When a novel is well written, reading it can become an engulfing experience. The author is able to use their writing to transport people into the world that they have created, making it seem real and alive, even if it is fictional. The setting of a novel is often a very important part of a successful “transportation.” Wherever the story is taking place becomes, in a sense, a second home in the mind’s eye. It is where the reader "lives" as they experience the story. Sometimes however, despite the best descriptive techniques, it can be hard to form a thorough mental picture of the surroundings described, especially if set in a place where the reader has never been. Douglas Coupland’s “Hey Nostradamus!” is a great example of this. Set in Vancouver, in the not too distant past, the book describes many locations that may be a mystery to those who are not native to the city, making it more difficult for them to establish Vancouver as a literary "home away from home." In an attempt to help rectify this potential problem, the following three pictures provide visual representations of key settings described in the novel. A brief discussion of their importance is also included.
Ambleside Beach: Ambleside Beach is located in West Vancouver, and is of impor

“…I’ve been writing all of this in the cab of my truck, parked on Bellevue, down by Ambleside Beach, near the pier with all its bratty kids on rollerblades and the Vietnamese guys with their crab traps pursuing E. Coli.” (Coupland 48)

The Grouse Mountain Gondola: This Vancouver feature is one of the elements that Cheryl uses after her death to describe the wonder and worldly innocence that she daily perceived in her life in the city while living.
“I loved the world, its beauty and bigness as well as its smallness…[the] powdered snow down to the middle gondola tower of Grouse Mountain by the third week of every October…” (Coupland 10)

Park Royal Shopping Mall: Park Royal is not only the site of Heather and Jason’s first official date, but also the location with which Heather associates the only clue that she has to Jason’s disappearance.
“Okay, there was only one time when I suspected something dodgy with Jason, just one time, down in Park Royal maybe two months before he disappeared.” (Coupland 187)
Coupland, Douglas. Hey Nostradamus!. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2003
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