Eleanor Rigby (by Douglas Coupland)

I tend to read all of Coupland's stuff and enjoy most of it (I hated Microserfs, sorry everyone), so I picked up Eleanor Rigby in a used book store. I'd never heard of it, but I figured the odds were on my side. And I did enjoy it, although I don't quite buy the ending; Coupland's characters do tend to behave in ways that normal people never would behave. I guess that's what you're getting yourself into, reading his stuff.

The thing is, today I was on call for work and I am also sick with a cold/flu type thing. I read a big chunk of Finnegans Wake and once I'd maxed out on that, I switched to this book. I guess all I've done today is read, because I just realized I started Eleanor Rigby this morning (and finished it) and I got to page 554 of Finnegans Wake.

This hasn't told you anything about the book. Well, it's good--not too crazy, and not too implausible. The depiction of the main character and narrator--spinsterish, lonely--is spot-on. I wish Coupland had just kept the events of the book smaller and more realistic. Except then he would be a completely different writer.