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All Families are Psychotic (2001)

by Douglas Coupland

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
2,614345,556 (3.52)31
Psychosis: "any form of severe mental disorder in which the individual's contact with reality becomes highly distorted." Douglas Coupland, the author whom Tom Wolfe calls "one of the freshest, most exciting voices of the novel today," delivers his tenth book in ten years of writing, with "All Families Are Psychotic." Coupland recently has been compared to Jack Kerouac and F. Scott Fitzgerald, yet he is a man firmly grounded in the current era. The novel is a sizzling and sharp-witted entertainment that resounds with eternal human yearnings. In the opening pages, 65-year-old Janet Drummond checks the clock in her cheap motel room near Cape Canaveral, takes her prescription pills and does a rapid tally of the whereabouts of her three children: Wade, the eldest, in and out of jail and still radiating "the glint"; suicidal Bryan, whose girlfriend, the vowel-free Shw, is pregnant; and Sarah, the family's shining light, an astronaut preparing to be launched into space as the star of a shuttle mission. They will all arrive in Orlando today - along with Janet's ex-husband Ted and his new trophy wife - setting the stage for the most disastrous family reunion in the history of fiction. Florida may never recover from their version of fun in the sun. The last time the family got together, there was gunplay and an ensuing series of HIV infections. Now, what should be a celebration turns instead into a series of mishaps and complications that place the family members in constant peril. When the reformed Wade attempts to help his dad out of a financial jam and pay off his own bills at the fertility clinic, his plan spins quickly out of control. Adultery, hostage-taking, a letter purloined from Princess Diana's coffin, heart attacks at Disney World, bankruptcy, addiction and black-market negotiations - Coupland piles on one deft, comic plot twist after another, leaving you reaching for your seat belt. When the crash comes, it is surprisingly sweet. Janet contemplates her family, and where it all went wrong. "People are pretty forgiving when it comes to other people's family. The only family that ever horrifies you is your own." During the writing, Coupland described the book as being about "the horrible things that families do to each other and how it makes them strong." He commented: "Families who are really good to each other, I've noticed, tend to dissipate, so I wonder how awful a family would have to be to stick together." Coupland's first novel, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture," became a cultural phenomenon, affixing a buzzword and a vocabulary to a generation and going on to sell over a million copies. The novels that followed were all bestsellers, and his work has continued to show a fascination with the digital, brand-conscious, media-dense culture of contemporary North American society, leading some to peg him as "an up-to-the-minute cultural reference engine." Meanwhile, his deeper interests in how human beings function in this spiritual vacuum have become increasingly apparent. For example, the character Wade contemplates his father: "What "would" the world have to offer Ted Drummond, and the men like him, a man whose usefulness to the culture had vanished somewhere around the time of Windows 95? Golf? Gold? Twenty-four hour stock readouts?" Janet, on the other hand, nears a kind of peace with life: "Time erases both the best and the worst of us." "All Families Are Psychotic "shows Coupland being just as concerned for the grown-ups as for the kids.… (more)
  1. 00
    Sugarless by James Magruder (amberwitch)
  2. 11
    The Red House by Mark Haddon (SimoneA)
    SimoneA: Both books tell the story of a family with issues, from their different viewpoints. 'All Families' does it with lots of black humor, 'The Red House' with an interesting approach to the viewpoints.
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» See also 31 mentions

English (33)  French (1)  All languages (34)
Showing 1-5 of 33 (next | show all)
I might be biased because this book carries elements I'm a huge fan of: dysfunctional weird families, dark comedy, and thought-provoking introspections. Having the characters (even the minor ones) be intriguing and well-written is a plus. This is one of the few books out there that would translate SO WELL being made into a film. I would be excited to see it.

I mean, what a ride. The story escalates in a fantastical manner, with crazy character development and it's funny how unexpectedly events evolve but with great flow. Nothing makes you think "WAIT, WHAT?", and the way things progress really feel like the only way they could. I have no idea how Douglas could write psychotic yet very loveable and relatable characters.

All that said, I found the book to be so feel-good. Am I the only one?

For the past year or so, I stopped enjoying reading as much as I used to, but this is the book that made me remember just how much I love turning pages. I actually had to pace myself and savor it; and with that I finished it in 3 sittings. I'm beginning to think that Douglas Coupland is incapable of writing a bad book, simply because I've started with his least popular works, and I'm glad I made that decision. It can only get better from here. ( )
  womanwoanswers | Dec 23, 2022 |
All Families are Psychotic : A Novel by Douglas Coupland (2002)
  sharibillops | May 20, 2022 |
This book was very silly but was a lot of fun! ( )
  Kgferris | Jul 12, 2021 |
The title is the basic thesis; it's expanded to suggest that one only notices this about one's own family; everybody else's family seems sane and normal.

THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN CURTAILED IN PROTEST AT GOODREADS' CENSORSHIP POLICY

See the complete review here:

http://arbieroo.booklikes.com/post/930768/all-families-are-psychotic-douglas-cou...
  Arbieroo | Jul 17, 2020 |
Denna bok är helt jävla hysterisk. Dock lite trög här och där. ( )
  autisticluke | Nov 14, 2019 |
Showing 1-5 of 33 (next | show all)
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Epigraph
IN A DREAM YOU SAW A WAY TO SURVIVE AND YOU WERE FULL OF JOY
―Jenny Holzer
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Janet opened her eyes—Florida's prehistoric glare dazzled outside the motel window.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Psychosis: "any form of severe mental disorder in which the individual's contact with reality becomes highly distorted." Douglas Coupland, the author whom Tom Wolfe calls "one of the freshest, most exciting voices of the novel today," delivers his tenth book in ten years of writing, with "All Families Are Psychotic." Coupland recently has been compared to Jack Kerouac and F. Scott Fitzgerald, yet he is a man firmly grounded in the current era. The novel is a sizzling and sharp-witted entertainment that resounds with eternal human yearnings. In the opening pages, 65-year-old Janet Drummond checks the clock in her cheap motel room near Cape Canaveral, takes her prescription pills and does a rapid tally of the whereabouts of her three children: Wade, the eldest, in and out of jail and still radiating "the glint"; suicidal Bryan, whose girlfriend, the vowel-free Shw, is pregnant; and Sarah, the family's shining light, an astronaut preparing to be launched into space as the star of a shuttle mission. They will all arrive in Orlando today - along with Janet's ex-husband Ted and his new trophy wife - setting the stage for the most disastrous family reunion in the history of fiction. Florida may never recover from their version of fun in the sun. The last time the family got together, there was gunplay and an ensuing series of HIV infections. Now, what should be a celebration turns instead into a series of mishaps and complications that place the family members in constant peril. When the reformed Wade attempts to help his dad out of a financial jam and pay off his own bills at the fertility clinic, his plan spins quickly out of control. Adultery, hostage-taking, a letter purloined from Princess Diana's coffin, heart attacks at Disney World, bankruptcy, addiction and black-market negotiations - Coupland piles on one deft, comic plot twist after another, leaving you reaching for your seat belt. When the crash comes, it is surprisingly sweet. Janet contemplates her family, and where it all went wrong. "People are pretty forgiving when it comes to other people's family. The only family that ever horrifies you is your own." During the writing, Coupland described the book as being about "the horrible things that families do to each other and how it makes them strong." He commented: "Families who are really good to each other, I've noticed, tend to dissipate, so I wonder how awful a family would have to be to stick together." Coupland's first novel, "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture," became a cultural phenomenon, affixing a buzzword and a vocabulary to a generation and going on to sell over a million copies. The novels that followed were all bestsellers, and his work has continued to show a fascination with the digital, brand-conscious, media-dense culture of contemporary North American society, leading some to peg him as "an up-to-the-minute cultural reference engine." Meanwhile, his deeper interests in how human beings function in this spiritual vacuum have become increasingly apparent. For example, the character Wade contemplates his father: "What "would" the world have to offer Ted Drummond, and the men like him, a man whose usefulness to the culture had vanished somewhere around the time of Windows 95? Golf? Gold? Twenty-four hour stock readouts?" Janet, on the other hand, nears a kind of peace with life: "Time erases both the best and the worst of us." "All Families Are Psychotic "shows Coupland being just as concerned for the grown-ups as for the kids.

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