In the words of the song...

"Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole". However Douglas Coupland was. In fact he calls himself one in the first few lines of JPod. I would go with pretentious wanker myself but it is a bit of a fine distinction. I offer the following pieces of evidence.

• He makes himself a character in his own novel.


• The novel is self referential - it describes the writing of the novel as part of the plot of the novel. Clive James must be spinning in the grave of his writing career.


• The novel is padded out with many pages containing just a few brand names or catch phrases written in very large type face. Sometimes only one or two words on a page.


• There is a 12 page block devoted just to listing prime numbers. A similar amount to listing Pi. Again with random numbers. Must have been a slow writing day.


• You cannot read more than a couple of paragraphs without tripping over yet another pop culture reference.


• Channelling Dilbert is not deep research.


• Coupland made his name defining his own generation (X) - he now has the temerity to try to define another one. Just who does he think he is.

What a bastard right?
Umm, the thing is...
The thing is...
It is a very entertaining book. Insightful and laugh-out-loud funny. I couldn't put it down.

Asshole.