SOURCE: “Puberty Blues: An Author Scans a New Generation,” in Maclean's, Vol. 105, No. 34, August 24, 1992, p. 60.

In the following review, Dwyer compares the themes and characters of Shampoo Planet to those presented in Generation X.

Ever since he characterized the outlook of his generation as one of “lessness—a philosophy whereby one reconciles oneself to diminishing expectations,” Douglas Coupland has been a case study in success. With the 1991 publication of his first novel, Generation X, in which he coined several such expressions and spun a story of three twentysomething friends living in the shadow of the older baby boomers, Coupland has become the unofficial spokesman of people born between the early 1960s and early 1970s. The book climbed to the top of best-seller lists, sold 150,000 copies in North America, and was translated into 13 languages. Last year, the Vancouver-based author hosted a PBS documentary called The Search for Generation X...