JPOD

In his quasi-sequel to MICROSERFS, Coupland tells the story of six co-workers at a Vancouver video game development company. They long to leave their jobs after completing the latest game, but before they can do that, they find themselves at a dead end. The JPod crew play juvenile tricks on one another in a game of one-upmanship. Marc Cashman reads all the spam email in an uninflected voice that adds to the satire of the story. Special bright spots are Ethan’s biker-killing mother and wannabe- actor father, who add humor that edges into slapstick. If you like computer geek novels, you’ll smile over the absurdity of all this. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 06/ JAN 07]