Scared to fall asleep (Girlfriend in a Coma - Douglas Coupland)

Member Name: TigerTiger

Product:	Girlfriend in a Coma - Douglas Coupland
Date:	25/05/01 (251 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Extremely vivid descriptions, Brilliant characterisation, A must read for people all over the world, to serve as a warning on taking life and the planet forgranted if nothing else.

Disadvantages: I felt that it verged on cheesiness towards the end.

Imagine if one day you woke up thinking that you had just been having a long deep sleep and instead you discovered that in fact you had been in a coma for the best part of twenty years, you had gone from being 17 to 35 overnight?

Imagine that you stared around and all these people were starring back and you knew they were your friends and family, however, almost overnight they had aged twenty years?

Imagine that there was a girl of 17 starring back at you and you had never seen her before in your life, but she looked like you and you got the feeling that she was more than just a stranger. You discover that in fact it is your daughter.

Most of us will never be able to comprehend how it feels to be able to answer those questions, however, this is the plot of Douglas Couplands 1998 novel, “Girlfriend in a coma”.

In 1978 Karen McNeil is seventeen years old and having fun with her friends Richard, Pam, Hamilton, Wendy and Linus skiing in Vancouver just before they graduate. She appears to be a regular 17 year old; she fights with her parents, worries about her weight and worries about what will happen when she leaves school.

Richard happens to be the boy next door whom she has been dating since they were in primary school and that fateful night she and him head off into the mountains where they lose their virginity together. Coming back down the mountain Karen gives Richard a letter and asks him not to read it, but to keep it until the next day and then give it her back. Richard a little puzzled by this asks why and she tells him that she can’t really explain, but she has been having these peculiar dreams about being in another world and that she is worried by what it all means. Richard a little confused agrees and off they go to a party where all their friends will be. At that party Karen collapses and falls into a vegetative coma where she remains for the next 17 years.

During those 17 years,
although she may not be aware of it she gives birth after getting pregnant that one time on the mountain and she gives birth to a daughter Megan. Richard continues to visit her every week, however, he pines for what they have feeling that a part of him is now missing and gradually slides into alcoholism. Pam’s modeling takes off when she moves to America and she is soon on the covers of all the magazines, only for it all to fade as she gets older, however, she returns home and ends up marrying old friend Hamilton, however, both of them descend into a world of glamorous parties and drugs. Wendy sails through medical school and becomes a successful doctor, but lonely doctor; she ends up “settling” for Linus. Finally there is Megan Karen and Richard’s daughter who is raised by Karen’s slightly neurotic mother Lois. Megan grows up feeling like a curse and like someone that is already dead. So, in those 17 years a great deal happens, however Karen lays there in a sleep oblivious to it all.

One day however at the age 34 karen miraculously wakes up, something that Medical science gave her a one in a billion chance of doing and then she is faced with having to catch up on all those missed years, whilst dealing with friends and family who have been alive and who have moved on since she last saw them.

The book is split into three parts, the first telling of Karen before the party and then what happens in those 17 years to her and all the people around her. Then the second part moves on to what happens after her awakening. Finally, the third section, well that really would be telling, as to be honest it all happens rather quickly and I can’t say too much without giving it away. Let’s just say the novel takes a dramatic turn. The split is very interesting as the sections are told from the eyes of a different person. When the novel opens we are greeted with the line “I’m Jared, a ghost”. The first f
ew pages are indeed written by Jared, who has recently passed away at a high school football match. Although Jared recounts briefly what happened to him and the whole tragedy of dying in his prime, he tells how this story is about some of his friends who he says “finally learned their lesson”, by that he means finally saw what was important in life and held on to it after a few years of messing up big style. Then we are introduced to Karen, Richard and the gang. The first section is therefore told through the eyes of Richard, Jared argues that Karen would have done a better job of telling the story, but seeing that she wasn’t really there for most of it that was not possible. The second and third parts of the book moves back to Jared who tells the story almost looking down on all the characters. As he says, “It includes them all. And in the end it becomes my story, but we’ll get to that”. This way of beginning I found to be slightly strange at first and I did think “what on earth am I getting myself into reading this”, however, as it turns out it was a good way of getting a structure to the book and letting the reader know what was ahead of them.

Although I have read some of Coupland’s previous novels I was actually recommended to read this book by a friend. It was that inspiring in the way in which is was written that I ended up sitting up all night reading it cover to cover. If anyone ever needed a reason to get up and grab life by its horns then they should read this, as it is fantastic. As one reviewer so rightly commented, “a great wake up call to young Americans everywhere”. Indeed it is. I guess we never know what it around the corner and that is the main message of this book for me.

What is also especially interesting is the way in which the narration changes. At the start of the book we hear the story from the eyes of the bright eyed teenagers with their whole lives seemi
ngly in front of them, then the more we progress through the book these narratives change in to those of confused, embitted drug and alcohol dependent adults. It does raise the question for me of whether this group of friends would have gone the same route had Karen not left them that night or were they destined to all follow paths of self destruction?

Douglas Coupland was born in 1961 and grew up in Canada. His previous books include the highly acclaimed “Generation X” and “Microserfs”, both of which I have read with much interest. Once again we see the emergence of themes of time dislocation, friendship and a changing world, however, I found this novel a lot more interesting than Generation X or Microserfs, maybe it was because it hit a chord with me in that I don’t always live my life to the fullest extent. It made me think about what it would be like to be in that situation, where your body has aged, yet you have the mind of a 17 year old still and you are faced with condensing the last 17 years down in order to get up to speed with life basically.

So, to conclude, what is this book and will it interest you? In one sense you could see it as a love story, of love that endures 17 years, of Richard who puts his life on hold and enters a self destructive world until the day Karen, the love of his life wakes up. It is also a novel about society and firstly the way in which things change and move on, often so subtly that we don’t notice it. More importantly it shows how things could be if we are not careful, it shows what the end of the world could in fact be like, and let’s say it isn’t pretty. It is a post-apocalyptic novel that will touch even the most ice cold of hearts. I guess you could also describe it as a horror novel! “Girlfriend in a coma” would appeal to both men and women of all ages and at 6.99 I recommend it wholeheartedly, a fantastic novel that is very difficult to put d
own.

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