The moniker “Generation X” can carry some weighty expectations. Latchkey kids, fighting between generations, the ability to program both a VCR and a cell phone. Those things all define my generation.

But at one point, Generation X only referred to a book by a first-time author from Canada. I recently re-read Douglas Coupland’s influential novel, which I purchased when it came out in March 1991. This was my 25th book of 2021.

Back then, I was working for a weekly newspaper and harboring my own writing aspirations. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life at the time. Being laid off a few months later didn’t help much.

I never really broke out from journalistic writing for a number of reasons. I don’t have real regrets because I love the life I live. Reading Coupland’s book again, however, took me back to those feelings of limitless possibility.

The premise of the book is simple. Three people in their late 20s – Andy, Dag and Claire – tell each other stories and consider their place in the world. You can get a lot deeper, but that’s the crux of the story. Andy is the first-person narrator.

In short, I loved the book all over again. I certainly saw some ways that it impacted my conversational writing style. I loved the little definitions and pieces of art throughout the margins. It really managed to tell a story in many different ways.

A few things that jumped out at me:

• “Dag says he’s a lesbian trapped in a man’s body.” I know of at least one college friend who used to say this. So trite, but on point for some late 80s, early 90s guys.
• “To borrow a phrase from a popular song, he’s loyal to the Bank of America.” You will definitely get in my pants – metaphorically speaking – when you refer to a deep REM cut like “Exhuming McCarthy” as a “popular song.”
• “101-ism: The tendency to pick apart, often in minute detail, all aspects of life using half-understood pop psychology as a tool.” He basically predicted social media.
• “He owns the marketing rights to those two little buttons on push-button telephones – the star and the box buttons astride the zero.” Before “pound sign” or “hashtag” took over our life.
• Cryptotechnophobia: The secret belief that technology is more of a menace than a boon.” Still working this one out, Douglas.

I highly recommend reading the book if you have not, but especially if you have. Sure, pretentiousness abounds, but that is what early 90s Gen X life could be like.