The Clerk

by Matt Cowper

Thomas Copeland has just turned forty years old, but unlike some men his age, he's not going to have a midlife crisis. Sure, he works at a small grocery store on the North Carolina coast, he doesn't have many friends, and he's unmarried and childless, but he's content with his simple life.

Others, however, are not so content, and they want to make sure Thomas knows it. Between a family curse, wanderlust-filled (and lust-filled) co-workers, a dangerously unhappy sister, and a vindictive ex-friend-with-benefits, Thomas finds himself in an exhausting battle to maintain his idyllic lifestyle.

Will Thomas be able to resolve – or at least survive – these dramas? Will he find love, or just tepid one-night stands? Will his boss ever notice he's cleaned the bathroom? What will he get his Secret Santa giftee? And what will be the ultimate fate of the grocery store where he works?

"The Clerk" is both satirical and poignant, a riveting exploration of the choices people make in the pursuit of freedom and success. You'll never look at a grocery store the same way again.

Genres: Fiction

287 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 5, 2016

About the author

Unbranded author trying to write sentences that read good.

Reviews

[Kevin Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas has the life many dream of at forty. It isn't fame and fortune, or publicity and insecurity masked by charity. No, there is a simplicity and overall satisfaction with his life that many envy, or should seek to emulate. Take away the stress that everything brings in a status and product-driven society, then just live each moment as it comes. Sounds good to me.

This is Cowper's debut, and overall I enjoyed the story and his writing very much. The dialogue is entertaining and snappy, the setting and characterization were well-developed and did very well to place you in his story. Everything laced with humor and wit, showing the author is clever and not afraid to make you smile. Experience life with a middle-aged clerk, his boss, a lifelong friend, a couple of romantic (dis)interests, and a slew of other characters that make up his family and the staff that occupy the store during operating hours.

Although the story begins as he is turning forty, there is almost a "coming of age" sort of feel to the events that play out in this read. Thomas learns, or solidifies his beliefs through the drama that plays out with his family and friends, all pointing again toward the happiness that accompanies simple aspirations. I will not regurgitate the blurb for you, or spit out the plot, spend time with the author and see what you think. It was well-written and definitely worth a look.

As a debut, this was a very satisfying read, and I look forward to the next release from this author, because I will be picking that up as well.

[Michael Lantrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.
I felt like I knew these characters, since I lived in North Carolina where the story takes place.
Cowper has drawn his characters very well.
It is the story of a 40-year-old man, and it begins on his birthday, when everyone is expecting him to reflect on his life and go through a self-examination, evaluating where he is and where he is going.
But the character, Thomas, has never had a Master Plan, or even a Master To-Do List.
He is comfortable with the quality and the fabric of his life. He has his disappointments, but he also has his satisfactions, many of them couched in his routines.
And it's his routines, his daily activities of working as a clerk in a grocery store that causes his friends and family to infer that, while it doesn't exactly represent failure, neither does his life look like a roaring success, at least in their eyes.
And that is the central theme of the book. Thomas is happy with who he is, and where he is, but people whose own lives are not working and have never worked, are judging him.
As I said, the characters are well-drawn and interesting, and the locations are evocative of true North Carolina.
I was expecting more of a plot, and more action, with conflict building and being resolved. But it isn't that kind of book.
Thomas is not having a mid-life crisis because that is not the type of person he is.
But he is the voice of the book, and it is a quiet and reasonable voice, not strong and forceful.
I will read the book again because I like the locales, and the characters remind me of people I knew there.
If you are not looking for a strong, up-tempo journey, with premise, conflict, and resolution, I can recommend this as a very pleasant read.

[Heather Murray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Cowper’s novel about a forty-year-old grocery clerk first attracted my interest because of its brave focus on the uneventful life of one person. I wondered whether and how an author could sustain readers’ curiosity over a full-length work. Sometimes a fascinating character can carry a book; however, Thomas Copeland, the clerk in question, is not a complex guy. Neither does he change much, although there is some development in his understanding of the people around him.

The Clerk’s supermarket setting holds our interest because it’s very closely described. We read on in order to know more about Vernon Oxendine, the kindly owner, who tells bad jokes, gives employees days off, hires no-hopers and turns into Mr. Fezziwig at the annual Christmas party. We read to hear the mostly sad life stories of other employees and customers. And we read for delicious snatches of American Gothic, such as “a Kiwi Kornucopia smoothie”.

Oxendine’s Grocery is located in the small North Carolina beach community where Thomas grew up. The rest of his family have moved away, but he has stayed on, fiercely refusing to go to college, join the rat-race and be upwardly mobile. He opts for the simple, slow-paced male lifestyle of an unchallenging job, solo beach walks, and self-barbecued steaks with beer.

Yes, Thomas’ world is definitely an unenlightened man’s world. Women (with the exception of his mother) are grouped along a well-defined spectrum, ranging from “piece of ass” to fat-and-dumpy to dowdy-and-religious. In other words, they are defined by their looks and bodies and how accessible they are – the rest is not important. Very few have brains. The one marginally intellectual female character puzzles and intrigues Thomas, then suddenly seems stuck up, so he lets her go without further ado. To be fair, men also come in only a few flavors: they are either hot-air university types, good ol’ bosses, jovial party friends or alcoholic ruffians. They exist because they exist, and do what they gotta do.

“Thomas didn’t know what else to say. Roy continued to stare. Thomas felt like the field mouse who knows the hawk has seen him and is now swooping down to rend with talon and beak. He didn’t like feeling this way, for obvious reasons, so he set his jaw and made his voice as gravelly as possible.”

This brings me to language. Matt Cowper charms with wry humor and telling observation, e.g.: “Mothers may be unable to open that sealed-tight jar of peanut butter … but when they have a chance to hug a child or grandchild, they become as powerful as linebackers.” His descriptions make ample use of similes, some more successful than others: “Kara’s eyes were usually as lively as bedridden invalids.”

Overall, I’d give The Clerk four stars for the story and closely described lifestyle, but take back half a star for aesthetics. Matt Cowper obviously cares about writing; I think we’ll see more of him.

[Leslie Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the time while Was reading the book I thought I'd rate it 3 or 4.
Other than the regular"altercations" between men and women, and one or two between men, nothing happened. Mostly everyone was always annoyed with or angry at Thomas. He'd shrug his shoulders and let it go like water off a duck's back. He was so blah. I don't think he ever seriously reacted to anything.

I kept waiting for something to happen....and it didn't. He'd have an argument or disagreement (with mostly everyone in the book) and then it would just go away. I wanted him to shake Emily, to yell at his father, to punch Don...I kept wanting to yell "Do something!!!" Nothing.

Consequently I had to drop it to two stars.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, but it may be hard to explain why. Not much happens in it. There's no murder. No mystery. No danger. It's the story of a grocery store clerk. Content in this job that he's had for 25 years. Unfortunately, he's the only one who feels he should be content. His family and potential girlfriends all think he should have greater ambitions. He doesn't. I like him. He reminds me of somebody.

[C · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was all over the place, read up to 55% and just couldn't finish.

[James George · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The Clerk” is a short novel by Matt Cowper. It describes the life and times of Thomas Copeland, a 40-year-old single man working in a grocery store in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Here are some likes, dislikes, and general observations about the novel:
1. The author is very witty. The writing is crisp and his sarcastic sense of humor shines through in every chapter. He effectively utilizes plenty of similes and metaphors, and he loves using parenthesis (so do I). Here is one of my favorite passages. It explains why Thomas’ mother’s emails were always written so poorly:
“Jean Copeland, like many adults her age, thought that computers were malevolent, near-sentient machines hellbent on frustrating their users. Each time she used one, she believed she was one keystroke away from erasing its hard drive or from weakening the system somehow so those evil hackers could get in. Typing out the e-mail was frightening enough for her; she wasn’t going to tempt those zeros and ones inside the machine by using the shift key, or God forbid, the caps lock key.”
2. I like the length of the novel. I’m tired of the paradigm that a novel needs to be 400 or 500 pages to effectively spin a tale. I would like to see more shorter novels like this.
3. I like the book cover quite a bit.
4. The novel seems very personal in nature. As Mr. Cowper spins the tale of life in a grocery store in a North Carolina beach town, it is clear he is very connected with the topic, and I suspect there is an autobiographical element at work. His characters are very authentic (especially Vernon Oxendine) and the dialogue is frequently excellent.
5. In portraying the romantic life of a 40-year-old single man, the novel is sometimes pretty vulgar, but not gratuitously so, and probably less so than many other novels these days. If you are easily offended, however, please steer clear as there is a lot of misogyny from the protagonist and his best friend Reggie.
6. The novel is a character study. As previously mentioned, the theme is the life and times of Thomas Copeland. Topics include romance (or the lack thereof), the neurosis of family (doting mother, disapproving father and an unstable sister) and the question of whether happiness is possible for a middle-aged man with minimal education, minimal professional accomplishments, and no wife and children. More specifically, why on earth should it NOT be possible?
7. Once again, I reiterate this is the life and times of a middle-aged man working in a grocery store. If you are (SPOILERS AHEAD) looking for the part where the main character accidently witnesses a mafia execution, or inherits a million dollars, or assembles a lovable team of ex-convicts to pull off the perfect jewel heist, you will not find it here. This is a novel that strongly focuses on relationships, with minimal plot.
8. In my opinion, one possible detractor in the novel is the main character is not very sympathetic. Halfway through the book you will not find yourself cheering him on or rooting for his success. He seems self-absorbed, brutally calloused to his “friend-with-benefits” and generally cynical and lazy.
9. I think there is a terrific theme at work here, but I would have liked to see the author develop it further. Specifically, if the happiness and esteem of middle-aged men are predicated on education, professional accomplishments (and accompanying wealth) and wives and children, where is happiness to be found if a middle-age man is lacking these things, and does not seem to miss them?
10. The ending was a bit predictable.
11. In summary, in my opinion there is minimal plot and an unlikable protagonist, but these detractors are more than balanced by very witty writing and a strong sense of authenticity. 4/5 stars.

[Shelby · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE CLERK, a debut novel by Matt Cowper, begins with the main character’s fortieth birthday. Thomas walks on the beach, contemplating his life and the “midlife crisis he is not having.”
The author conveys a mood of mellow contentment when he describes Thomas’s birthday surroundings:

“Golden late-afternoon light shone on the dunes and beach houses. Willets scurried about, pecking at the white sand. To the west, the beach houses, the pier, and the tall Scotch Bonnet Hotel were smoky silhouettes.”

Cowper is a master of description who employs the readers’ senses to set tone, and throughout his writing, he uses highly original metaphors and similes to bolster his descriptions. However, when he describes women, he often describes them in terms of their bodies. For instance, Thomas’s sister is described as “long and lean, with an ass that announced its succulent presence no matter how baggy her jeans were…” and one of his fellow co-workers is described as: “…having a tendency “to lean over her checkout counter whenever there was a slow moment, jutting out her firm, enticing behind.”

For someone who has gathered this many candles, Thomas has no regrets, but he does have something he yearns for throughout the book, something that drives his story. If he is not thinking about it, he is acting on trying to fulfill his libido. The libido of other male characters are alive and well, too. Rock, Reggie, Noah, Vernon, and Grant are gangbusters when it comes to their male hormones.

Matt Cowper is a promising writer. He never sinks to the writing laziness of using cliches and his grammar is tight. His originality is stunningly clever and his dialogue, though at times steamy, flows comfortably throughout the book.

This book is a good read for someone who enjoys the old versions of Hustler and Playboy. Maybe there’s a salty dog or a salty tiger that would enjoy lapping up the adventures of hormones on the prowl.

One thing is certain. This author has a lot of writing strengths and he is not going away. It would not be surprising to see him on the New York Times best seller list someday.

[Ju Ephraime · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Clerk is told through the eyes and private thoughts of Thomas, the hero in this story. From the very beginning of the book, the reader gets the impression that Thomas is not really living life, he’s just coasting. Nothing is earth-shatteringly important; except, maybe, the steak he’s looking forward to grilling on his fortieth birthday. Although he acknowledges it's a milestone and should be celebrated in some way, he just doesn’t know how. So, other than taking the day off and answering his phone, he makes up things to appease his feminist sister, and over-bearing father, but through it all, Thomas is coasting.
The book is well-written, and in keeping with the main character, has no earth-shattering finale; what it does have, is a great example of what not to do with your life. Life is meant to be lived… LIVE IT. Great easy read.

[Kay Mack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, simple story

While not the most action-packed or complex novel, I enjoyed THE CLERK. Thomas is a good, uncomplicated man whose life mirrors "every man" reminding us of the universal challenges we all deal with on a daily basis.