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Cannonball Read III: Player One: What Is to Become of Us by Douglas Coupland

By Alli | Books | March 6, 2011 |

By Alli | Books | March 6, 2011 |


Player One is a novel by Douglas Coupland, it was written for a CBC lecture series and was broadcast on the radio as well as through podcasts. It is split up into 5 one-hour segments. We follow four main characters and a couple side characters through a global crisis as it unfolds.

My favorite book is The Stand and in some ways this book reminded me of that one, but overall it was a bit disappointing. Coupland is quite a famous Canadian author, and this is the first book of his that I have read. I think that perhaps trying to fit it into the time frame of the lecture series may have been responsible for the shortcomings that I perceived.

I think that Coupland set a good scene, created interesting characters to fill it in. One of the main characters suffers from a plethora of medical conditions on the autism/OCD spectrum, which was quite interesting. I think that had Coupland had more time to flesh out the characters and plot, the book would have been much stronger.

The ending felt tacked on and too simplistic for the crisis that the book centers around. I would rather not say what that crisis is for fear of giving away too much of the plot. But I will just say that something like that would not have a happy ending.


For more of Alli’s reviews, check out her blog, Alli’s Cannonball Read.

This review is part of Cannonball Read III. For more information, click here.