Miss Wyoming

Coupland version of romanticism...complete with inner-city smog and petty crimes.

Coupland wrings empathy from a plot peopled by plastic fantastics on the road to a greater substance than abuse. The story could have been pulled straight from an internet rumours site, which makes the fact he can convince us to care and care and care even more beautiful than it is precious.

Douglas Coupland has a knack for writing about what he (seemingly) knows well. Either he is omniscient or he puts a great deal of research into his topics for novelization. In this book, Miss Wyoming, he riffs on beauty pageants (and some parents' obsession to have their children win them at any cost) and the movie industry. The story, told in non-linear progression,...more

Douglas Coupland has a knack for writing about what he (seemingly) knows well. Either he is omniscient or he puts a great deal of research into his topics for novelization. In this book, Miss Wyoming, he riffs on beauty pageants (and some parents' obsession to have their children win them at any cost) and the movie industry. The story, told in non-linear progression, centers on two protagonists: a former frequent beauty pageant winner-cum-has-been actress who is the only survivor of a plane crash, and a big-budget movie and TV producer who has survived a suicide attempt (and in "going toward the light" has communication with the aforementioned beauty queen-actress). Coupland has his finger firmly on the pulse of two seemingly disparate worlds (the Beauty Pageant world and "Hollywood") and combines them to create a very unique and entertaining cautionary tale.   hide

Coupland is a genius. Really. this is the most endearing oddball story I have ever read and I recommend it to everyone.

Excellent novel, witty, funny, poignant and pitilessly raw. Would read it again.

Not his best.

Typical Coupland. Which, when you think about it, is nothing to be ashamed of.

Coupland's books always involve people who totally blow their first shot at redemption and have to take the long way around. This one is, while heartbreaking, his best.

Miss Wyoming is as delightful as it is frightening. Frightening in the sense that, yes, this is the human condition. It skips about in time, narrating both the history and current affairs of a former teen pageant queen and a washed up movie star. Susan Colgate has survived a plane crash followed by a year-long disappearance; John Johnson has survived a drug overdose followed by months of...more

Miss Wyoming is as delightful as it is frightening. Frightening in the sense that, yes, this is the human condition. It skips about in time, narrating both the history and current affairs of a former teen pageant queen and a washed up movie star. Susan Colgate has survived a plane crash followed by a year-long disappearance; John Johnson has survived a drug overdose followed by months of self-prescribed homelessness. Both characters grew up amid some extremely odd family dynamics. As the story switches perspectives and carves out each surprise, you find yourself putting faith in the aforementioned human condition, and the odd little mission that this pair ultimately have set out to achieve.    hide