Let me just start by saying that this book is aptly titled. The narrator may well be the Worst. Person. Ever. He is called that at least a couple of times in the book and he earns it. So just be warned, do not read this if you are going to be upset about what a jerk the narrator is. Now that I have that out of the way, this book is hilarious. I laughed out loud (literally in the actual meaning of literally) many times while reading it, which is something that almost never happens. I ended up rating it around 4.5 and dropped that to a 4 just because I'm not sure the story is all that strong. It isn't a book built around plot, that is for sure. I enjoyed it a lot though, probably more than most of Mr. Coupland's recent work but not nearly as much as MICROSERFS or GENERATION X. ( )

Coupland's protagonists are one in a million, and Raymond Gunt is no exception. Even though he is a sex-obsessed, curse-spewing, selfish git he is strangely endearing in his own comical way. As we watch his journey from London to Kiribati we witness his moments of redemption, and learn that his own self image of not being a completely terrible person is actually not too far from the truth. He makes some bad choices, but a lot of what happens to him is purely circumstantial. Plus he seems to attract extremely odd people, so it's no wonder that things get extremely messy. If you're in need of a laugh this is a definitely a book that you should read, since you might even learn something about humanity and its foibles in between all the laughs. ( )

Coupland, Douglas (2013). Worst. Person. Ever. London: William Heinemann. 2013. ISBN 9781409023784. Pagine 336. 12,78 €

Douglas Coupland è uno di quegli autori di cui compro il nuovo libro non appena esce (sempre) e comincio a leggerlo subito (spesso, ma non sempre). Ne sono, in un certo senso, un fan, cioè un estimatore al di là dei suoi meriti. Sono stato per tutta la vita un fan quintessenziale, dei Pink Floyd, di Miles Davis, dei Beatles, di John Lennon, de il manifesto, di Karl Marx… Persino dell’Inter sono più un fan che un supporter. Ma non è di me che dobbiamo parlare, ma di Worst. Person. Ever.

Douglas Coupland è un autore molto discontinuo, che alterna a visioni illuminanti prove sinceramente deludenti, scritte con la mano sinistra. Ci sono suoi romanzi che hanno definito epoche, con precisione sociologica. Generation X è diventata l’etichetta di una generazione “canonica” (ah, la mania americana di etichettare tutto…).

Generations in Anglo-American History
GENERATION BIRTH YEARS FAMOUS MEMBER ERA IN WHICH MEMBERS CAME OF AGE ARCHETYPE
Man Woman
Arthurian 1433–1460 King Henry VII Elizabeth Woodville War of the Roses Hero
Humanist 1460–1482 Thomas More Elizabeth of York Tudor Renaissance Artist
Reformation 1483–1511 John Knox Anne Boleyn Protestant Reformation Prophet
Reprisal 1512–1540 Francis Drake Queen Elizabeth I Intolerance & Martyrdom Nomad
Elizabethan 1541–1565 William Shakespeare Mary Herbert Armada Crisis Hero
Parliamentary 1566–1587 William Laud Anne of Denmark Merrie England Artist
Puritan 1588–1617 John Winthrop Anne Hutchinson Puritan Awakening Prophet
Cavalier 1618–1647 Nathaniel Bacom Mary Dyer Reaction & Restoration Nomad
Glorious 1648–1673 ”King” Carter Hannah Dustin Glorious Revolution Hero
Enlightenment 1674–1700 Cadwallader Colden Mary Musgrove Augustan Age of Empire Artist
Awakening 1701–1723 Jonathan Edwards Eliza Lucas Pinckney Great Awakening Prophet
Liberty 1724–1741 George Washington Mercy Warren French & Indian Wars Nomad
Republican 1742–1766 Thomas Jefferson “Molly Pitcher” American Revolution Hero
Compromise 1767–1791 Andrew Jackson Dolley Madison Era of Good Feelings Artist
Transcendental 1792–1821 Abraham Lincoln Elizabeth Cady Stanton Transcendental Awakening Prophet
Gilded 1822–1842 Ulysses Grant Louisa May Alcott Civil War Nomad
Progressive 1843–1859 Woodrow Wilson Mary Cassatt Reconstruction & Gilded Age Artist
Missionary 1860–1882 Franklin Roosevelt Emma Goldman Third Great Awakening Prophet
Lost 1883–1900 Harry Truman Dorothy Parker World War I & Prohibition Nomad
G.I. 1901–1924 John Kennedy Katharine Hepburn Depression & World War II Hero
Silent 1925–1942 Martin Luther King, Jr. Sandra Day O’Connor American High Artist
Boom 1943–1960 George W. Bush Hillary Clinton Consciousness Revolution Prophet
Generation X 1961–1981 Barack Obama Sarah Palin Long Boom & Culture Wars Nomad
Millennial 1982–2004 Mark Zuckerberg Anne Hathaway Global Financial Crisis Hero
Homelanders 2005-
? Artist
In quel suo romanzo d’esordio, pubblicato nel 1991 quando il nostro aveva 30 anni, compaiono un sacco di invenzioni verbali di successo (anche se da noi è diventato d’uso comune soltanto McJob, peraltro coniato dal sociologo americano Amitai Etzioni in un articolo del Washington Post del 24 ottobre 1986 dal titolo “McJobs are Bad for Kids” per denotare un lavoro poco pagato, di scarso prestigio, che non richiede particolari abilità e offre minime prospettive di carriera):

McJob: A low-pay, low-prestige, low-dignity, low-benefit, no-future job in the service sector. Frequently considered a satisfying career choice by people who have never held one.
Poverty Jet Set: A group of people given to chronic travelling at the expense of long-term job stability or a permenant residence. Tend to have doomed and extremely expensive phone call relationships with people named Serge or Ilyana. Tend to discuss frequent flyer programs at parties.
Historical Underdosing: To living a period of time when nothing seems to happen. Major symptoms include addiction to newspapers, magazines, and TV news broadcasts.
Historical Overdosing: to live in a period of time when too much seems to happen. Major symptoms include addiction to newspapers, magazines, and TV news broadcasts.
Historical Slumming: The act of visiting locations such as diners, smokestack industrial sites, rural village — locations where time appears to have been frozen many years back — so as to experience relief when one returns back to “the present.”
Brazilification: The widening gulf between the rich and the poor and the accompanying disappearance of the middle classes.
Vaccinated Time Travel: To fantasize about traveling backward in time, but only with proper vaccinations.
Decade Blending: In clothing: the indiscriminate combination of two or more items from various decades to create a personal mood: Sheila = Mary Quant earrings (1960s) cork wedgie platform shoes (1970s) black leather jacket (1950s and 1980s).
Veal-Fattening Pen: Small, cramped office workstations built of fabric-covered disassemblable wall partitions and inhabited by junior staff members. Named after the small preslaughter cubicles used by the cattle industry.
Emotional Ketchup Burst: The bottling up of opinions and emotions inside onself so that they explosively burst forth all at once, shocking and confusing employers and friends — most of whom thought things were fine.
Bleeding Ponytail: An elderly sold out baby boomer who pines for hippie or pre-sellout days.
Boomer Envy: Envy of material wealth and long-range material security accrued by older members of the baby boom generation by virtue of fortunate births.
Clique Maintenance: The need of one generation to see the generation following it as deficient so as to bolster its own collective ego: Kids today do nothing. They’re so apathetic. We used to go out and protest. All they do is shop and complain.
Consensus Terrorism: The process that decides in-office attitudes and behavior.
Microserfs (Microservi) è un altro romanzo che ha definito un’epoca e due luoghi: la Microsoft di Redmond (stato di Washington) e un’iconica Silicon Valley della prima metà degli anni Novanta (era una vita che volevo scrivere iconica). Oltre all’ossessione (che condivido) per il Lego, il romanzo ha (per quanto ne so io) il merito di avere posto sotto i riflettori la figura che noi chiamiamo “bamboccione”: «We are at the vanguard of adolescent protraction.» dice uno dei protagonisti del libro.

Da quando ho questo blog ho recensito un solo romanzo di Douglas Coupland, The Gum Thief (su cui sono anche tornato in più occasioni, per esempio qui e qui). Mi sono anche accorto di avere letto altre sue cose negli oltre 6 anni di vita di questo blog, ma di non avere mantenuto l’impegno di recensire tutto quello che leggevo. Che dire? Forse rimedierò.

* * *

Ma veniamo a Worst. Person. Ever. Senza dubbio, stiamo parlando di un’opera minore e malriuscita. Capita.

Potete fare a meno di leggerla. Anzi, se vi dà fastidio il linguaggio greve, suggerirei di evitarlo proprio. Non vorrei essere nei panni di chi dovrà tradurlo in italiano.

Da questo a tacciarlo di essere Il peggiore. Libro. Di sempre – come fa Lucy Ellmann nella sua recensione sul Guardian del 25 settembre 2013 – ce ne passa.

All of culture is being sucked down the plughole and the philistines can’t hear our screams! Bad books, bad movies, bad art. Novels are no longer about thinking, they’re just vortices of cliche. The race is now on to write the Worst. Book. Ever. And this may be it.

Secondo me Lucy Ellmann esagera. Ma il romanzo non è riuscito, punto e basta.

Ma è indubbio che si ride un sacco, anche se dopo ci si vergogna di averlo fatto. E non è sempre e soltanto un umorismo da cinepanettone. Sotto, se volete, ne trovate qualche esempio.

Quattro considerazioni estemporanee:

Mi ha colpito che il protagonista del romanzo sia inglese, anzi londinese. Coupland è canadese di Vancouver, è nato in una base americana in Germania, ha studiato a Milano e a Tokio, ha vissuto a lungo nella Silicon Valley ed è imbevuto di cultura statunitense, pop e colta. Eppure, se deve creare un’epitome della volgarità contemporanea, sceglie un inglese. Una specie di Lionel Asbo smorzato (come nel passaggio dalla calce viva alla calce spenta) o di Keith Talent (sempre Martin Amis, questa volta il capolavoro London Fields). Insomma, i britannici si affermano come i maggiori esportatori mondiali di sgradevoli coatti.
Che cos’ha l’aria della conurbazione Seattle-Vancouver (chiamiamola così, anche se so di essere impreciso: forse è meglio Pacific Northwest) per generare questo cluster di autori fantasiosi: metto assieme alla strana coppia Coupland-Gibson anche il Tom Robbins di Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas e di Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates e persino la Ursula LeGuin di Always Coming Home. Come diceva una pubblicità del caffè Lavazza di qualche tempo fa: «…sarà la macchinetta, sarà l’acqua, sarà l’aria, sarà il caffè?»
In comune con William Gibson, questo romanzo di Douglas Coupland ha anche l’uso del MacGuffin. Un esempio in Gibson è il misterioso container di Spook Country. Un MacGuffin di cui abbiamo parlato di recente è il libro leggendario I mille e un giorni del romanzo Alif the Unseen. In questo caso il MacGuffin – ma lo è soltanto in senso lato – è un gioco che sarebbe piaciuto a Raymond Queneau, a Georges Perec, al gruppo dell’OuLiPo e dunque a Italo Calvino: il gioco si chiama biji ed è stato inventato in Cina. In una Nota introduttiva, lo stesso Coupland spiega:
«This book began, improbably, as an attempt in McSweeney’s No. 31 to reinvigorate the biji, a genre in classic Chinese literature. Biji roughly translates as “notebook,” and can contain anecdotes, quotations, random musings, philological speculations, literary criticism and anything that the author deems worth recording. The genre first appeared during the Wei and Jin dynasties, and matured during the Tang dynasty. The biji of that period mostly contain the ”believe-it-or-not” kind of anecdote, and many of them can be treated as collections of short fiction.»
Non seguire questa traccia posta all’inizio del libro significa negarsi la possibilità di capire le note e voci d’enciclopedia (vere o di fantasia) che costellano il testo e, soprattutto, non capire che cosa guidi lo sviluppo della trama.
Infine. Tra le sanguinose accuse di Lucy Ellmann nella citata recensione sul Guardian, c’è questa:
«Through total immersion in the banality it purports to expose, his new novel out-sarcasms itself. Like Chuck Palahniuk’s Snuff, it’s determined to gross you out, offering a barrage of sexism, homophobia, shit, vomit, sputum, and all the other stuff of adolescent humour. Worst. Person. Ever. can only appeal to people who like to hear women belittled, and everything trashed – and it’s hard to see the necessity for it when we’ve already got plenty of trash and belittled women.»
Per quanto ne so io, Coupland è gay e vive da anni con il suo partner David Weir: lo dice Wikipedia e ne parla anche un articolo del New York Times. Non mi soffermerei su questi pettegolezzi, se non per chiedermi e chiedervi: ha senso l’accusa di omofobia di Lucy Ellmann? Quando si fa satira, quanto è lecito attribuire all’autore, magari inconsciamente, di avere le stesse opinioni e gli stessi preconcetti dei suoi personaggi?
* * *

Passi tratti dal romanzo (consueti riferimenti alla posizione Kindle): Vi risparmio il peggio ma vi ammonisco, anime sensibili: non andate oltre!

“At the moment I feel like we’re some form of sock puppets who exist solely to amuse some cruel cosmic manipulator whose hand is up my arse.” [1244]

When things go sideways, I try to make lemonade out of lemons, as it were. [1336]

“The war on terror and the war on drugs are the same thing to me, Raymond. Actually, I’m at war with everything—it makes mental bookkeeping easier.” [1362]

Neal said, “Supposedly, Kiribati will be the first country on earth to vanish with global warming. Saw that on the telly last year.”
“I can just imagine the ripple effect that news must be having at the United Nations,” I said. “Kenya and Kuwait will have to sit beside each other. Sparks will fly.” [1792]

“Neal, could you stop making your inner dialogue an outer dialogue?” [2309]

“Science has shown that it is impossible to be sexually aroused by outside-finger stimulus. Homeland Security requires all their airport security inspectors to use only the outsides.” [2459]

“Americans are … basically Englishmen with the English part removed.” [2639] ( )

I've been aware of Douglas Coupland for a long time but, oddly, I don't think I've read one of his books since I read Hey Nostradamus! in high school. I liked that book, quite a bit, in fact. But, until this year, I hadn't picked up another Coupland novel.

The title? Well. It doesn't lie.

Essentially, the book is about a truly slimy character receiving his comeuppance. Raymond Gunt is offensive, cruel, entitled, womanizing, irresponsible, and, well... the worst person ever. The story is told from his perspective as he and a side-kick - a homeless man he hires on a whim as his assistant - travel to Kiribati to work on the set of a Survivor-like reality TV show. Things start out bad for Gunt, and just seem to get worse and worse and worse. Plane ticket mix-ups, arrests, allergic reactions, humiliation, ridicule, etc. etc.; throughout the novel, Coupland piles it on.

You think it would be enjoyable, 'watching' a truly terrible human being get what he deserves.

It's not.

This novel was surprisingly difficult to read. It was, more or less, a worthwhile read. Coupland does a masterful job of creating an unreliable narrator to lead his captivated audience through each fiasco. But as things just got worse and worse for Gunt, all at his own hand, I cringed more and more. I wanted to yell at him to just stop, just stop being such an idiot.

Of course, novels don't listen.

(Creepy, if they did.)

I won't ever read this novel a second time. But, that doesn't mean I wouldn't recommend it for a first read, especially to those who know a Raymond Gunt. They do exist, but I think we all need a reminder every so often that even they maybe don't deserve the fate we imagine for them. ( )

It was not a bad book... it was not particularly a good book either. Though I do have to say if you like Palahniuk's style of writing you will like Coupland ( )