Microserfs

By: Douglas Coupland

Narrated by: Graham Rowat

They are Microserfs - six code-crunching computer whizzes who spend upward of 16 hours a day "coding" and eating "flat" foods (food which, like Kraft singles, can be passed underneath closed doors) as they fearfully scan company e-mail to learn whether the great Bill is going to "flame" one of them.

But now there's a chance to become innovators instead of cogs in the gargantuan Microsoft machine. The intrepid Microserfs are striking out on their own-living together in a shared digital flophouse as they desperately try to cultivate well-rounded lives and find love amid the dislocated, subhuman whir and buzz of their computer-driven world.

©1995 Douglas Coupland (P)2020 Tantor

Great book, bad performance.

I've read this book a number of times and love it. I've been in the industry for over 20 years and wanted to share it with others. I'm sure the narrator is a nice person but it sounds like eeyorre trying to hold in a number 2. We get it, we are nerds, but come on now.

Decent Book, Off-putting Narrator

I like Coupland's quirky humor and occasional flashes of insight and profundity, but I don't consider this one of his best books. It's decent, and the last 30 minutes or so are powerful and touching.

But the whole thing is ruined by the narrator, who is so off-putting that I had to force myself to keep listening (after about 8 hours, I got used to him). The voice is wrong, the cadences are wrong, and unfortunately, he didn't bother to learn the correct pronunciation of the places he refers to in the Pacific Northwest and California. Whoever chose him for the role (I hope it wasn't Coupland!) ought to be looking for a different career.

why is the sound so bad?

It sounds like it was recorded with an 80's era intercom. I'm half way through and still finding it hard to actually get in to it. If I hadn't already known the book from reading it before, i probably would have already given up.

tedious

Gen X was great. it was a revolution in my mind. the characters in this one are contrived, their relationships seem fake, like it was written by someone who has only ever seen human interaction on TV. the characters are my age cohort, and none of it seemed genuine. Coupland has these highs and boring, predictable lows where he tries so hard to recreate that cultural poignancy.... this was 100% a low.