Rereading Generation X by Douglas Coupland

For the past week or so, I’ve been rereading Generation X by Douglas Coupland. I first picked it up years ago, and I’ve always remembered it as a sharp, funny, and strangely moving portrait of a very specific cultural moment. But this time around, I wanted to see if it still held up, and honestly, it’s just as brilliant as I remembered.

Yes, it’s called Generation X, but its wit, originality, and storytelling cut across generational lines. Coupland coined a term and captured a mood, a sense of drift, irony, and uncertainty, that feels just as relevant today, even if the cultural backdrop has shifted. The book manages to be both a time capsule and eerily prescient.

Still relevant, maybe more than ever

There’s an early passage on air travel and its brief golden age, hinting at the limits of its mass expansion long before the rise of budget airlines. There’s a recurring anxiety around housing affordability — a theme that’s arguably even more urgent now than it was in the early ’90s. And then there’s a casual but cutting awareness of the environmental cost of meat consumption, decades ahead of the mainstream conversation on climate impact.

But what struck me most on this reread is Coupland’s insight into the changing nature of work. His characters drift between jobs, stuck in short-term roles that offer little security or identity, something that, in hindsight, feels like an early glimpse into the gig economy. Back then, it was a warning. Now, it’s reality.

A novel that breaks the rules and still works

Generation X isn’t a traditional novel. It’s full of sketches, slogans, and fragments — a collage that mirrors the disjointed lives of its characters. That style might not be for everyone, but I found it as fresh and punchy as ever. Coupland has a gift for inventing language that perfectly captures a feeling or phenomenon you didn’t realise you needed a word for.

If you read it back in the day, it’s absolutely worth revisiting. And if you’ve never read it, I’d definitely recommend picking up a copy. It’s funny, melancholic, and weirdly comforting in its honesty. A novel that still has something to say — even to those of us who weren’t part of its original audience.

Sometimes, the books that defined a generation keep speaking long after their moment has passed. Generation X is one of them.