Hey Nostradamus!: A Novel (Coupland, Douglas)
by Douglas Coupland

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Book Reviews of Hey Nostradamus!: A Novel (Coupland, Douglas)

Book Review: Return to top form for Doug
Summary: 5 Stars

Nonetheless I really enjoyed this book, in what I regard as a return to form for Copeland. It's packed with insights, investigations and thumbnail homilies. The little gems that hold time still and examine life or self for a moment or two, before releasing hold and letting the story fly free once more. The book is structured in 4 unequal parts told in the voices of Cheryl, Jason, Heather and Reg. Cheryl & Jason's parts have over 10 years between them, but Jason, Heather & Reg altogther have only 3-4.

With such a Copeland-type story, it is about many things. Themes such as religion, loneliness, love, nature vs nuture, rage, the randomness of life, and the human condition are built into the story of how many, many lives are affected by a cataclysmic event - in this case the gunning down of students in their high school cafeteria by 3 fellow students, and the impact that has on students, their families and those that are in their lives long after the event. The strongest voice is Jason's, both because he has the longest section, and because the event had such an impact on him for so many years.

It's a strong story, without being preachy. It raises many questions and doesn't provide many answers. Like Cheryl's stroll to her car that morning, it provides a brief moment of perfect clarity of vision, even as in the next moment it can be incredibly sad. Such is life, death, religion, family, loss, and the awful things that human beings can do to each other. Those little trueisms can be comforting, or a hard reflective mirror.

Very accessible, very readable - a book that will touch you, move you, but perhaps most tellingly, make you think.

Summary of Hey Nostradamus!: A Novel (Coupland, Douglas)

Hey Nostradamus! is a very odd book. It's among Coupland's most serious efforts, yet his intent is not entirely clear. Certainly there is no attempt at psychological insight into the killers' motives, and the most developed relationships--those between Jason and Cheryl, and Jason and Reg--seem to have little to do with each other. Nevertheless, it is a Douglas Coupland book, which means imaginatively strange plot developments--as when a psychic, claiming messages from the beyond, tries to extort money from Heather--that compel the reader to see the story to its end. And clever turns of phrase, as usual, are never in short supply, but in Cheryl's section the fate we (and she) know awaits her gives them an added weight: "Math class was x's and y's and I felt trapped inside a repeating dream, staring at these two evil little letters who tormented me with their constant need to balance and be equal with each other," says the deceased narrator. "They should just get married and form a new letter together and put an end to all the nonsense. And then they should have kids." --Shawn Conner, Amazon.ca

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