The novel tells the story of a group of friends growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in the late 1970s.

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.

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".

Broken and lacking, they return to the suburbs of their youth to try to pull themselves together until one day, almost two decades after she fell asleep, Karen regains consciousness.

The first chapter of the book is narrated by Jared, the ghost of a friend of the characters who died of leukemia at a young age.

"[1] It is considered one of Coupland's finest novels, with a stronger narrative than some of his earlier books but still providing relevant cultural criticism and commentary.

In the UK, The Guardian described the book as Coupland "becoming extraordinary" (25 April 1998) and The Times as "a disturbing, thought-provoking and moving novel.

Girlfriend in a Coma has something of the quality of a fairytale, but it contains a sharp realism that makes the book scarily contemporary" (15 May 1999).

BBC Radio 3 broadcast an adaptation of the novel as part of its "Drama on 3" strand on 24 February 2008.