Hey Nostradamus! By Douglas Coupland (P.229-244)

In this concluding chapter of the fictional novel "Hey Nostradamus!" By Douglas Coupland the narrator is now Reg in the year of 2003. This very insightful chapter reveals all the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that would circulate behind Reg's facade of relgion and rigidness. In this chapter we actually learn that he is an emotional and heartfelt guy deep down. We first learn about his background and upbringing. We learn that Reg's father was harsh, as was his childhood; where he details how somedays he would leave his home for hours or days at a time. He would contemplate about God and why he would have made such a person that is so empty and cruel, but still religious yet have no faith. We understand that the only reason Reg would act on Jason was because he was trying to be all that his father wasn't, and by the end was very similair to his father. Reg also speaks about his relationship with Ruth, and how she left him. He details that Ruth was a great person that was nothing but supportive but in the end left him because he wouldn't get a divorce and was ashamed of having an affair while still being married. Throughout his tone we learn that he is regretful and to an extent broken. By the end of the chapter we learn that the RCMP found Jason's shirt in the woods and that Reg is now writing this so that he may post it on all the tree's around the site of where they found his shirt, so that when Jason finds this letter addressed to him he will come home.

Im upset that this book is over, it was a very good read and I enjoyed Douglas Coupland's writing very much. I will probably purchase another book by this author since I liked his tone and attitude, along with the morals and understandings he introduced to his readers throughout the book. Reflecting on this chapter I guess I was right about Reg's character being influenced by his past, and we learn it was his childhood upbringing that seriously influenced him to push away from his father's image, and end up being just as similairly harsh on Jason. Although in the begining of the book I thought this was the only thing that made him act the way he did, and that he was just crazy, I actually learned that he is an emotional guy deep down. I also learned that he is in denial about his son's disappearence and still believes him to be alive; thats why he was writing. This is sad, because he is going to still be clinging on to something that is in the past and will never re-surface. It had a bitter ending but the whole novel altogether was a bitter-sweet one.