Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear

I liked Hey Nostradamus for so many reasons. The issues the characters dealt with, and the way they dealt with them was so real that the reader couldn't help but be enticed. But most of all, the structure of the novel sold me on it. The four different viewpoints of the four different characters allowed Coupland to communicate to the reader that so much of our indiviual realities, or perceived realities, are based on assumptions. Coupland is telling us that we perceive things and make judgements on incomplete knowledge. This is especially so in the relationships in the story- Jason had his father all wrong, and his father didn't really understand Jason, and the Youth Alivers autmatically made assumptions on Jason and Cheryl's relationship. He also uses twists throughout the story to reinforce this, such as Jason's fatherhood, and the phony psychic who turns out to be taking advantage of Heather, that no matter how long we've accepted something as truth, and no matter how much we want it to be, doesn't mean that it is. He also shows the effect of challenging any erroneous perceptions we have in the case of Reg, this made Reg a real vulnerable person, he realized that the only thing seperating him from others was his hypocrisy, not that he was better than anyone else.
Heather realizes that Reg and Jason aren't so different, and in fact ironically it was the same downfall that seperated them, each thought they were better than the other. In a sense their beliefs were mirrors of one another. The whole time I was reading the book, I was wishing that the characters would ask each other questions, and get past the perceived differences that distanced them. But then I realized that we all do that, just as Jason and Reg were in a way mirrors of each other, these two characters are also mirrors of our own behaviour. Cheryl's statement that humanity " has the capacity at any given moment to commit all possible sins" seems to resonate. I think our assumptions are one of them.