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Synopsis
Critique of the nuclear family.
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Review
Canadian author Douglas Coupland's seventh novel could be subtitled When Bad Things Happen to Bad People. As the estranged members of the Drummond family straggle into Florida for youngest sister Sarah's impending space shuttle launch, we only begin to glimpse the true meaning of the word dysfunctional. The family, plagued by terminal disease, financial disaster, felonious activity, infidelity, and violence, is forced--by a series of ever more fantastic occurrences--to attempt to deal with each other. That would be an easier task if they didn't loathe one another with a ferocity usually reserved for war criminals. It's not quite Jerry Springer-style tabloid TV set in Disney's Haunted Mansion, but the family members do muster the strength to insult, assault, and infect one another with abandon. With the exception of the family matriarch, Janet, they are unappealing and selfish, but without Machiavellian brilliance. Instead, they're inclined toward out-and-out stupidity, blinded by self-interest rather than enlightened by it. As they bumble through misadventure after misadventure, there seems to be no reason to cheer for them. Even Sarah, the family's shining star, has her dark side.
True to Coupland's style, the book reads lightning fast. The author punctuates his narrative with clipped dialogue and punchy exchanges that advance the palpable sense of unease and tension running throughout. And amidst the acrimony, Coupland throws a genuine caper into the plot, involving Prince William's farewell letter to his mother, Princess Diana. Add to that the oppressive heat and the postmodern, pop culture junkyard of Coupland's Florida setting, and the entire book brews and builds like a roiling tropical storm. --S. Duda
About the Author
Douglas Coupland was born on a Canadian Armed Forces Base in Baden-Söllingen, Germany, in 1961. He is the author of the novels Miss Wyoming, Generation X, and Girlfriend in a Coma, among others, as well as the nonfiction works Life After God and Polaroids from the Dead. He grew up and lives in Vancouver, Canada.
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- PublisherRandom House Canada
- Publication date2001
- ISBN 10 0679311408
- ISBN 13 9780679311409
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages288
- Rating
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All Families Are Psychotic
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Random House Canada, 2001
ISBN 10: 0679311408
ISBN 13: 9780679311409
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All Families Are Psychotic
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ISBN 10: 0679311408
ISBN 13: 9780679311409
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All Families Are Psychotic
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ISBN 10: 0679311408
ISBN 13: 9780679311409
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All Families are Psychotic: A Novel
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ISBN 10: 0679311408
ISBN 13: 9780679311409
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Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine, Not Price Clipped. Canadian First. Complete number line from 1 to 10; inscribed and dated 08/14/01 by Douglas Coupland on the title page; minimal wear; otherwise a solid, clean copy with no marking or underlining; collectible condition. Inscribed by Author(s). Book. Seller Inventory # 023446
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All Families Are Psychotic
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ISBN 13: 9780679311409
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All Families Are Psychotic
Published by
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ISBN 10: 0679311408
ISBN 13: 9780679311409
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Seller: Real Gone Books, Victoria, BC, Canada
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Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Immaculate copy signed by Copeland. A novel about a dysfunctional family. In the opening pages, 65-year-old Janet Drummond checks the clock in her cheap motel room near Cape Canaveral, takes her prescription pills and does a rapid tally of the whereabouts of her three children: Wade, the eldest, in and out of jail and still radiating "the glint"; suicidal Bryan, whose girlfriend, the vowel-free Shw, is pregnant; and Sarah, the family's shining light, an astronaut preparing to be launched into space as the star of a shuttle mission. They will all arrive in Orlando today ? along with Janet's ex-husband Ted and his new trophy wife ? setting the stage for the most disastrous family reunion in the history of fiction. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 000802
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