The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland

My plan to elaborate on Douglas Coupland's novel The Gum Thief upon finishing it isn't going well. The book is filled with so many fantastic observations that I can't respond to it in a cohesive paragraph or two. I can't do it justice. A proper review that I endorse is available courtesy of Pickle Me This.

I will say that Coupland zones in expertly on the identity struggle we all face at various points in life. Am I where I want to be? Am I who I want to be? He also slips in some brilliant notes on writing via Glove Pond (a book within the book), such as the joy of coming up with an original thought. Googling glove pond and finding that no one has ever put those two words together as a phrase rates an exclamation point of excitement from would-be writer Roger. The sometimes excruciating process of fleshing out action, particularly around dialogue, is also exposed. Readers need cues about what's happening in a scene, like where a character is standing or whether they're putting on their coat as they leave the house. These in-between statements that appear around more highly regarded witticisms, stunning images or meaningful observations are necessary but can easily become lazy or careless placeholders. This part of writing was once described to me as bitchwork and I can't argue with that terminology. Coupland illustrates the way bitchwork can bog down writing with a tour de force of padded cues in Glove Pond: "'Why is it that all we do is battle?' He sighed, rattled his ice cube and coughed." I did, indeed, laugh out loud at the desperate need for editing here. Fortunately, The Gum Thief isn't in need of editing and is well worth the read.

Paper Cuts posed a few un-Gum Thief related questions to Douglas Coupland recently.