J-Pod
published on 31st October, 2006

As Coupland’s MICROSERFS came to characterise the burgeoning dot-com boom of the mid-nineties, this spiritual cousin smartly defines the aftermath.

Once again, a team of coders and designers stumble through a series of increasingly baffling scenarios, which involve a skateboarding turtle named Jeff, a Hugging Machine (for the borderline autistic numerous abductions), a death or two, and the search for one deliberately-placed false numeral in the first thousand digits of pi.

Special mention must also go to the various clown-sex scenarios involving Ronald McDonald. Add to this the appearance of Coupland himself towards the novel’s end, and you have a hilarious and furiously-paced riot of a book – easily lapped up by web monkeys and code junkies, and more than enough to satisfy the rest of us too.

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