Generation A

Generation A is set in a near future belonging to the children of Generation X. Consumerism has hit its peak and social isolation is as global as online gaming. Addiction is coupled closely to the loneliness felt by the world's youth - addiction to food, drink, drugs, the internet, and any number of things offered in this age of mega-consumerism. And, like Prozac for Generation X, there is a chemical remedy ready to meet the demand; the drug Solon becomes wildly popular for its ability to relieve feelings of loneliness.

On top of the social isolation and soulless consumerism, Generation A have another concern more acute problem than their Gen X parents had to deal with: environmental collapse. Coupland uses one particular, apparently innocuous event to stand for broader environmental degradation. Bees have gone extinct and with their passing comes a whole range of unconsidered impacts from the loss of honey to the loss of heroin (bees are needed to pollinate poppies).

Mirroring the structure of Generation X, Generation A follows five characters from different walks of life and, this time, different nationalities: Canada, the US, Sri Lanka, France and New Zealand. The five are all brought together after they are each miraculously stung by bees. Enjoying celebrity status for their unlikely moment of minor pain, everyone wants to know where the bees are and why were these five lucky people chosen to be stung?

For Coupland this is an opportunity to bring together his characters, shocked out of their hypnotic material existence by the bee stings, and have them exchange stories about their disenchanted lives. This format will be familiar to readers of Generation X and, while it doesn't quite work as naturally as it did in that book, the modern fables they share are hilarious, poignant and often surprisingly consoling.

Reviewed by Richard Bilkey, Booktopia Buzz Editor