Girlfriend in a Coma (novel)

Girlfriend in a Coma
AuthorDouglas Coupland
LanguageEnglish
GenreNovel
PublisherHarperCollins Canada
Publication date
1998
Publication placeCanada
Media typePrint (Hardback and Paperback)
Pages288 pp
ISBN0-00-224396-2 (First edition, hardcover), 0694519510 (First American edition)
OCLC247636406
Preceded byPolaroids from the Dead 
Followed byMiss Wyoming 

Girlfriend in a Coma is a novel by Canadian writer and artist Douglas Coupland. It was first published by HarperCollins Canada in 1998. The novel tells the story of a group of friends growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in the late 1970s. On the night of a teenage house-wrecking party, one of the protagonists, Karen, falls into a coma. More alarmingly, she seemed to expect it, having given her boyfriend, Richard, a letter detailing the vivid dreams of the future she had experienced and how she wanted to sleep for a thousand years to avoid that dystopia.

The book was named after the 1987 single "Girlfriend in a Coma" by The Smiths. Additionally, Coupland uses other Smiths lyrics, song and album titles within the book such as "Bigmouth Strikes Again", "Hand in Glove", and "The Queen Is Dead".