A Recommendation

 A RECOMMENDATION

THE GUM THIEF by Douglas Coupland is the first to be considered for Books for Bigots.  It is first simply for the fact that I just finished it.  For those in the not-know, Coupland is a Canadian and first came to fame as the Author of GENERATION X.

The question posed here, as will be the case always, is whether this is a book that should be recommended to bigots.  Roger, one of the employees of a Staples superstore apparently does not have enough satisfaction in his career as an aisle attendant administering to the pen and pencil displays and is consequently writing a novel, Glove Pond, which is a novel about novelists, sections of which are presented throughout. 

This might possibly be a book  a bigot should consider.  Bigotry itself is not attacked here and that alone should meet the threshold for consideration.  Most bigots would not initially be annoyed by the tone of the book except for the fact that the characters working at the Staples superstore don't appear to be that satisfied with their career of shelving reams of copy paper, sorting staplers, maintaining order in pens and pencils,  and other necessities for an office.  One must keep up with the latest innovations in computing and copying which does require a minimum of training, but how much effort does that take?

The problem would be, after a number of pages, that the employees of Staples superstore portrayed in the novel have no particular defining characteristic other than they are dissatisfied with their existence as aisle clerks at a Staples superstore.  This, as well, applies to Roger who is the one employee attempting to do something interesting. The other employees find the manuscript and subsequently make Roger's existence at work untenable. Such an episode would be pure bigotry if it weren't for the fact that bigotry was not the cause, but simple unpleasantness, which although a core characteristic of bigotry is not its purpose.

Another of the principal characters, Bethany, began as Goth and at the end returns to Goth.  This would not please the average bigot. So what we have here is a disgruntled employee writing a novel about novelists and a Goth personality resumed.  Oh, and one customer who is all cynicism, who must be included in the cast of characters any practicing bigot would censure outright.  Bigots do not acknowledge cynicism, but are actually cynics unacknowledged.   Cynicism, when considered as a major portion of one's character, forms the basis of bigotry. It's cynicism cloaked.

The issue, as always, is whether to recommend this book to bigots.  They would not be pleased with what they read.  They may not be deeply offended as they would with some other tomes, but again, having to view other humans disliking their lives would not set well with most bigots. Although the foundation for bigotry is a morbid dissatisfaction with one's own life, they must display a contempt for others.  How else can they accept their own existence?  

So, weighing the option,  I do recommend the book to bigots for the reason that the characters presented have lives as unsatisfactory as their own and the knowledge that others can be as unsatisfied with their lives as they themselves are could be of some assistance in ameliorating their bigotry.

Richard E H Phelps II

Mingo