Hey Coupland!

Hey Nostradamus!

Author:
Douglas Coupland

Date Published:
Random House; 2003

Number of pages:
244

Review:
With melancholy, wit and a lot of personality, Douglas Coupland has rendered another marvellous piece of literature. In Hey Nostradamus, we see the budding artist mature and tackle the task of writing multiple perspectives in narration and it works out brilliantly in his favour.

Taking place in Vancouver, Coupland starts his novel with a school shooting in the cafeteria of Delbrook Senior High School in the year 1988. Four people over a span of 25 years are each affected by the trauma and the loneliness that ultimately follows. Divided into 4 parts, the plot flows smoothly from one narration to the next, each section representing a new narrator. Each narrator has their own voice, their own prose, and their own thoughts and memories are captured by a brilliant author.

The first narrator Cheryl, an abiding Christian, faces oblivion in the beginning of the novel being a victim of the school shooting and often questions her ideals, her beliefs and her religion as she takes her last remaining breaths. “[Dear Lord] A massacre in a high school cafeteria can only indicate Your absence” she utters as she is dying and leaves behind a bloody binder which she wrote:

“GOD IS NOWHERE GOD IS NOW HERE.”

Her words haunt her husband and fellow schoolmate, Jason, who is often accused of being a part of the adolescent team that shot his wife and is the second narrator in the novel. He narrates 10 years after the shooting and is often nostalgic and distant. His narration is quick and jumpy much like his personality. His thoughts often trouble and elude him from his potential; his past affects his ability to create a thriving future.

“In the end, we are judged by our deeds, not our wishes. We’re the sum of our decisions.”

In which, his decisions cause him to disappear leaving behind a girlfriend, Heather, the third narrator being stalked by a psychic.

A stenographer by profession, her narration, in the form of a journal, is organized in thought as well as being articulate. She is left wondering where Jason disappeared to and is contacted by a psychic claiming to have telepathic messages sent to her from Jason. In the end she realized that she often attracts people of a lonely nature.

“Did I unwittingly send out the sort of signals that attract desperate souls?”

One of these desperate souls she attracted, while trying to find comfort for the disappearance of Jason was the 4th narrator, Jason’s father Reg.

Reg writes in the form of a letter as well, tying up the novels loose ends and often jumping from 3rd person narration to 1st person. His confused and pleading form of writing is very much associated with his personality. He ends the novel beautifully.

Each character has a sense of loss and yet they have a deep understanding of what it is to be a human, in touch with emotions and living off of memories in a culture and society moving forward while they are being left behind. Every character is relatable because every character is real; their emotions, their actions and their life can be found in any home in any city, regardless of the shooting. Everyone questions their beliefs and everyone feels a sense of loneliness, of loss.

Coupland has written a novel of nostalgia on a subject often considered faux pas. With the recent shootings at Virginia Tech and here at home with Dawson in Montreal it’s important to see how one senseless act can affect the lives of dozens of people. Whether they are people who witnessed the shooting or those who interacted with the victims or even those who watched a broadcast of it on national television, everyone is affected. This novel clearly illustrates this point. Smart, witty, fantastic, Hey Nostradamus is a modern classic and a pop culture haven. Coupland never ceases to amaze me.

Happy Reading!!!