Agent Palmer

Twenty Twenty-Two. No jetpacks, no faster-than-light traveling, no flying cars (at least not mass produced and widely available or reliable). In short, this isn’t the Jetsons future we thought it might be.

Why does that matter? Because by any metric for arguably anyone born on the other side of Y2K, 2022 was the future. Well, the future is now, and it’s not living up to expectations, I can tell you that. So let’s look back on the year as it was, and ignore the things it would or should have been.

Two years after the first publication of Douglas Coupland’s Souvenir of Canada, a brilliant if unconventional guide to Canadian culture, he published Souvenir of Canada 2. After all, it all couldn’t be distilled down into just one singular volume.

Unlike the first book which contains a smattering of personal anecdotes, this book is much more personal to Coupland, in both the stories of his family and the way this book is written. It feels like he’s telling you these things personally.

Two years after the first publication of Douglas Coupland’s City of Glass, a brilliant if unconventional travel guide for his hometown of Vancouver, he published Souvenir of Canada. The would-be sequel is as brilliant and unconventional as City of Glass, excepting that it is about his home nation of Canada.

The format remains the same, but the scale is understandably larger. The goal, after all, was to share Canada with the world, and it also seems to re-introduce Canada to itself. At least, that’s the way I sometimes read it.