Product Description

Meet Roger, a divorced, middle-aged 'aisles associate' at a Staples outlet, condemned to restocking reams of paper for the rest of his life, and his co-worker, Bethany, who's at the end of her Goth phase and realising she's facing fifty more years of shelving Post-it notes and replenishing the Crayola boutique in Aisle Six. One day, Bethany discovers Roger's notebook in the staff room. When she opens it up, she discovers that this old guy who she's never considered to be quite human is writing mock diary entries pretending to be her - and weirdly, he's getting it right. She learns he has a tragedy in his past, and suddenly he no longer seems like a paper-stocking robot in a red shirt and a name tag. These two retail workers then strike up an unlikely yet touching secret correspondence. As their lives unfold, so too do the characters of Roger's work-in-progress, the oddly titled Glove Pond, a Cheever-era novella gone horribly, horribly wrong. On every page of this wise, witty and unforgettable novel, Coupland reminds us that love, death and eternal friendship can all occur where and when we least expect them and that, even after tragedy has hit, one can still find solace in the comedy and strange comforts of modern life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #229122 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
'Coupland is possibly the most gifted exegete of North American mass culture writing today' Guardian Praise for JPOD: 'A dazzling comic novel, confirming that there is on current form no finer novelist writing in English' Literary Review 'There is brilliance at work in JPod. Not to mention more LOLs than you could shake a bong at. Mom must be so proud.' LA Times 'An extraordinary book, wide-ranging and wildly inventive' London Review of Books

The Times
Funny; genuinely, embarrass-yourself-on-a-plane funny. The Gum Thief sometimes reads like a more cleverly executed version of Breakfast of Champions.

Daily Mail
A tender and hopeful story that shows how, with friendship and the occasional little act of rebellion, there can still be laughter after tragedy.

Customer Reviews

Familiar tone of voice, familiar post-modern observations
Coupland's voice is instantly recognisable and he has a set of themes he has made is own. And The Gum Thief is representative of both. He doesn't extends his range (as he did in Eleanor Rigby and Hey Nostradamus!) but neither does he rehash earlier successes (J-Pod). There are many beautiful observations here, and moments of genuine warmth. There are also moments of indulgence, issues in pacing, a wearying sense of deja vu and ultimately, the whole doesn't really add up to very much. If you like Coupland, you will still like him at the end of The Gum Thief, but I can't help feeling this is a novel written between other, hopefully more ambitious projects.

A gentle tale of social dislocation
This book presents a snapshot into the lives of different people who all work together - it is perhaps the only thing they have in common. However, gradually, they develop some ties with each other, but because of the dislocation generated by the socio-economic conditions in which they live, the friendships they develop don't really feel tangible. I felt that this was the real strength of the book, that it could evoke a sense of dislocation and detachment. This is a well-written, compassionate and gentle tale.

A welcome return to form for Mr Coupland!
A lot of people, like me, might have initially been put off buying this after the frankly disappointing JPod. I grew up with Douglas Coupland novels - with JPod, it felt like Coupland had lost his touch, and like a girl whose heart had been broken by her first love, I was reluctant to get my hopes up. But a friend (and less obsessive Coupland fan than I) recommended The Gum Thief to me, and I'm pleased that she did.

The Gum Thief is a sweet, heartwarming story of unlikely friendship, and dignity in even the most trying circumstances. It is written mainly as an exchange of letters, notes and diary entries between Roger, a divorced, bitter old soak and Bethany, a 20-something Goth, interspersed with a few other voices and extracts from Glove Pond, Roger's hilariously bad debut novella. What is initially a rather prickly relationship between Roger and Bethany blossoms into something deeper, as they come to genuinely care for one another. Not a great deal happens - the plot seems more about thoughts, memories and feelings than action and dialogue. But only the hardest hearts could fail to be moved by this lovely tale.

The love affair is back on.