The Gum Thief
by Douglas Coupland
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Over the course of several months, two retail workers at an office supply superstore--Roger, a divorced, middle aged "aisles associate" at Staples, and his young co-worker, Bethany, an early twenty-something, former Goth--strike up a unique epistolary friendship.Tags
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I always feel a sudden sadness after finishing one of Douglas Coupland's books. A sort of empty feeling knowing the end has come.
He's the only author I have read who can realistically depict humanity through writing. Other author's are good, but there is just something about the way he writes it. Every one of his books, especially The Gum Thief is like reading pages out of your own diary. Any one of the characters can be you.
I fell in love with Bethany's character because we are the same age, and I can relate with her struggle with figuring out who she is. I love the way her story develops. It is so hopeful, yet so true to form.
This book was very profound but in an everyday ind of way. It makes you think deeper about regular occurrences show more and thoughts you have all the time. show less
He's the only author I have read who can realistically depict humanity through writing. Other author's are good, but there is just something about the way he writes it. Every one of his books, especially The Gum Thief is like reading pages out of your own diary. Any one of the characters can be you.
I fell in love with Bethany's character because we are the same age, and I can relate with her struggle with figuring out who she is. I love the way her story develops. It is so hopeful, yet so true to form.
This book was very profound but in an everyday ind of way. It makes you think deeper about regular occurrences show more and thoughts you have all the time. show less
Wow, lots of reviews on this book and they are all over the place. I did not expect to like it, but it snuck up on me. Books about writing a book tend to be mind bogglingly dull, but Coupland pulled it off. I loved the way the imaginary book being written, which starts off as an amazingly bad Cheever rip off, develops into a story with meaning and pain as it reflects the characters inner lives.
-Two misfits find common ground and a unique, surreal friendship via unspoken words in Coupland's latest, a fine return to form. In the two years since his wife's (nonfatal) cancer was diagnosed, Roger Thorpe has devolved into a dejected, hard-drinking, divorced father and the oldest employee by a fair margin at Staples. A frustrated novelist to boot, Roger considers himself lost, continually haunted by dreams of missed opportunities and a long ago car accident that claimed four friends. His younger, disgruntled goth co-worker, Bethany Twain, one day discovers Roger's diary—filled with mock re-imaginings of her thoughts and feelings—in the break room. She lays down a supreme challenge for them both to write diary entries to each show more other, but neither is allowed to acknowledge the other around the store. Through exchanged hopes and dreams, customer stories, world views and cautionary revelations (time speeds up in a terrifying manner in your mid-thirties), the pair become intimately acquainted before things unravel for both. Running parallel to the epistolary narrative are chapters from Roger's novel, Glove Pond, which begins having much in common with the larger narrative it's enclosed in. While smacking of the pretentiousness that made JPod grating, this book’s unique format and lighter writing style made it a page turner. The author’s motivations are certainly questionable but this book was much fresher than his other work. show less
I’ve been hoping for a book like this. This is the kind of book I read for, as if I am fishing. Fishing for what, you ask? I’m not sure, but I know it when I see it and this is it. Here is a novel told simply, starkly, imaginatively and empathetically, with a good deal of humor and philosophy thrown in for good measure. You’d never guess how hard it is to find books like this. I am obviously late to the Douglas Coupland party, but at least I made it despite the horrible traffic.
Another thing: I know this book was vitamins to my soul because I never, not once, intentionally noted what page I was on as I was reading. You know those books—the ones that are just good enough to keep on with, but which are a solid chore to read.
That show more is not this book, at least not to me. This book is funny, smart and sad and it’s a breeze.
Thank you, Douglas Coupland. show less
Another thing: I know this book was vitamins to my soul because I never, not once, intentionally noted what page I was on as I was reading. You know those books—the ones that are just good enough to keep on with, but which are a solid chore to read.
That show more is not this book, at least not to me. This book is funny, smart and sad and it’s a breeze.
Thank you, Douglas Coupland. show less
I suspect I read this at just the right time. The characters are not necessarily different from Coupland's other works. And yet, the novel buried in this novel is different from Coupland's other work. There is an absurdity there that doesn't exist in the main storyline (a basic plot of disaffected youth, middle-aged angst, and life at Staples).
But I think the real accomplishment here is the structure of the novel. We have a novel in diary form that also includes a novel in it. The fact that the characters in the diary-novel are just as compelling as the main characters is a testament to Coupland's skill. I was compelled by this book and find myself still contemplating the way it is put together. That may not excite some people, but as show more a writer I can't help but obsess over the structural marvel. This whole book could have fallen apart in the hands of a less skilled writer. show less
But I think the real accomplishment here is the structure of the novel. We have a novel in diary form that also includes a novel in it. The fact that the characters in the diary-novel are just as compelling as the main characters is a testament to Coupland's skill. I was compelled by this book and find myself still contemplating the way it is put together. That may not excite some people, but as show more a writer I can't help but obsess over the structural marvel. This whole book could have fallen apart in the hands of a less skilled writer. show less
I loved this book. It made me laugh out loud like a crazy person in public, though I admit that the humor is dark. I love the way the novel folds in on itself--how you are never quite certain, from the moment it's revealed that one of the Bethany entries is fake, whether this entire narrative is "real" or another manuscript within a manuscript within a manuscript. I love Glove Pond, and I love the way the author pokes fun at serious literary writing (and writers!) and the sort of stereotypical subject matter. The bleakness of the Roger story and the ending was a perfect contrast to the final chapter, which I found hilarious (maybe because I'm a writer?) I see from other reviews that people find Coupland's other books superior to this, show more so I already have another on order. What an enjoyable read. show less
I really liked this book, particularly the style in which it was written. I realize the epistolary format isn't exactly revolutionary, but it was perfect for this story, which follows the correspondence of a group of individuals who have become, to a certain extent, outcasts from society for a variety of reasons. I particularly liked how two of the characters who could interact face to face on a regular basis (Roger and Bethany, who work together) actively avoid each other in "real life," eschewing personal contact in favor of their missives to each other.
However, I also think it's cool how these characters come together over the course of the novel. In the beginning, Bethany finds Roger creepy, and her mother wants Roger to stay away show more from her daughter. By the end, Bethany is writing such things to Roger as "you're the only one I can talk to," and her mother (DeeDee) is glad the two of them became friends.
I also think it's really interesting how the characters reflect each other. On on hand you have Roger, a middle-aged guy who has gone through a number of life-changing events that, by his own admission, haven't really changed his life. Then you have Bethany, the 24-year-old Goth who goes through some pretty serious changes but doesn't know exactly why and also doesn't really understand or like the person she becomes. And she also remains self-centered throughout: even as she comes to rely on Roger, her letters always revolve around her own issues, even as he clearly has issues of his own and even kind of disappears for a while. She asks about him superficially, but it's really all about her. And I think that speaks to the theme that pops up occasionally about "intimacy vs. closeness." Intimacy may be a one-way street, whereas closeness requires reciprocity.
And then there's the story within the story, Roger's novel, Glove Pond. This is Roger's outlet, his attempt at doing something more with his life. I like the way it kind of echoes and amplifies some of the things from the rest of the book, and also how it turns into the impetus for some of the things that happen in the characters' actual lives. It also serves as the basis for the ending, a smirk-worthy finish that seems totally appropriate. show less
However, I also think it's cool how these characters come together over the course of the novel. In the beginning, Bethany finds Roger creepy, and her mother wants Roger to stay away show more from her daughter. By the end, Bethany is writing such things to Roger as "you're the only one I can talk to," and her mother (DeeDee) is glad the two of them became friends.
I also think it's really interesting how the characters reflect each other. On on hand you have Roger, a middle-aged guy who has gone through a number of life-changing events that, by his own admission, haven't really changed his life. Then you have Bethany, the 24-year-old Goth who goes through some pretty serious changes but doesn't know exactly why and also doesn't really understand or like the person she becomes. And she also remains self-centered throughout: even as she comes to rely on Roger, her letters always revolve around her own issues, even as he clearly has issues of his own and even kind of disappears for a while. She asks about him superficially, but it's really all about her. And I think that speaks to the theme that pops up occasionally about "intimacy vs. closeness." Intimacy may be a one-way street, whereas closeness requires reciprocity.
And then there's the story within the story, Roger's novel, Glove Pond. This is Roger's outlet, his attempt at doing something more with his life. I like the way it kind of echoes and amplifies some of the things from the rest of the book, and also how it turns into the impetus for some of the things that happen in the characters' actual lives. It also serves as the basis for the ending, a smirk-worthy finish that seems totally appropriate. show less
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ThingScore 75
Douglas Coupland’s new novel, “The Gum Thief,” puts the act of writing center stage. The book is not conventionally narrated, but told obliquely, through an assemblage of writings and letters, from which the reader reconstructs the story like the pieces of an Ikea wardrobe.
added by Nickelini
This is a novel so postmodern that it has disappeared up its own irony and come out on the other side.
In anyone else's hands, it could read like an environmental treatise by Al Gore translated by a teenage dirtbag after 17 vodka Red Bulls. But Coupland's skill is in his love of the ridiculous, like a schoolboy whose words make him giggle. His books are essentially pointless. Maybe that's why show more they are such a guilty pleasure. show less
In anyone else's hands, it could read like an environmental treatise by Al Gore translated by a teenage dirtbag after 17 vodka Red Bulls. But Coupland's skill is in his love of the ridiculous, like a schoolboy whose words make him giggle. His books are essentially pointless. Maybe that's why show more they are such a guilty pleasure. show less
added by Nickelini
Lists
Epistolary Books
105 works; 27 members
Books Read in 2007
326 works; 8 members
Books With Body Parts in the Title
153 works; 9 members
Author Information
44+ Works 38,721 Members
Douglas Coupland was born December 30, 1961 on a Canadian military base in Baden-Soellingen, Germany. He graduated from Sentinel Secondary School in West Vancouver in 1979 and went on to McGill University. He was unhappy there and went on to Emily Carr College of Art and Design. He has said that these were the best four years of his life. He show more graduated in 1984 with a focus on sculpture and moved on to study at the European Design Institute in Milan. He also completed a two-year course in Japanese business science in Hawaii in 1986.He soon began writing for magazines as a means of paying the bills. He soon started work on his first novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture which was published in 1991. His second novel Shampoo Planet focused on the generation after Generation X and was published in 1992. This generation was termed "Global Teens". His career has consisted of writing, sculpting, and editing and he also hosted The Search for Generation X, a PBS documentary, 1991. Douglas Coupland has also worked on a magazine called Wired . He wrote a short story about the life of the employees of Mocrosoft Corporation. This short story provided inspiration for his novel Microserfs. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Is contained in
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Gum Thief
- Original publication date
- 2007
- People/Characters
- Roger Thorpe; Bethany Twain; DeeDee Twain; Joan Epke (Joan Thorpe); Kyle; Shawn Paxton (show all 12); Zoë Thorpe; Greg (Mr. Rant); Gloria (Glove Pond); Steve (Glove Pond); Kyle Falconcrest (Glove Pond); Brittany Falconcrest (Glove Pond)
- Important places
- Staples, Inc.; London, England, UK; Paris, France; Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Epigraph
- Q: Brother, are you headed home?
A: Brother, aren't we always headed home?
--Question used by Masons to identify themselves among strangers - First words
- A few years ago it dawned on me that everybody past a certain age -- regardless of how they look on the outside -- pretty much constantly dreams of being able to escape from their lives.
- Quotations
- "I'm no longer a child. It happened to me when I wasn't looking."
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)See you at next Wednesday's class,
Ed Matheson, B.A.
Creative Writing Instructor and winner of the 2004 Eileen Braithwaite Memorial Trust Prize for Fiction Dealing with Equality
www.edmatheson.com
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