This is, essentially, a re-working of the play/film 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf'. Initially cold and sterile - like Staples, the setting for much of the book - the characters grew on me and I warmed to the idea of getting to know them through the novel (within a novel) being written by one of the characters.The Gum Thief is an interesting character study, very easy to read and lots of interesting ideas about modern lives.
