Chad Clark's Open Journal : 2008-01-19

1) Book Review: The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland

This is a book of fiction.  The Author wrote "JPod".  I read "JPod" a
couple years ago and since it was an okay novel I picked up "The Gum
Thief".

The idea behind this book is a guy who works at a stationary store keeps a
journal and leaves it in the break room one day.  Another employee reads it
and writes in it.  The two people write back and forth with each other but
do not talk about what they wrote.

I think this is one of those existential "character development" stories
with no real story and a missing end.  I'm not sure how everything that
happened in the book was able to take up nearly 300 pages.

There was no climax.  There was no challenge to overcome.  There were no
events in the story that one could say the book was about.  If anything the
book is about the common feeling of disliking where one is in life and
one's job in particular.

JPod had a number of strange turns that made the story wildly unrealistic
but it was entertaining.  The events in The Gum Thief are more realistic
but the story is boring and a disappointment.

I wonder if Coupland is trying to make money by expressing the frustration
and lack of motivation many people have regarding their job.  (Scott Adams
has been able to.)  Maybe the book is a style experiment.

I am not able to think of anyone I would recommend this book to.

I have had a copy of "Generation X" by the same author for a while.  After
reading The Gum Thief I am not in a hurry to start reading Generation X.

As a side note I have not watched any of the JPod television show that
recently came out.