat" foods (such as Kraft singles, which can be passed underneath closed doors) and fearfully scan the company email to see what the great Bill might be thinking and whether he is going to "flame" one of them.

Seizing the chance to be innovators instead of cogs in the Microsoft machine, this intrepid bunch strike out on their own to form a high-tech start-up company named Oop! in Silicon Valley. Living together in a sort of digital flophouse — "Our House of Wayward Mobility" — they desperately try to cultivate well-rounded lives and find love amid the dislocated, subhuman whir and buzz of their computer-driven world.

Funny, illuminating and ultimately touching, Microserfs is the story of one generation's very strange and claustrophobic coming of age.

Review:

"The novel's real fun is the frequent and rapidly fired pop-culture references that span the 70s, 80s and 90s...and Coupland uses them with relish." Entertainment Weekly

Review:

"Coupland continues to register the buzz of his generation with fidelity." New York Times Book Review

Review:

"[T]his novel's more serious ruminations about the physical and social alienation of life on the Information Superhighway never achieve any real complexity." Publishers Weekly

Review:

"[T]the characters are fascinating, and the relationships they develop, though unconventional in every way, are vivid and lovely." Booklist

Review:

"An accurate look at a thriving subculture." Boston Globe

Review:

"What Coupland does brilliantly is give us a view from the inside by letting his characters talk until we feel like we're part of the group." PC Magazine

About the Author

Douglas Coupland was born on December 30, 1961, on a Canadian NATO base in West Germany. He grew up and lives in Vancouver, Canada. Girlfriend in a Coma reestablishes Douglas Coupland as one of the most talented, engaging and important writers of his generation. Profoundly moving, darkly comic, this eerily prescient novel exploring questions of faith, decency and existence is set against the backdrop of a society hurtling toward the end of the century. As People magazine so deftly put it, "His voice still resonates with the generation he named."

He is the author of Generation X, Shampoo Planet, Life After God, and Microserfs.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:

Eilonwy, September 20, 2007 (view all comments by Eilonwy)
I'm not sure it's fair for Coupland to pick so many squirming thoughts, impressions and experiences directly from my brain and pin them to his pages, especially as he is writing about a different generation of geeks from mine. This book is a rambling, musing journal written from the point of view of a codemonkey tired of the grind at Microsoft in the early 90's. If I had to say what it is about, I'd say it's about technology, isolation, the creation of self and family, intellectual and cultural evolution, and change. So, basically, everything.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780060987046
Author:
Coupland, Douglas
Publisher:
Harper Perennial
Author:
Coupland
Author:
Coupland, Douglas
Author:
by Douglas Coupland
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Humorous Stories
Subject:
Employees
Subject:
Young adults
Subject:
Computer software industry
Subject:
Young adults -- United States -- Fiction.
Subject:
Bildungsromane.
Subject:
Computer software industry -- Employees -- Fiction.
Subject:
General Fiction
Copyright:
Edition Description:
1st HarperPerennial ed.
Publication Date:
June 1996
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
384
Dimensions:
8.00x5.32x.91 in. .60 lbs.

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Related Aisles

Microserfs Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$2.50 In Stock
Product details 384 pages ReganBooks - English 9780060987046 Reviews:
"Review" by , "The novel's real fun is the frequent and rapidly fired pop-culture references that span the 70s, 80s and 90s...and Coupland uses them with relish."
"Review" by , "Coupland continues to register the buzz of his generation with fidelity."
"Review" by , "[T]his novel's more serious ruminations about the physical and social alienation of life on the Information Superhighway never achieve any real complexity."
"Review" by , "[T]the characters are fascinating, and the relationships they develop, though unconventional in every way, are vivid and lovely."
"Review" by , "An accurate look at a thriving subculture."
"Review" by , "What Coupland does brilliantly is give us a view from the inside by letting his characters talk until we feel like we're part of the group."
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