Review of Shampoo Planet

 

From Quill & Quire

by Richard Bingham

The story, such as it is, is one of family dynamics and late-adolescent romantic intrigue that probably could be reduced to 10 or 12 pages by a writer like Alice Munro or Richard Ford. But a gripping yarn is not really Coupland's aim. Rather, the plot serves as a framework for examining a generation not only cut off from its history--memory begins with Ronald Reagan, and the Summer of Love is as alien as the Middle Ages--but actively avoiding it, erasing itwhere possible, and only comfortable with it when it's commodified and contained within the safe boundaries of theme parks. . . . Often funny, even moving (in spite of itself), . . . Shampoo Planet is a sociological document disguised as satire, told in a fearless torrent of neologism and truly modern metaphor.