All Families Are Psychotic

Douglas Coupland
2001

This is the craziest book I have read in a long time. It was so good. I have no idea where to begin. I read it all between last night at 8 pm and this morning by 6:30, and I just couldn’t put it down. I already knew I loved Douglas Coupland’s work, but I think this one may be my new favourite. It’s similar in a lot of ways to Miss Wyoming, with a main plotline set in the present, and a number of chapters of flashbacks to fill in background details. The characters are just nuts. Maybe I just just point out a few of the crazy details.

• The Mom, Janet and her son Wade both have AIDS. Janet got the disease via Wade, when Ted, the Dad, shot Wade. The bullet went through Wade and struck Janet.
• Ted was shooting Wade because Wade inadvertently slept with Ted’s new wife, Nikki. At the time Wade was unaware that Nikki was Ted’s new wife.
• Bryan, Ted and Janet’s youngest son, is having a baby with Shw (yes, that’s her name, Shw) but is angry because he thinks Shw wants to abort the baby. In actuality, she wants to sell the baby on the black market.
• Something about the letter Prince William left on his mother’s casket and a pharmaceutical kingpin.
• Ted and Janet’s daughter, Sarah was born without a hand due to Janet unknowingly taking drugs that cause birth defects. She’s now taking them again to try and counteract the ravages of her AIDS.
• Sarah is an astronaut about to go into space, and is having an affair with another one of the astronauts. The wife of the astronaut is having an affair with Sarah’s husband.
• There’s more. Honestly.

This book was so messed up. I loved every second of it. I can’t wait to pass this book on to someone else to enjoy. It’s been a while since I’ve stayed up all night to finish a book, and I almost made it. It’s also been a while since I got up early to finish a book.

Oh, the the book is about this family coming together. And it works. Somehow.