Is Raymond Gunt the worst person ever? At a minimum, he’s had some help…
This book’s main character, Raymond Gunt, may in fact be the worst person ever, or he may just be proof that assumptions and a lack of context make for the worst in people. Truth be told, that’s probably and sadly more common than we’d all like to think.
The inside dust jacket sets up the book like this:
Raymond Gunt likes to think of himself as a pretty decent guy—he believes in karma, and helping his fellow man, and all that other good stuff. Sure, he can be foulmouthed, occasionally misogynistic, and can just generally rub people the wrong way—through no fault of his own! So with all the positive energy he’s creating, it’s a little perplexing to consider the recent downward spiral his life has taken…Could the universe be trying to tell him something?
So is Raymond Gunt the worst. person. ever. ???
You’ll have to read the book and come to your own decision, but in order to do so, author Douglas Coupland forces you to confront most of our human shortcomings: our selfishness, our greed, and our destructive tendencies.
But why stop there? Why not examine our lack of social graces, our poor attention span, and our complete ability to find any way to misconstrue or misunderstand the most basic of communication?
Let’s not forget about reality TV, shallowness, garbage, bombs, sex, booze, and the military industrial complex. This book is an amalgam of some of the worst individuals ever, but it also contains what makes humanity the worst as a whole.
What happens when your basest urges and thoughts take over? Is that all it takes to become the worst person ever? Does thinking simply with your sexual urges and stomach and comfort make you terrible? What about just going where the pleasure leads? Perhaps it is, and perhaps we’re all doomed.
Coupland is really shining a flashlight on the worst parts of society, and the story is all of the things scurrying away from the light. Worst. Person. Ever. is an adventure that is only possible in this new millennium of our existence. It’s only available because of the technology and the social norms that have evolved as that technology has advanced.
So is Raymond Gunt the worst person ever, or is he a symptom of a society that has gone too far in one direction, showing that we’re all screwed without a course correction?
Are you unsure if you want to tackle such a thought? Then don’t read Douglas Coupland’s Worst. Person. Ever.
Read the Secret File of technical information and quotes from Worst. Person. Ever.