Mention Books Concering All Families are Psychotic
| Original Title: | All Families Are Psychotic |
| ISBN: | 1582342156 (ISBN13: 9781582342153) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Douglas Coupland
Paperback | Pages: 288 pages Rating: 3.67 | 13483 Users | 583 Reviews
Description In Favor Of Books All Families are Psychotic
The most disastrous family reunion in the history of fiction.
The Drummond family, reunited for the first time in years, has gathered near Cape Canaveral to watch the launch into space of their beloved daughter and sister, Sarah. Against the Technicolor unreality of Florida's finest tourist attractions, the Drummonds stumble into every illicit activity under the tropical sun-kidnapping, blackmail, gunplay, and black market negotiations, to name a few. But even as the Drummonds' lives spin out of control, Coupland reminds us of their humanity at every turn, hammering out a hilarious masterpiece with the keen eye of a cultural critic and the heart and soul of a gifted storyteller. He tells not only the characters' stories but also the story of our times--thalidomide, AIDS, born-again Christianity, drugs, divorce, the Internet-all bound together with the familiar glue of family love and madness.
The Drummond family, reunited for the first time in years, has gathered near Cape Canaveral to watch the launch into space of their beloved daughter and sister, Sarah. Against the Technicolor unreality of Florida's finest tourist attractions, the Drummonds stumble into every illicit activity under the tropical sun-kidnapping, blackmail, gunplay, and black market negotiations, to name a few. But even as the Drummonds' lives spin out of control, Coupland reminds us of their humanity at every turn, hammering out a hilarious masterpiece with the keen eye of a cultural critic and the heart and soul of a gifted storyteller. He tells not only the characters' stories but also the story of our times--thalidomide, AIDS, born-again Christianity, drugs, divorce, the Internet-all bound together with the familiar glue of family love and madness.
Details Containing Books All Families are Psychotic
| Title | : | All Families are Psychotic |
| Author | : | Douglas Coupland |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 288 pages |
| Published | : | September 7th 2002 by Bloomsbury USA (first published September 15th 2001) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Cultural. Canada. Contemporary. Humor. Novels |
Rating Containing Books All Families are Psychotic
Ratings: 3.67 From 13483 Users | 583 ReviewsWeigh Up Containing Books All Families are Psychotic
This was a quick and easy read, but I started to lose interest once I got a little more than half in. It's billed as kind of a humorous tale, and there were some "ha!" moments. But overall, it wasn't funny.... it was really pretty horrible (the goings ons). So an interesting and compelling overall story (of the family), but there wasn't much meat to it (too much back and forth dialogue for me) -- I also felt somewhat disconnected from the characters, and the story, although lacking meat, didn'tGreat little read. I finished in a weekend, because there was a humorous, unforeseeable detail around every corner. While some dialogue seemed forced or hokey every now and then, and some of the flashbacks were overwrought, the main story moved at a brisk pace and was highly original. The ending was a slight disappointment, but an overall great work of modern fiction. It has reclaimed the surname Drummond from "Diff'rent Strokes," at least for me.
Despite its rather rambling plot, I actually have a soft spot for All Families are Psychotic. It has something to do with the zaniness of the characters being so realistic. And the ending always chokes me up.As the title implies, the book's about family and the tribulations one's family undergoes as the wheel turns and one generation supplants another. Yet it's also about all the motifs surrounding family: growing up, maturity, dealing with mortality, and realizing how screwed up the world
Absolute zany mayhem! I wondered to start with if it was for me... then revelation after revelation. Jaw drop after jaw drop. Crazy family member after... you get the idea.I thought MY family was nuts. They just don't measure up to the Drummonds. While their daughter Sarah (a thalidomide baby) prepares for her first space mission, her family all gather in Florida, ostensibly to watch her take-off, but other plots take them in strange and hilarious new directions. To reveal much about the plot
This book was recommended to me by a fellow blogger after I wrote an entry in my blog about my absolutely ridiculous and unbelievable family, and a situation that involved moving my dead uncles body and hiding weed. Seriously. (Before your mind get's too twisted, he did die of natural causes.)This was recommended a few years ago, and sadly I only recently picked up this book. Having now read it, I can clearly see why he recommended it in response to what I had written - the incident in question
A Hallucinogenic Free-Fall Disguised As Real Life:If nothing else, the title is genius. I have no idea what Coupland was hoping to convey in this tumbling, bizarre narrative of family life gone crazy, but it's as if he latched onto the word "psychotic" and never let go. While all families have their quirks, likely none are as nuts as this one he's conjured up. And the idea of that was ultimately funnier than the execution. First the good stuff: amazing phrase turns; smart, clever, funny dialogue
Well, for that matter, what was the purpose of my first sixty-five years? Maybe the act of wanting to live and being given life is the only thing that matters. Forget the mountain of haikus I can write now. Forget learning to play the cello or slaving away for charity. But then what?Yes, then what, exactly? All Families Are Psychotic is the third (and second best) Coupland novel Ive read this year (and I would have never picked up the authors work without goodreads so, um, thanks, Otis and Co.).
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