Sure, you’re Gen X, but how many of you read the manual

I am GenX. I hold two graduate degrees in English literature. And to my great shame I've never read Coupland beyond a short story I saw once in AdBusters. Every year I see a post like this and chastise myself. I tell myself I'll read GenX after my current read. But it somehow keeps getting pushed back on the list.

I wrote all that out to sort of push myself to order it and read it asap. Hope it works!

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Odd_Praline181@reddit

Take my GenX trophy 🏆 for mentioning AdBusters, such a staple for creatives

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my_work_id@reddit

Have you looked at their recent stuff? I found Adbusters around 2010 or so, the Occupy Wallstreet era. At the time i was really impressed by their ideas. Lately, not so much. Maybe I was younger and more impressionable, but now I've grown up and my soul died.

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Odd_Praline181@reddit

No, I got out of design when the dotcom bubble burst and honestly haven't thought it about until this moment.

It's been so long that I could be misremembering why I was into that magazine altogether. One of my favorite people ever introduced me to that magazine and is probably why the mention of it sparked good feelings

I'm in IT now and am pretty jaded, lol.

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Yes_chefff@reddit

This book coined the term, and led to all the other lettered generations after us. Before this book social scientists called us the “echo” generation, as in the echo after the boom.

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Corla_Plankton@reddit

Billy Idol had a band called Generation X in the 1980's. Before that it was The Dead Boys with Blank Generation, which is funny, because even now, you're likely to see our age group completely skipped in a lot of these silly charts.

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Yes_chefff@reddit

Huh. Well there you go. I thought I knew and I didn’t.

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zombie_overlord@reddit

Yeah, I read the manual

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Corla_Plankton@reddit

This one needs to make a comeback!

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mylocker15@reddit

I’ve heard of it but from what I’ve heard it doesn’t represent Gen X as I know it. 1991 office drones? We were in high school or college maybe. I guess some of us had a Mcjob but the working at McDonalds when you were 16 after school is common across many generations.

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Weak_Employment_5260@reddit

I was out of college before '91 and doing the office schlep by 92. There area lot of us older genx

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SparkleFace6100@reddit

I did! I even met the author and he was very cool!

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ThisusernameThen@reddit

This was cracking. Microserfs too.

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Odd_Praline181@reddit

Microserfs was my favorite book for so long. I was in the dotcom margins (web design) but knew enough coding to relate to everything in this book. I really loved the characters, and wish I had a group of friends like this

I still think of the Prince language every so often.

I'm still in IT, and these two books really defined my own life

I wonder if he wrote a book for the ages we are now.

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No_Mall_2885@reddit

And "wage slave." New lexicon!

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cowhand214@reddit

Oh man. Hadn’t thought of Microserfs in years. May be time to reread it!

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therelybare5@reddit

Fuck the manual! 😂

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Fulghn@reddit

I don't know. To me it seems like buying a tourist guide to your own small home town.

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CountHonorius@reddit

The original had a girl in a black t-shirt, pink text.

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Odd_Praline181@reddit

That's the copy I had! I didn't realize it was the original

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SleeplessMikAndi@reddit

I have a lot of these. I worked with a Spaniard who made a joke calling them Spanish love storys about a guy named Manual (pronouncing it Manuel. Terrible plot lines though!

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Stoshkozl@reddit

When I was in my early 20s. I still read a Douglas coupland book from time to time

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indie_web@reddit

I read it twice, when it was first published and most recently last year. Have about 8-9 copies on hand, one of them signed. I also finished my own generational novel (yet to be published) covering the Internet era of Gen X + Millenials.

Do I pass the audition?

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jk_pens@reddit

Why so many copies

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indie_web@reddit

Last year I bought a copy online from a Good Will for like $7 bucks. I opened that copy and to my shock saw it was a signed copy. I concluded Good Will doesn't check if their copies are signed. So I then went a little crazy and ordered more p, thinking I might hit another signed copy. When I didn't I stopped after 8 more purchases.

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jk_pens@reddit

Used book equivalent of buying magic, the gathering booster packs, hoping to get some rare card

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indie_web@reddit

Probably. It was definitely a case of material indulgence I'm not entirely proud of. But it's the Gen X bible so I don't feel too bad having multiple copies to loan out.

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beach4832@reddit

My older brother had it!

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zombie_spiderman@reddit

I think I read it. Does it end with the protagonist getting hugged?

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Potential_Owl1272@reddit

Guilty as charged.

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Star-Lord_VI@reddit

I don’t read instructions, ever. This is a staple Gen X trait.

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CautiousBearnz@reddit

Exactly. We wrote the manual as we went

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Muggi@reddit

First Coupland book I was exposed to. Love that guy

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La_Mano_Cornuta@reddit

I thought the Gen X manual was The Anarchist's Cookbook, whoops.

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DLS3141@reddit (OP)

That was the Operations Manual

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Cockalorum@reddit

I have a signed copy.

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Party-Cup-9386@reddit

Yes! I refer to my current job as "occupational slumming"

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MikeyLu20@reddit

Wait... There was a manual? And here I am raw dogging life one day at a time

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thirtyone-charlie@reddit

I had the audio version.

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DLS3141@reddit (OP)

Me too

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FlipMyWigBaby@reddit

OG

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OGCelaris@reddit

I always thought our manual was the Anarchists Cookbook.

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Kodiak01@reddit

Making thermite back then was simple. Finding magnesium strips to light it? Not so simple.

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JuJu_Wirehead@reddit

Smoking banana peels was such a bogus entry.

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fuzznudkins@reddit

You just never made it to the stem end. That's where all the heroin was ..

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fuzznudkins@reddit

That was a suggestion book. More of a reference manual as they say. Our "operation manual" was written in blood, Mercurochrome, scar tissue, and hose water.

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sonic_couth@reddit

…while smoking a joint made from banana peel scrapings.

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mzskunk@reddit

Came here to say this. 100%

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jk_pens@reddit

Funny I was just thinking about re-reading this and Shampoo Planet.

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NightMgr@reddit

The appendix is what floored me. Never thought that about any book but that one.

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3nar3mb33@reddit

I read it in middle school. It affected me.

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Mootlydoots@reddit

Veal fattening pens!

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NightMgr@reddit

McJob.

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Jason_TheMagnificent@reddit

Read it? I helped write it!

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ladygrayfox@reddit

What. Tell us more!

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Jason_TheMagnificent@reddit

I was attempting to be funny, since we all lived it, then we all had a hand in a hypothetical manual.

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ladygrayfox@reddit

Ah. So say we all.

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Hefty_Win_8811@reddit

What did you actually write that you were thinking of?

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Cutthechitchata-hole@reddit

A wild redditor appears...

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Dan-68@reddit

I prefer not to read books that try to describe me.

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VinceP312@reddit

I read it. Don't remember a thing about it.

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ZooterOne@reddit

I did! It was fine.

Anyone read "The 13th Generation?" It was pretty interesting.

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Prestigious_Spend454@reddit

I did. It was pretty on point. At the time I wasn't sure if it was just my generation whining about how the party had just ended as every generation before and since has, but it got a whole lot right.

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SurfyBraun@reddit

I dunno but I was fixin' to read Microserfs.

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bmanjayhawk@reddit

That is a fantastic read!

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agirldonkey@reddit

I just commented upthread that I love this book!

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microserfian@reddit

I’m kind of partial to that book myself.

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bmanjayhawk@reddit

💯

I loved all of his books actually!

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agirldonkey@reddit

This one was very comforting to me, as I was living a very similar life to the characters at the time and had previously been feeling kinda bad about it. But I REALLY liked MICROSERFS, it was fascinating

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Coop_4149@reddit

https://i.redd.it/ciu0unoqmc1h1.gif

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-SQB-@reddit

Read it, but it felt like it described the first half of Gen X, to which I don't belong. Never felt like I did, either.

was too young for the punk wave of the late seventies and early eighties, I was too young to watch 16 Candles or The Breakfast Club.

Likewise Generation X. The main characters are in their mid twenties, from what I recall. I was about a decade younger than them when it came out.

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MisterJasonMan@reddit

I think Coupland is not just one of my favorite Canadian authors but authors in general. All his books have such a specific vibe to them, a combination of slight optimism, humor, and most importantly a quiet, almost dreamlike nostalgia that hits really deeply.

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Appropriate_Leg_7308@reddit

I did. Even though I’m technically a Boomer (late 1962)

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Grunge4U@reddit

I read it in the 90's and pulled it out to read again 5-6 years ago. It's a great book as are all of Coupland's books.

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heliskinki@reddit

Yep, one of my faves. Worked in a few “veal fattening pens” myself.

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ModBlocker2001@reddit

Wonderful book, should find out who I lent it to and get it back.

I've got a postcard of an airplane and Coupland's signature on the back, along with 'use these while you still can'. It was 2001 just after the 2001 thing. I should also find who I lent this to and get it back..

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theory2u@reddit

Thinking of reading it again since it’s been 30 years and I’m a little hazy on the details. But I got rid of my old copy long ago.

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Where_Is_Tamriel@reddit

Microserfs was so the damn moment

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Pepys1666@reddit

Yep. Just checking someone else said this. Much the better book IMO. And ironically it actually caught the Gen X vibe better I thought.

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side_eye_auditor@reddit

Yup. Both Gen X and Microserfs. They were good reflections of the day

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Famous_Asparagus_314@reddit

I read it but have no memory of it. Lost my copy a long time ago. Pairs well with Less Than Zero

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ohnodamo@reddit

May I add "Bright Lights, Big City" for a trifecta?

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Famous_Asparagus_314@reddit

100% ! I'm not looking it up but I bet all three books were written within 5 years of each other

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ohnodamo@reddit

Gen X might, might be later but not by much. But like you I'm not looking it up.

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goombatch@reddit

I also can't recall much about it, but some of these comments triggered faint memories. I think I liked it; I know I kept it along with all my other books until I moved abroad and jettisoned 1000s of them.

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ConclusionAlarmed882@reddit

I went to a party for Coupland at the Canadian Embassy. When you first move to D.C. you think being invited to an embassy party is super chic and exclusive, like a yacht party at Cannes (miles worse than embassy parties).

I never did read the book, though. I was uncomfortable with the idea of "officializing" us as a generation with certain traits and attitudes. Even if they were correct.

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Low-Tie2969@reddit

guess i missed it

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H3nchman_24@reddit

I used a copy to prop up and level out the desk I was sitting at while in detention 😆

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mac_the_man@reddit

I have it but I haven’t read it.

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islandcatman@reddit

True GenX here

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22-cc-joes@reddit

Yup.

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Isabeer@reddit

I still think about Dag the Vandal. And trinitite beads.

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Myfreakinglyfe@reddit

Yup. Still have my copy. The lime green cover one to be exact.

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GoldenMonkeyRedux@reddit

Yup, got it after reading about it in Spin.

Somewhere along the line I lost it, and last year bought a used copy off Ebay. Unfortunately it's the lime green version, not the original orange.

I have a flight next weekend and now I know what I'm bringing.

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mrdm242@reddit

"Read about it in Spin" is pretty Gen X-y in and of itself.

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djauralsects@reddit

It was required reading in my first year English course. I honestly can’t remember a single thing about the book,

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WhatFreshHello@reddit

Before we were Gen X, there was this:

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Dogzillas_Mom@reddit

This is what I read first.

Then Microserfs.

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Virtual_Mechanic2936@reddit

At 54, I'm waiting on Volume 2.

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SurftoSierras@reddit

Sliding flat foods under the door
Spilled nuked sand
McJobs

Don't have it anymore (wish I did).

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kam49ers4ever@reddit

If we cared enough to read the manual we wouldn’t be gen X.

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Ok_Mention_3308@reddit

gif

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Disembodied_Head@reddit

I still have a copy along with The Preppy Handbook. Love the part about semi-disposable swedish furniture.

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GoldenMonkeyRedux@reddit

I was thinking about The Preppy Handbook this morning while I was walking the dog.

"Oil paintings of the Kids. Not by the kids."

I loved that book and it wasn't until I was a bit older that I realized it was satire. Yeah, I grew up in the Appalachians.

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cyberspaceChimp@reddit

I let someone borrow my first-edition copy and never got it back 😭

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rbrumble@reddit

I didn't read this until 20 years after release, but man, did Coupland capture the zeitgeist

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krakatoa83@reddit

I ain’t afraid of no Geist

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islandcatman@reddit

Manual?!? Now you tell me?!? Whatever.

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Ok_Mention_3308@reddit

Word

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ComprehensiveCup7104@reddit

don't talk to my mother like that

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Oldachrome1107@reddit

I found my current copy at a used bookstore, it still has a price of $4.95 faintly written on it in pencil. It sits on top of a small stack of books on ky nightstand (other books are: one about bicycle repair and maintenance, one about Googie architecture, one about abandoned places, and one about The Monkees). It frequently serves as a coaster and has a few coffee rings on it.

I read it about once a year, usually when I’m sick in bed and am too lazy to go pick up something else.

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Fun-Position7750@reddit

Now they hand out the manual!

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WendySteeplechase@reddit

hand up

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MomentTarry@reddit

When I was 19, I think? And I still have an autographed copy of Shampoo Planet

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bmanjayhawk@reddit

Nice. Back in '94 I went to a book reading for Girlfriend in a Coma and got it autographed. Super nice guy

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TripMaster478@reddit

It is my freaking bible for life.

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huron9000@reddit

Still have my signed copy. Coupland is a visionary.

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unsightly_buildup@reddit

I was waiting tables when I read it (a year or so after it was out). A coworker gave it to me to read. I was renting a 1 room house down the street. Between shifts, he and I would hang out at my place - we'd sit outside, drink a bottle of red, talk about nothing in particular, maybe play chess, then go back and wait the dinner shift.

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Also seems to have predicted hipster culture by about a decade or so.

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ForswornForSwearing@reddit

Meh, I skimmed it. I think the dog dies at the end.

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_ism_@reddit

i'm on the younger end so wasn't aware of this and would have had it confiscated if i brought it home (evil secular books!!!!)