Book #99
The Ginger Man
by J. P. Donleavy
In all honesty, I started book #100 last year. I devoured it, then I started The Ginger Man, hoping for the same read-fest experience.
This was not the case. I started and stopped reading this book over a dozen times until I finally forced myself to sit down and finish it in an effort to move on without actually skipping a book.
I really hated this book. I loathed it entirely. I had to slog my way through the writing style which in essence flowed much like the internal monologue of the main character but which I found was too hard to stay afloat in. The story details the life of The Ginger Man, Sebastian Dangerfield, and his life in Ireland. He's attending Trinity College studying law, verbally abuses and threatens his wife and blatantly ignores his infant daughter. He also cheats on his wife and the reader gets to experience his infidelity in graphic detail. He drinks himself stupid, gambles himself into debt and just can't be bothered to actually attend class.
While I am in no way offended by the subject matter, or the graphic depictions of Dangerfield's sex life, I just did not enjoy the book. I found the pacing and style difficult to read and the more I read the more frustrated I was that I was still reading it. I found that I didn't care one iota for Dangerfield, was not endeared to him or his life at all and in the end really wanted to see him punished. But of course, in the end he didn't get punished enough.
Read at your own risk, who knows you may fall in love with the book and Donleavy's style of writing.
To purchase The Ginger Man by J. P. Donleavy visit Amazon.com or visit my Amazon aStore below.
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