<![CDATA[The Gum Thief: A Novel]]>

false <![CDATA[The Gum Thief: A Novel]]> 386043 11 <div><div><b>The first and only story of love and looming apocalypse set in the aisles of an office supply superstore. </b><br> <br>In Douglas Coupland’s ingenious new novel—sort of a <i>Clerks</i> meets <i>Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf</i>—we meet Roger, a divorced, middle-aged “aisles associate” at Staples, condemned to restocking reams of 20-lb. bond paper for the rest of his life. And Roger’s co-worker Bethany, in her early twenties and at the end of her Goth phase, who is looking at fifty more years of sorting the red pens from the blue in aisle 6.<br>One day, Bethany discovers Roger’s notebook in the staff room. When she opens it up, she discovers that this old guy she’s never considered as quite human is writing mock diary entries pretending to be her: and, spookily, he is getting her right.</div><div><br>These two retail workers then strike up an extraordinary epistolary relationship. Watch as their lives unfold alongside Roger’s work-in-progress, the oddly titled <i>Glove Pond</i>, a Cheever-era novella gone horribly, horribly wrong. Through a complex layering of narratives, <i>The Gum Thief</i> reveals the comedy, loneliness, and strange comforts of contemporary life.<br>Coupland electrifies us on every page of this witty, wise, and unforgettable novel. Love, death and eternal friendship can all transpire where we least expect them …and even after tragedy seems to have wiped your human slate clean, stories can slowly rebuild you.</div></div> 2037794 2 10 2007 The Gum Thief: A Novel total:1436|5:182|4:560|3:501|2:146|1:47| 1436 4992 2165 305 4 16 false false Fri Jan 16 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Sep 05 18:47:33 -0700 2008 Sat Jan 17 11:03:46 -0800 2009
I loved this book. It's not often that a book makes me laugh out loud, and this book consistently made me laugh out loud. Peals of laughter. Giggles. Cackles, even. I’m not...more...]]> 1 5 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 23 19:24:25 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 23 20:52:47 -0700 2007
This is one of the more aggravatingly bad books that I've read in some time.

Here's reasons why this book is of poor quality.

1. Completely unlikable characters.

The book centers around a forty-year-old losery guy and a twenty-four ...more...]]> 4 4 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 31 07:55:55 -0700 2008 Mon Mar 31 08:33:40 -0700 2008
Like many writers of critical reviews, I too sometimes think about the idea of one day pen...more...]]> 5 4 false false Mon Jan 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 28 10:18:24 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 28 11:04:47 -0800 2008
Without mythologizing the quotidian, i.e. making our scumm...more...]]> 3 2 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Dec 02 00:14:49 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 02 00:22:50 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Mar 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Feb 25 10:45:22 -0800 2009 Tue Mar 10 11:57:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 1 false false Tue Jul 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 17:38:09 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 21 06:57:31 -0700 2009 The Office to it, then slowly descended into a mess of tangled relationships among miserable, self-loathing and annoying characters.

1. The relationships weren't in the least realistic, or even postmodern realistic, in any way. A Goth...more...]]> 3 1 true true Sun Feb 17 23:09:44 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 17 23:15:52 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 31 13:49:19 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 02 07:33:46 -0800 2008 1) Wh...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Feb 14 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 23 14:07:02 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 14 19:41:51 -0800 2008 Generation X from the library when I was in high school. I've read a number of his books and his one, The Gum Thief is one of my favorites, along with Generation X and Life After God. Most Coupland novels are full of unrealistic plot t...more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jan 11 15:13:58 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 11 15:31:02 -0800 2008 à la recent Palahniuk (yeah, I said it). his style always seems fresh to me,...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Jan 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 31 12:25:47 -0800 2007 Wed Jan 30 21:07:14 -0800 2008
Not much of a break from form on this novel - the typical zeitgeist shennanigans we've come to expect, the typicall...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Nov 10 12:18:39 -0800 2007 Sat Nov 10 12:30:29 -0800 2007 The story is actually several novellas tucking inside the journal of an alcoholic, divorced, and depressed Staples employee who is going through a mid-life crisis. Roger Thorpe swigs and stews while he c...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 24 19:00:52 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 24 19:30:17 -0700 2007
The first q...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 03 16:26:59 -0700 2007 Sun Nov 04 12:59:56 -0800 2007 Chuck, which is so far getting a tentative thumbs up from me, and Reaper, which I'm giving a big thumbs down). Coupland, as usual, is ahead (or at least on top) of the trend, with his latest novel being ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Nov 04 13:13:03 -0800 2007 Mon Nov 19 07:47:31 -0800 2007 Well, let me start by saying, I'd totally written Douglas Coupland off a couple of years ago. I just couldn't get into any of his other books. And I wondered if his one-trick-pony-of-the-literary-world was really true. I kept reading great reviews of past books, but when I went to read th...more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Nov 08 13:08:31 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 03 08:15:16 -0800 2007
I'm willing to pretend that he intentionally ripped off "Who's Afraid of Virginia W...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 21 09:17:33 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 21 09:25:09 -0800 2008
With that single line, Douglas Coupland summed up my whole life. The rest of the novel is just as heartbreaking. The novel centres around the employees of a Staples store out west (Vancouver, t...more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Oct 10 00:21:42 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 15 03:03:21 -0700 2007 more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Mar 02 21:55:39 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 02 21:57:37 -0800 2009
It is thus refreshing when you discover that thus book juts might be an examination of the act of writing itself....more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=386043