MADreads

Pushing forty

February 22nd, 2008 Molly - Central

Almost 20 months have passed since I reviewed Douglas Coupland’s previous book JPod.  That was another niche novel about Gen-Xers, not unlike Coupland’s Microserfs, in that it followed the personal and work lives of computer geeks and their sarcastic hijinks.  Always entertaining to me, and always welcome. 

The Gum Thief presents a new Gen-X dilemma:  aging.  Specifically, pushing 40.  Aah!  The crisis!  And Gum Thief does present crisis very well.  Poor Roger is recently divorced and finds himself working at Staples with dreams of his days as a famous novelist folded away like the manila envelopes he stocks daily.  His co-workers are the stereotypical big-box store twenty-something crew:  the handsome simple guy, the slacker, the devil tattooed hottie and the tragic Goth girl named Bethany. 

Roger and Bethany strike up an unlikely friendship when Bethany finds Roger’s notebook in the break room, reads it and starts writing back.  The rest of the novel is told in their letters and chapters from Roger’s unfinished work-in-progress, Glove Pond.  Even though Bethany is in her early twenties and Roger is in his early forties, they are at the same stage in their lives:  trying to figure out whether their lives have any meaning or if they are just wasting space. 

Tragically funny, agonizing and hinting that all humans aren’t totally despicable, Coupland’s stuff reliably delves into the everyday work life in a way that I can totally relate to.  If you are an office supply junkie, much of the work at Staples will read like porn:  you’ll never look at a Sharpie display in the same way again.

Entry Filed under: Recreational Fiction