JPod

By: Douglas Coupland

Narrated by: Marc Cashman

Very evil...very funny.

A lethal joyride into today's new breed of technogeeks, Douglas Coupland's novel updates Microserfs for the age of Google.

Ethan Jarlewski and five coworkers are bureaucratically marooned in jPod. jPod is a no-escape architectural limbo on the fringes of a massive Vancouver game design company.

The six jPodders wage daily battle against the demands of a boneheaded marketing staff, who daily torture employees with idiotic changes to already idiotic games. Meanwhile, Ethan’s personal life is shaped (or twisted) by phenomena as disparate as Hollywood, marijuana grow-ops, people-smuggling, ballroom dancing, and the rise of China. jPod's universe is amoral and shameless - and dizzyingly fast-paced. The characters are products of their era even as they're creating it.

Everybody in Ethan's life inhabits a moral gray zone. Nobody is exempt, not even his seemingly straitlaced parents or Coupland himself.

Full of word games, visual jokes, and sideways jabs, this audiobook throws a sharp, pointed lawn dart into the heart of contemporary life. jPod is Douglas Coupland at the top of his game.

©2006 Douglas Coupland

Critic reviews

"Coupland revisits the digital kingdom he so shrewdly depicted in Microserfs (1995) in a zeitgeist-trawling satire about 21st-century cyber obsession." (Booklist)

a little is lost

There's things lost in the audio book, that are easier read than heard. Like the 10 pages of RAMEN NOODLE ,or their number games they play,but so far a good listen

REQUIRED READING FOR GEEKS

JPod is my favorite book (and I've downloaded over 400 audiobooks). I first purchased this book in 2007 and have listened to it several dozen times since. On the surface, the book chronicles the hilarious and hapless adventures of Ethan, his family and pod mates, but I think there's so much more to it than the basic narrative. Let me put it this way: if you are a geek, into computers and the internet, and the kind of person who watches YouTube videos and Google's random questions, you will *LOVE* this audiobook. The negative reviews here are absolutely false.

This is also one of the most excellently read audiobooks on Audible. Marc Cashman has the pitch-perfect voice for the light-hearted comedy in this book. He also manages to give each character their own vocal idiosyncrasies so you are always aware of who is speaking, regardless of whether Coupland tells you.

There are a few books out there where you feel like the protagonist is "you". This is one of them. I hope you come to enjoy the book as much as I did.

-Michael

A bit self-indulgent

I wouldn't say I'm a rabid Coupland fan, but I've enjoyed his works for a number of years, so I have a bit of perspective with regard to his writing. This book was a disappointment. I thoroughly enjoyed Microserfs, and given the comparisons that have been made between that book and this, I was looking forward to the listen.

It just seemed as though he was patting himself on the back the whole time, making references to himself in his own book, as though he is such a strong presence in the social consciousness. It reminded me of the really cheesy scene in Ocean's Twelve where Julia Roberts dressed up as 'herself' to help out with the heist. It's just not effective and comes off a bit smarmy.

And his way of writing random pages of words/characters/phrases in his books, which I don't mind, doesn't come across effectively in the audio version.

I'm giving it 3-stars because it did have a few redeeming qualities and comical aspects to the characters, but definitely not his best effort.

Should you get it? I don't know....there are better ones out there.

Very funny, recommended

I liked the book a lot as a software developer myself, however I don’t think its required to enjoy the book at all. The characters and events in the book are all hilarious!

Theres a point in the book where every single three letter word in the english language is read aloud, feel free to skip forward at that point as it is tedious and ultimately meaningless.

Canadian hicks do not sound like American hicks.

The story was good. Overall the performer portrayed the satire well and kept the esoteric bits moving.

I know Canada is a small, hapless nation but we have our own distinct hick voices (they are called hosers, btw) and they sound like someone who is just waking up from dental surgery and have been watching Rock em Sock em 4 all day.

One love.

Wonderfully done

Loved it, another one of Doug's greats. wonderful performance that kept me hooked until the end

Geeks only please

This book truly is a "hugging machine" for appropriately aged internet geeks. I enjoyed it immensely and found it to be very refreshing. This is the first book, written or audio, that actually made me laugh (at the book and at myself).

My advice to you would be to listen to the sample and if you "get it" download this book and have a blast. Definitely dont buy this for your mother for christmas tho, she may actually ask you to call a little less often.

O yeah. do yourself a favor and when the list of 3 letter acceptable scrabble words begins skip about 9 minutes til its over. Dont skip the other lists tho. I found them to be the most fun parts of the novel. Enjoy.

Fun book with minor issues

Good fun book, just slightly annoying that there is no good way of skipping the wordlists and spam mail.

The Best Audio It Can Be

As one reviewer has pointed out, this is a somewhat difficult book to render (and listen to) as an audio edition. One example, page 212 of the print edition: "FUN FACT: any even number can be made by adding together two primes." This is followed by 16 1/2 pages filled with 11 columns of five-digit numbers (from 10007 to 99991) to prove the point. Keep in mind that the book is about a group of excentric computer game programmers. Now, I doubt that Coupland expected anyone to read those pages, so what to do if you're reading for the audio edition? It doesn't make sense to read such lists in their entirety. I would have to say that, overall, this book is far more accessible for those fortunate enough to have seen the far-too-short-lived "JPod" television series. Basically, the story itself is pretty far out and surreal. I love this book (as I do most of Coupland's books) for the odd humor and his observations on post-postmodern humanity. I'd like to see more of his books available at Audible.

How I Wish I Sounded While Trapped In My Office

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would absolutely recommend this audiobook to a friend! The story is compelling -- it's funny and full of techno-humour, which I love, and little bit haunting in how well it portrays the weirdness of an office environment. When I just can't stand another meeting, I think of how characters in this story would handle it. Also, I cannot get enough of Marc Cashman's voice! I keep thinking that he doesn't sound like a traditional narrator, and I don't know how he got started in this career, but the way he voices a story somehow locks it in your memory. The combination of a great story and a phenomenal narration makes for a beyond wonderful audiobook!