Microserfs

Chances are you'll get that feeling when you read Microserfs. That warm feeling of nostalgia you get when a book so successfully transports you to a time when life was full of surprises which you thought of as mere routine, and things were more exciting than they seemed, and you were happy and clueless about everything. Years have gone by, and looking back you can see how strange routine was, and how the cynicism of then was tame when compared to the cynicism of now. Being transported back to then gives you hope for the now, and the comfort of open arms that will hold you, and of a mouth that will whisper into your ear "There are things that you must remember." It's almost supernatural. My skin crawls.I'm not a coder, never was. Never worked in the Silicon Valley. Lived there during the time this book takes place, but never was friends with people that remotely resembled the people this book tries to characterize. But, ah, the zeitgeist! As said elsewhere...this IS the zeitgeist. It is the zeitgeist made flesh through words. Coupland is less talented than this book allows us to conclude, but Microserfs is just sublime, and one of my favorite pieces of writing ever.It reminds me of old videogames; empty outlets in the middle of the desert; sleepwalking through part of a technological revolution; warm microwave ovens; trashy sci-fi TV shows and Saved by the Bell reruns; clever toys that time forgot; Taco Bell restaurants; ancient DOS manuals; dusty floppy disks; healthy junk food; slow days; the golden age of Vallco Mall in Cupertino; riding Bus 81 in San Jose, and the Caltrain from Santa Clara to San Francisco; buying Lucasarts games at Fry's Electronics...All of these things, which are particular to me but might be common to you, come together along with others I'm not brave enough to mention, when I'm reading Microserfs. So this really IS the zeitgeist. The feeling of being there again takes over me so violently it's physically noticeable, even though I shared only very few of the characteristics of the people pictured in this book. But I was there, and felt what Coupland has put on paper. Microserfs is a powerful, touching, sad, happy, wonderful time machine. Read it along with Game Over, by David Sheff. If you're anything at all like me, you'll probably cry and wish it was 1993 all over again.

This book is set in the early to mid-nineties and attempts to portray the life of six Microsoft programmers who desperately struggle to find the one thing that geeks supposedly lack: a life.The story is funny and witty in typical "geek" humour fashion. New generation geeks will recognize themselves in most of the characters and realize that Coupland really got us all figured out. Whether it's the pursue of love, dreams or money, this book adds an important touch of humanity to those topics and leaves us with a light-hearted view of corporate America.

Being a spanish-speaking person and spanish-language reader, I don't have much opportunities to read American contemporary authors, unless they're writing computer systems technical books. So I must admit, my first glance at Microserfs was motivated by the curiosity of someone trying to describe how tech-obsessed, workaholic and project-slaved workers (as most people in my carreer) thought, felt and dreamed. I thought it would certainly be a challenge to build a plot with such characters. Copeland proved me wrong.As I read this book, I got lest interested with the similarities to real geeks and more involved in the real metaphor of Microserfs: the search for personal realization in each of this genious but not so life-wise characters. This process, narrated with humor, tech & tv real-world metaphors, self-inspection and lots of deliciously imaginative - and fantastic- theories in the minds of each character, is what really drives the reader to love this book from beginning to end.So I would recommend Microserfs twice: 1: to get a good understanding of geeks - which after reading this book will probably be no stranger to the reader than any average football fan, or any other obsessed kind, 2, to read a funny and imaginative novel while learning how this 21st century life is reshaping American's relationships and personal quests. The book's ending, fantastically crafted and at the same time full of new questions, is the best example of how this two ideas live together in Copeland's book.

The previous reviews have pretty much said it all, so this review is going to be a little more subjective. At first I thought this book was going to to be a sour-mouthed put-down of Microsoft. Wrong! Coupland has his main character keep a diary of what is going on with a small group that has left Microsoft to start their own small software company. The heart of the diary, though, is the little details Coupland includes that: say so much about relationships (between both friends and lovers), make the reader feel as if he or she personally knows each character down to the ground, and provide rich, interesting, entertaining descriptions of plot and character development. Coupland uses the diary technique extraordinarily well, focusing on mood, relationships, how Silicon Valley works, and a range of interesting observations as he sees fit. The diary technique also allows Coupland to manipulate time. If he wants to skip ahead in time, he simply dates the next diary entry months ahead. This book is an extraordinary read in that Coupland packs a lot of complexity into a highly entertaining, sometimes laugh-out-loud book that is also most readable. Buy it, and marvel and laugh. By the end of the book, you'll wish the trip had lasted longer.

A lot of reviewers seem to love or hate this book based on its references to The Bill, Star Trek, politically aware grrlies, and such forth. But unless your experiences on the high school football team have left you with a visceral hatred of all things 'nerdy', you should be able to enjoy this book without a Comp Sci degree. Disadvantaged, oppressed, sometimes confused characters set out towards the distant horizon of opportunity, at great risk to their personal and financial security. In the course of their journey they bond, learn about life, and discover strengths and weaknesses in themselves and each other that they never even suspected. Don't let the lack of covered wagons fool you. This is the Great American Pioneer Story, which every generation needs a version of for its own.Stylistically, this is quirky enough to be engaging, but by no means difficult.All in all, highly recommended