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Book Summary and Reviews of Worst. Person. Ever. by Douglas Coupland

Worst. Person. Ever. by Douglas Coupland

Worst. Person. Ever.

by Douglas Coupland

  • Critics' Consensus (5):
  • Published:
  • Apr 2014, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Raymond Gunt likes to think of himself as a pretty decent guy - he believes in karma, and helping his fellow man, and all that other good stuff. Sure, he can be foulmouthed, occasionally misogynistic, and can just generally rub people the wrong way - through no fault of his own! So with all the positive energy he's creating, it's a little perplexing to consider the recent downward spiral his life has taken... Could the universe be trying to tell him something?

A B-unit cameraman with no immediate employment prospects, Gunt decides to accept his ex-wife Fiona's offer to shoot a Survivor-style reality show on an obscure island in the Pacific. With his upwardly failing sidekick, Neal, in tow, Gunt somehow suffers multiple comas and unjust imprisonment, is forced to reenact the "Angry Dance" from the movie Billy Elliot, and finds himself at the center of a nuclear war - among other tribulations and humiliations.

A razor-sharp portrait of a morally bankrupt and gleefully wicked modern man, Worst. Person. Ever. is a side-splittingly funny and gloriously filthy new novel from acclaimed author Douglas Coupland. A deeply unworthy book about a dreadful human being with absolutely no redeeming social value, it's guaranteed to brighten up your day.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Coupland skewers a pop world's growing insensibilities, and his protagonist is a charming villain whom readers will likely root for, even as he's insulting them." - Publishers Weekly

"Comically satirical in his depiction of the blistering superficiality and inanity of modern pop culture, Coupland (Generation X, 1991) here wallows in the carnivalesque as he indulges in gross-out humor and his characters' bad behavior, but, unfortunately, it all comes off as misanthropic and unpleasant." - Booklist

"Not for the faint of heart, this is a masterpiece of politically incorrect wit. Some readers will be laughing out loud while others will recoil in horror. A must for those with a resilient sense of humor." - Library Journal

"The plot is an unbridled romp...The fact that it is all so demented - and so frequently, belly-achingly hilarious - only makes that darkness all the more impressive." - The Sunday Times

"Provocative and entertaining." - The Daily Mail (UK)

"Riotous, frequently very funny." - The Independent (UK)

"Filthy and funny." - TimeOut London (UK)

"Clever bits of observational humour … his best book in recent years." - The Toronto Star (Canada)

"An entry – a fun one – in a personal, pop-cult canon of its own." - Toronto Globe and Mail (Canada)

This information about Worst. Person. Ever. was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Douglas Coupland Author Biography

D.J.Wier

Douglas Coupland was born on a NATO base in Germany in 1961. He is the author of the international bestsellers Generation A and JPod, and nine other novels, among them The Gum Thief, Hey Nostradamus!, All Families Are Psychotic, Microserfs, and Generation X, along with nonfiction works including a recent short biography of Marshall McLuhan. His work has been translated into thirty-five languages and published in most countries around the world. Coupland, also a visual artist, furniture and fashion designer, and screenwriter, lives and works in Vancouver.

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