JPod
| Author | Douglas Coupland |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Will Webb |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Epistolary, Satire |
| Publisher | Random House of Canada (first edition), Bloomsbury USA (first edition) |
Publication date | 9 May 2006 |
| Publication place | Canada |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 528 (Canadian Hardback), 448 (USA hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-679-31424-5 (first edition, Canadian hardback), ISBN 1-59691-233-2 (first edition, USA hardback) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
| Preceded by | Terry |
jPod is a novel by Douglas Coupland published by Random House of Canada in 2006. Set in 2005, it concerns a group of video game programmers whose last names all begin with "J". They live and work in a development "pod", which they refer to as the "jPod", within a company that, as Coupland describes, "resembles, but legally no way is Electronic Arts", located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Electronic Arts has an important branch in Vancouver and its suburb Burnaby). As in Coupland's other novels, the characters can be said to face issues that define their era.
The novel is presented in the form of diary entries maintained on a computer by the narrator, similar to a previous novel from Coupland, Microserfs (1995).
jPod is also a CBC Television TV series; it premiered on January 8, 2008. [1] On March 7, 2008 its cancellation was announced, [2] thus ending the series with a permanent cliffhanger ending.
Characters
- Ethan Harrison Jarlewski (known as Ethan, or the #2 son of Jim Jarlewski)
- The book's narrator and main character. He becomes Kaitlin's boyfriend later on in the book.
- Casper Jesperson (known as "Cancer Cowboy" or simply "Cowboy")
- A coworker of Ethan. "Cowboy" grew up in an agricultural region and was told that the local cowboys were all dying of lung cancer because they were smoking. Despite this, "Cowboy" smokes. He abuses cough syrup and is a sex addict.
- Brianna Jyang (known as Bree)
- A coworker of Ethan. Bree claims that she wants to sleep with almost every man she meets, but only once. Her coworkers are not sure if she actually does this. She later admits that she doesn't and is very confused.
- John Doe (formerly named "crow well mountain juniper")
- A coworker of Ethan. John Doe grew up in an "ultra-lesbian" commune, which explains why his former name was all lower case (he explains, "Capital letters imply hierarchy, that some letters are more important than others."), and grew up without television, popular culture or music. Throughout the book, John tries to be as statistically normal as possible.
- Brandon Mark Jackson (known as Mark, later known as "Evil Mark")
- A coworker of Ethan. In the beginning of the book, Mark had only been in jPod for three weeks (hence his boring nickname). The "Evil" part of his nickname derived from the podsters belief that because he and Ethan seemed alike in personality, Mark needed a defining quality. He has been spotted by coworkers to be a neat freak. His main oddity is the fact everything around him must be edible from his futon to his post-it notes.
- Kaitlin Anna Boyd Joyce (known as Kaitlin)
- A coworker and (later) girlfriend of Ethan. In the beginning of the book, Kaitlin had only joined yesterday. Eventually she develops a relationship with Ethan. She later makes a hugging machine.
- Kam Fong
- A Chinese smuggler of people and drugs. He is depicted as having no sense of humour. He abducts Steve in the latter half of the book. Kam is universally liked; Ethan's mother and father are particularly fond of him.
- Carol Jarlewski
- Ethan's mother. Carol runs a successful grow-op and draws Ethan into her business problems.
- Jim Jarlewski
- Ethan's father. Forced into retirement, he tries to build a second career as an actor, but works as an extra in Vancouver's film industry. An avid ballroom dancer, he becomes good friends with fellow dance-lover Kam Fong.
- Steve Lefkowitz (known as Steve)
- The company's head of marketing. Before, he worked at Toblerone, and apparently "turned it around" in two years. He introduces a turtle modeled after Jeff Probst named "Jeff", to send a message to his young, estranged son. He eventually gets abducted by Kam Fong for stalking Ethan's mother, becomes addicted to heroin, and ends up working at a factory in China manufacturing fake Nike shoes. He is later rescued by Ethan.
- Douglas Coupland
- A character based on the author himself, making several minor appearances as well as being central to one of the subplots.
Theme and plot
The Plot of JPod is, essentially, a series of smaller plotlines meshed together. These plotlines (in a somewhat chronological order) include:
- Development of a game, first named "BoardX". The game is later radically changed and renamed "SpriteQuest".
- Jon Doe's pursuit of a statistically normal lifestyle.
- Ethan's relationship with Kaitlin.
- Ethan's mother's marijuana grow-op including its eventual destruction.
- An elaborate hoax by Kaitlin to fool her co-workers into thinking she was involved in a scandal for a diet involving Subway sandwiches.
- Kam Fong's various businesses in human trafficking.
- Steve's abduction, and JPod trying to find him.
- Cowboy's paranoia of signs pointing to his unavoidable death.
- Various characters being sent away to China at different intervals in the plot.
- Ethan's mother moving to a lesbian commune and Jim's attempt to win her back.
References
Self-reference
Coupland appears as a character in this novel. According to Coupland, the character "is my response to Google and search engines and archives that never go away."[3] One reference appears in the beginning of the novel, where someone mentions he or she feels like a "refugee from a Douglas Coupland novel". jPod purports to be a print-out of the laptop diary of main character Ethan Jarlewski acquired by Coupland in seemingly unfair deals with the character. In a talk for his new book in September of 2007, Coupland described himself as envisioning himself as a "James Bond villain"-type of character.
Electronic Arts
The company in jPod appears to be loosely based on Electronic Arts (EA)[4], which is one of the world's largest video game publishing company and has one of its largest development offices in the Vancouver area. Mention is made of the reliance of the company's game on sports and other media intellectual properties, as well as a sister office in Orlando, Florida, both of which are characteristic of EA. Furthermore, multiple references are made to characteristic features of the EA Canada (EAC) complex including multi-level layered walkways, the large cafeteria and air-conditioned meeting room, guarded escorts for visitors and laminated security passes. It is stated that the offices are in the suburb of Burnaby, near the freeway, which would also be accurate.
Title
The title is undoubtedly also a reference to the iPod, It may also be a reference to J-Pop, in which Coupland has showed interest in his other books. J-Pod is also the name given to a family of orca that live of the coast of Vancouver, British Columbia. jPod is also the name of an iPod knockoff that Jason makes in FoxTrot.
^Cubicle "pods" - all surnames begin with "J"
Other
- "Grind the molten bucket" is a reference to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.[5]
- "THUG2" is a shortening of Tony Hawk Underground 2.
- "chunkylover53"[@aol.com] is Homer Simpson's e-mail address as seen in "The Dad Who Knew Too Little".
- Lot 49 is also the lot in Thomas Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49
- The appearance and role of Ronald McDonald in the novel is an interesting parallel to the appearance of Johnnie Walker and Colonel Sanders in Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (December 2007) |
- Coupland will be exhibiting large-scale reproductions of some of the book's pages at a Canadian art gallery.[4]
- Several different "hugging machines" have actually been developed with the aim of overcoming sensory integration issues experienced by persons with Autism-spectrum disorders.[6][7]
Notes
- ^ "Douglas Coupland on bloggers, YouTube and Bubble 2.0" from The Register
- ^ "Save JPod Website"
- ^ Author Q&A from Amazon.com
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
taletwowas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "A Million Little InsightsThe Couplandization of Douglas Coupland" from Slate.com
- ^ abc7news.com: A Hugging Machine To Help Autistic Kids 8/20/05
- ^ Slashdot | A Vest to Hug You