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Ginger Man, The

3.66 of 5 stars 3.66 · rating details · 3,661 ratings · 242 reviews

First published in Paris in 1955, and originally banned in the United States, J. P. Donleavy’s first novel is now recognized the world over as a masterpiece and a modern classic of the highest order. Set in Ireland just after World War II, The Ginger Man is J. P. Donleavy’s wildly funny, picaresque classic novel of the misadventures of Sebastian Dangerfield, a young Americ...more

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Published February 5th 2010 by Grove/Atlantic, Inc. (first published 1955)

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Sep 25, 2012 Jonathan rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'd hazard a guess that this is one of Shane McGowan's favourite books. Personally, I found the wife-punching, baby-smothering, lying, stealing gobshite of the title utterly charmless. Reading the reviews, however, he's apparently a delightful comic rapscallion. Perhaps this sort of thing was daring and bawdy back in the uptight 1950s.

If, like me, Dangerfield's sozzled transatlantic blarney leaves you cold, you are left with the world's most unconvincing sex-machine (with the possible exception...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Ensiform rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A great big stream of consciousness slice of life book about the boozing, lazy, nasty, cruel, selfish Sebastian Dangerfield, an American in Dublin who is supposed to be studying law at Trinity but instead drinks all day, chases women and exchanges abuse with his wife.

To be sure, Sebastian is an unpleasant character, but that doesn’t bother me. I was simply bored by the events of the novel. I didn’t find it, as all the blurbs promised, an exuberant, witty, wildly comic escapade. Donleavy’s writin...more

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Aug 26, 2008 DRM rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I couldn't help but think of the fine British comedy Withnail And I while reading this. Much like the dialogue in that film, Donleavy's witty, loosely constructed vignettes might be a bit disorienting at first bit they grow on you and you find yourself chuckling more and more especially in the more bizarre stream of consciousness moments (kangaroo costumes, public transportation "wardrobe malfunctions"). The other point of reference for me was Tropic Of Cancer as the narrator is also an "anti he...more

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Feb 01, 2008 Joe Mossa rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

this is # 99 on my list of 100. i received the greatest joy when i read the last page and didn t have to spend any more time with ,sabastian. is this a great novel cause donleavy describes in great detail one of the worst characters in literature ? he is cruel to women and yet they keep coming back to him. he doesn t work, barely studies his law books, has no redeeming qualities. he reminds me of the college drunks who wasted their education in college. there are so many bad books on this list...more

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May 13, 2013 Leon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Ginger Man" è la storia di un mostro senza tempo, un diavolo in carne e ossa, un angelo perfido e carismatico. Sebastian Dangerfield è un bel giovanotto e un insaziabile disgraziato, il maschio che ogni donna non può che odiare, con ogni vizio e pochissime virtù: seduttore, erotomane, ladro, imbroglione, violento, bevitore, ingordo - il tipo che abbandona la moglie con la bambina, ruba i soldi dalla borsetta e va a farsi il giro dei pub, invidiato da qualunque altro uomo perché riesce a farla f

...more

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May 08, 2013 Mark rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

#99 on the Modern Library Board's List. Published in 1955. If there's a reason people don't succeed in working through the Modern Library backwards, it's probably this. "The Ginger Man" is a novel for no one, except perhaps sociopathic poser intellectuals who find bawdy antipathy entertaining.

I'll start with Donleavy's prose style, the only redeeming thing about the novel. "The Ginger Man" swerves wildly between the first and third person, an interior monologue one moment and a systematic sketch...more

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Apr 28, 2013 Pat rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What kind of social lives do the people who review books professionally lead? I honestly looked at the back of the book more than once to make sure I read it right. Anyone who thinks Sebastian Dangerfield is a 'Rougeish cad' and this story is 'picaresque' have all the frame of reference of a 13 year old kid who idolizes the out of work greaser who hangs out by the 7-11 getting stoned as the coolest guy in the world. I have tons of friends who get drunk and loud and make parties happen. I've got...more What kind of social lives do the people who review books professionally lead? I honestly looked at the back of the book more than once to make sure I read it right. Anyone who thinks Sebastian Dangerfield is a 'Rougeish cad' and this story is 'picaresque' have all the frame of reference of a 13 year old kid who idolizes the out of work greaser who hangs out by the 7-11 getting stoned as the coolest guy in the world. I have tons of friends who get drunk and loud and make parties happen. I've got a friend who had a bottle broke over his head for one too many wisecracks. I have a friend who chased a 17 year old who didn't kick in for a shared cab three blocks at 3 AM down the shore, screaming he'd kick his head in, because he was so drunk he'd forgotten he was the one who offered to let the kid ride free in our cab in the first place. They're all pretty great boyfriends, husbands, fathers and friends. You have to be pretty desperate for excitement in your life to like a tiresome, abusive, boring sociopath like this, even vicariously through fiction.

If you read On the Road or Big Sur, and WEREN'T constantly furious with how the main characters treat the women around them as walking sexdolls/ATM's you'll like this book. If you read House of Leaves and had a hard time getting to the awesome parts through the scenes where a character inexplicably plows his way through half the females in LA, you might find it a tough hang.

Knew after about one chapter what I was in for, but stuck it out anyway. Not really sure what life was like back in the 50's, but if this guy was considered at all fun to hang around with, then fuck that whole generation. The guy is basically a meth-head, but for a much lamer drug. If you're going to rip fixtures out of the bathroom to pawn for intoxicants while your baby goes hungry, at least set your sights a little higher than booze. Nothing that he did seemed all that funny or redeeming, The only friend we actually see him interact with, O'Keefe, he uses the same as anyone else, but the rest of his buddies seem to think he's the greatest guy they've ever met. Especially the one who magically gets fabulously stinking rich in London, as were poor Irish drunks wont, back in those days.

Well written, but a type of story I loathe. Maybe something else by the author would be better.
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Mar 16, 2013 John Beck rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, fiction

http://andalittlewine.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-7-of-52-ginger-man.html

The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy is one of the books I've had on my shelf for years that I've always meant to read. It was a gift from a friend who knew my love for rollicks.

The Ginger Man is every inch the rollick. Written in mainly as the running interior monologue of Sebastian Dangerfield, the text is littered with traces of the high modernists; Donleavy's punctuation seems haphazard until you realize that it's written in t...more http://andalittlewine.blogspot.com/2012/02/book-7-of-52-ginger-man.html

The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy is one of the books I've had on my shelf for years that I've always meant to read. It was a gift from a friend who knew my love for rollicks.

The Ginger Man is every inch the rollick. Written in mainly as the running interior monologue of Sebastian Dangerfield, the text is littered with traces of the high modernists; Donleavy's punctuation seems haphazard until you realize that it's written in the cadence of Dangerfield's speech.

Maybe I'm getting older, but I didn't laugh through Dangerfield's drunken sexual adventures as much as I might have. In similar books (Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Slaughterhouse Five) the protagonists are motivated by a love for life in all its messy disorder. But in The Ginger Man, Dangerfield is nearly completely paralyzed by his need for money. He woos women almost offhandedly, juggling multiple affairs (including one with his wife), trying to decide which woman will offer him the most golden parachute.

The novel has, I think, an ambiguous ending, in which Dangerfield has finally found his meal ticket in a woman almost as unpredictably deranged as he is, or else in which he has restored the illusion of prosperity long enough to entrap a new woman in his maze of lies and false promises. I think the second possibility is the more interesting one, so that the novel ends almost exactly where it began.

While the plot may be farcical, Dangerfield's interior monologue is tragic. He lives a charmed life; he dodges his debtors, pillages a world of eager and able young women, steals his meals with smiles and light words. But his constant worries about money and where the next meal will come from rob these scenes of their joy. Maybe Dangerfield's anxieties hit too close to home, but I can't enjoy his escapades the way I enjoy the heroes of the books I mentioned earlier. Donleavy's story is a little too much like life.(less)

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Apr 04, 2012 Lindsey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I truly enjoyed this book -- and I'm a woman. I don't know why so many people seem to be so appalled by the protagonist Sebastian Dangerfield. Sure, I don't personally agree with many of Dangerfield's actions (his often offensive behavior seems to be the sole reason as to why some people slam The Ginger Man).

However, I don't read literature to find examples of perfect angels who never commit a sin. I read selective fiction, for the most part, to be engaged in an entertaining tale. Donleavy more...more I truly enjoyed this book -- and I'm a woman. I don't know why so many people seem to be so appalled by the protagonist Sebastian Dangerfield. Sure, I don't personally agree with many of Dangerfield's actions (his often offensive behavior seems to be the sole reason as to why some people slam The Ginger Man).

However, I don't read literature to find examples of perfect angels who never commit a sin. I read selective fiction, for the most part, to be engaged in an entertaining tale. Donleavy more than delivered my craving for an exciting, raucous, thought-provoking, and simultaneously poetic and hilarious fictional ride. This literary
feat was accomplished all through the lens of a character who may not be the most stand-up guy, but one who I nevertheless suprisingly found myself kind of rooting for in the end.

After reading many of the other reviews, it seems that a lot of readers compare The Ginger Man to The Tropic of Cancer. I have also read the latter and while I do see some comparisons between the protagonists of the two novels, I absolutely detested Miller's work. I didn't dislike Tropic of Cancer because it can be considered offensive, but rather because I thought it was base just for the sake of being base. I also just thought it was a very unenjoyable read. As for the comaprison of the two, I don't think that Donleavy was chasing the shock appeal that Miller seems to have sought.

I truly found The Ginger Man to be quite a well-written and engaging story. My only criticism would be that around the last third of the book or so, the stream of consciousness scenarios started to become a little difficult to follow and not as tight as the anecdotes from the beginning of the book. However, in general, I really enjoyed The Ginger Man. To women who trash the book because of Dangerfield's sexist, offensive behavior: No offense, but get over it! Tropic of Cancer is waaay more appalling in this respect. The Ginger Man is a quality piece of literature. Some may not have enjoyed it, but I feel it deserves respect regardless.

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Jun 11, 2011 Judy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 20th-century-fiction, books-from-1958

The long and tortured history of J P Donleavy's first novel parallels the trials and tribulations of Sebastian Dangerfield, anti-hero and bad boy, aka the Ginger Man. Because of sexual content, Donleavy had a heck of a time getting published and until 1965, all versions were expurgated (obscene or objectionable passages deleted.) It is considered a classic as well as Donleavy's best work.

As the story opens, Dangerfield is unhappily married to a woman whom he had hoped would bring him money but i...more

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Mar 17, 2011 James Newman rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I became aware of this book after recently reading a Hunter S. Thompson biography, wherein it describes how Hunter discovered the book in New York, and did his best to imitate Dangerfield's lifestyle. After reading the Ginger Man it became apparent that Hunter had at last found a hard act to follow in terms of womanising, alcohol abuse and empty promises.

Apparently the Ginger Man was turned down by something like 40 publishers before finding it's way to the mainly pornographic publishers Olympi...more I became aware of this book after recently reading a Hunter S. Thompson biography, wherein it describes how Hunter discovered the book in New York, and did his best to imitate Dangerfield's lifestyle. After reading the Ginger Man it became apparent that Hunter had at last found a hard act to follow in terms of womanising, alcohol abuse and empty promises.

Apparently the Ginger Man was turned down by something like 40 publishers before finding it's way to the mainly pornographic publishers Olympia Press in Paris. Despite turning out mostly smut, Olympia owner Maurice Girodias also published some early works by the likes of Samuel Beckett, William Burroughs, Henry Miller and Jean Genet amongst other rising literary talents of the time.
I mention the publication as it's interesting to note that Donleavy entered into 20 plus years of litigation with the publishing house. He eventually won the case and subsequently owns Olympia Press.
But anyway, the book. It is, for better or worse, very real. The "hero" Sebastian Dangerfield is a reluctant family man and a reluctant student of law. He just doesn't care about the things which we assume he should care about. He is constantly in a state of scheming his way into the next free drink, or getting into the knickers of an easily led girl. He has no morals, nor does he feel that he should have. He is banking on an inherited wealth which will be his once his sick father dies.

The style of the book is modern for the time of it's writing. Donleavy uses both the first person narrative and the third person narrative to illustrate his main character. This can be confusing at first, but I found that after a few chapters, it adds to the urgency/pace (first person) and the backgrounds (third person) as he switches between the two different types of narration. This could not be achieved by sticking to either one of the disciplines.

The plot is quite simple, as a character novel should be. The backdrop is Dublin and then later London. Both are described well.

The dialogue is at times simply brilliant. One of the few books where you find yourself laughing aloud, and re-reading passages in an attempt to recall lines and slip them into a conversation at some point in the future. It is so easy to see why this book has since been turned into a stage production. I would imagine that the theater would be in fits of giggles.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the development of modern literature. And for that matter anyone with an open mind and a good sense of humour. It is in many ways one of the best novels of the 20th century(less)

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Feb 28, 2010 Alli Rense rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The book is described as a “comic masterpiece” and it’s odd because when I think back to a couple events in the novel, like the toilet paper robbery and the landlord Skully knocking at his window, they seem funny. (The bit of amusement I felt after reading the scene about Skully at the window faded quickly.) But while reading the thing? I laughed only once, and it wasn’t something Sebastian did or said at all but part of a letter he received from his friend in America:

"This is America and we ou...more The book is described as a “comic masterpiece” and it’s odd because when I think back to a couple events in the novel, like the toilet paper robbery and the landlord Skully knocking at his window, they seem funny. (The bit of amusement I felt after reading the scene about Skully at the window faded quickly.) But while reading the thing? I laughed only once, and it wasn’t something Sebastian did or said at all but part of a letter he received from his friend in America:

"This is America and we out-produce, out-sell, out-manufacture, out-fight, and out-screw the rest of the world but the latter is elusive."

There you have it. The only truly funny line in the entire 347 page novel. You may now avoid reading the whole thing to find it, as it is on page 333.

So how does it end? Instead of going to jail, Sebastian somehow manages to outrun everyone who is after him and at the end found a rich man who for some unknown reason likes him because, according to the rich guy, Sebastian was nice to him when he wasn’t rich. Which is a load of nonsense because Sebastian “borrowed” money from everyone. The rich guy kept handing him money and clothes and offering to give him haircuts where the novel leaves off with Sebastian shacking up with one of his mistresses having gone through no character development whatsoever. At least his wife finally had the sense to leave him.

Do I think the novel deserves to be on a list of the top 100 books of the 20th century? No. Not even the writing style could redeem it. I even think Donleavy’s failed attempt to write something in a stream of consciousness mode made the story that much harder to tolerate. Don’t get me wrong, I like the technique when it’s done well: James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, and Thomas Pynchon are masters. But it’s not a stream, it’s choppy slashed up bits with the occasional phrase in first person, which isn’t clever, and the unraveling of prose into poetry at the end of chapters. I actually think the poetry is a clever idea that was poorly executed by Donleavy.

--via my blog, The Displaced English Major (less)

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May 02, 2010 F.R. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How important is it for the reader to like the central protagonist of a novel? Obviously if one is going to spend hundreds of pages in – or around – a character’s head, then it is preferable to empathise with him or her. However there are some books, Dostoyevsky’s ‘Notes From Underground’ say, where clearly we are not supposed to like the central character and yet the passion of the prose is such that we can’t help but admire the work anyway.

These thoughts were high in my mind as I read ‘The Gin...more

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Sep 24, 2009 Mick Stepp rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scoundrels, re-reads

I have to be careful when I talk about this book. Especially with women. Most women despise The Ginger Man. Actually, what they despise is the Sebastian Dangerfield character for he is a drunken, misogynistic, lecherous scoundrel, the very kind of man they are terrified that their daughters might someday meet. The more open minded among them, however, appreciate the quality of Donleavy's rendering, the richness and inventiveness of the language and the out and out hilarity of the story.

I love wo...more

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May 20, 2013 Todd Martin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

The Ginger Man is described as a “picaresque” novel, which if you don't know is a fictional story that is usually satirical and depicts, in realistic and often humorous detail, the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his wits in a corrupt society. In this case, the protagonist is Sebastian Dangerfield, an American studying at Trinity College in Dublin who spends his time drinking, picking up women, avoiding bill collectors, and evading responsibility while dreaming of a...more

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May 18, 2013 Brent Mckay rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

it must be some sort of literary masterstroke to make me read and mostly enjoy 350 pages about an unlikable sociopath. this book made me want to shower very thoroughly afterwards...and then have some tea. writing this, i feel like i have a filth caked on me from having witnessed Donleavy's transgressions and yet stayed with him/the book afterwards, somehow empathizing enough to where Donleavy made me part of Dangerfield's mistakes, and yet capable of the very empathy of which Dangerfield is not....more

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Mar 21, 2013 Patrick Sprunger rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2013, fiction

The Ginger Man is so many things at once: Like the best book I've ever read, as well as the worst. It's easily the worst book because of its hero, who makes Humbert Humbert look like a pious man.* It is easily the best book because of its manly, sturdy, energetic prose. What man and the Celtic-Saxon race and red blood were made for.**

Overall, I prefer Sir Digby Chicken-Ceasar to Sebastian Dangerfield, as that former old gentleman is less of a misogynist and has his drinking problem under better...more

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May 14, 2012 Veronica rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While reading The Ginger Man, I could not help but realize that Donleavy’s stye was reminiscent of James Joyce, however, this book was Joyce on Lithium. In other words, this was readable stream of consciousness, not pages of words without order or punctuation, ala Joyce. This is the quintessential picaresque novel.

An American studying law in 1948 at Trinity College in Dublin seems to lack focus, finances and fortitude. Living with his English wife and infant daughter, he somehow fails to find ti...more While reading The Ginger Man, I could not help but realize that Donleavy’s stye was reminiscent of James Joyce, however, this book was Joyce on Lithium. In other words, this was readable stream of consciousness, not pages of words without order or punctuation, ala Joyce. This is the quintessential picaresque novel.

An American studying law in 1948 at Trinity College in Dublin seems to lack focus, finances and fortitude. Living with his English wife and infant daughter, he somehow fails to find time for work or studies, but has no trouble finding his way to the nearest public house.

The capricious Sebastian Dangerfield narrates the tale and shares his thoughts in a forthright manner. Never one to ponder how his actions may affect others, he carries on without remorse or distress. His lasciviousness guides him along with a motley and like minded crew of reprobates. I still don’t understand why so many women were attracted to an unemployed, married libertine. I wanted to hate this character, but some part of his humanity prevented me from doing so.

Sebastian’s sidekick, Kenneth O’Keefe, tires of the wanton life and heads for a teaching stint in Paris in hopes of matching the sexual escapades of his pal. He sees his friend for what he is and lends him money upon his departure, hoping to be repaid, but knowing he’ll never see the money again. He sends sexually explicit correspondence back to his Dublin pal and bemoans his failures at seducing women so has now resorted to sexcapades with his male students and shares those experiences in sordid detail. This is the annoying guy everyone feels sorry for, but tries to avoid whenever possible.

Sebastian meets his sexual match in Mary, a young laundress who agrees to move with him to London. She exposes an insatiable sexual appetite and quickly becomes bored with Sebastian. With ambition as her guide, she eventually abandons her man and attempts to make her own way. Kudos to the only woman of Sebastian’s with enough sense to dump such a loser.

I’d certainly ask Mr. Donleavy to meet in a pub where we’d chat over ales. Perhaps he’d share his experiences in the Navy during WWII. Of course, I’d ask if he’s still in talks with Depp over the movie version and applaud that casting decision.

My rating for The Ginger Man is an 8 out of 10.
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Apr 25, 2011 Ash rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It's hard for me to admit I enjoyed this book even a little, as it reveals nothing about human nature and sheds no light on its characters. Infact, its characters, specifically the protagonist, Mr. Dangerfield, remain as loathsome as ever from start to finish. As he lies, steals, drinks, and takes advantage of numerous women, engaging in adulterous affairs, the reader is forced to sit back, entirely helpless, watching with horror as an increasing amount of chaos ensues.
And yet, my dark sense o...more

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May 18, 2012 Brent Legault rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

People have been telling me to read this novel for most of my life. I'd resisted because I don't like things being pushed on me and because I'm a demi-ginger myself and wasn't sure I trusted the title. Had I read it in my youth, I might have admired its drunken spirit, its (pardon me) joie d'ivre. But I'm not so young anymore and I've read better.

Donleavy seems to want to be both Joyce (with whom he doesn't measure up) and Miller (where he fares a bit better). I kept looking for Donleavy but fo...more

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Feb 16, 2011 zxvasdf rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

What a book. The Irish have a way with words.

A likable feller, then an unlikable feller, Dangerfield is the hero of this story. A very bad bad hero, as he womanizes, boozes, and is a inveterate liar. You follow his misadventures, marvel at his sheer tenacity at the face of utter bankruptcy of coin and moral spirit.

This book is a mass of seething contradictions. It must be said of the Irish, or at least the Irish I read in books written by Irishmen, that they revel in the conflicting nature of...more

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Feb 10, 2011 Lauren rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-library-100

I found the stream-of-consciousness style of The Ginger Man to be fairly hard to read, although I got used to it as the book went on. The book is told from the perspective of Sebastian Dangerfield, who I suspect was losing his sanity as the novel progressed, thereby making his descriptions of events unclear. Sebastian frequently daydreamed, and these daydreams were interspersed with his descriptions of current events, so that it became difficult to tell what was real and what was not. No doubt t...more

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Jun 20, 2011 David Lentz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

JPD launched a storied literary career with a masterpiece in The Ginger Man. Sebastian, which means "venerable," is a man perpetually on the brink of utter madness brought largely upon himself. He is a Trinity College Dublin man whose condition is given to "staving off starvation" and whose only option when things always get worse is to "cheer-up or die." When you consider that JPD was first a painter, it's understandable that his writing style is pointillistic. The syntax like Dangerfield is no...more

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Apr 17, 2010 carl theaker rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-library-100

I always say an author's job is to make you love the characters or
hate them, either way it should be counted as a success. So I think folks who
say they don't like a book because character soandso was a horrible
fellow or whatnot are missing the point.

So dangit! my turn to miss the point- I found this fellow so
despicable, and maybe too close to some folks I know, that I couldn't like it.

On a more practical side it is a comedy written in 1952 taking
place in England and it is difficult for humor to...more

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Mar 04, 2011 Zach rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"She leaped into my arms and knocked me to ground and screamed into my mouth." So says the narrator of this novel, the equal parts loathsome and winning Sebastian Dangerfield, the Ginger Man, as he begins to recount one of his sexual conquests in the decidedly anti-sexual climate of post WWII Ireland, and that is how the reader feels, accosted and defiled by his exploits. The novel follows Dangerfield as he drinks, steals, fights, and screws his way through Dublin. He is a pretty much irredeemab...more

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Jul 13, 2011 Tim Freeman rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction-book-club

The stream of consciousness prose style mixed in with the ribald dialog and well drawn settings, raises the bar on judging this book on its other merits, because frankly this reader finds little to like as far as the main character is concerned and his cronies are no great shake either. Even the abused women he routinely takes advantage of are hard to understand since one wonders why they would fall for such an obvious cad. But this is fiction, not a historical memoir and I suppose the author is...more

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May 21, 2009 Josiah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Josiah by: Modern Library List Top 100-fiction

I feel like a traitor giving this even three stars, but the writing is brilliant. Each line tends to have its own weight and sense of being. There is poetry and music in the flow of the text. The author changes from first to third person and back, apparently randomly, but somehow even that makes sense after a while. So with all this going for the book, it seems as if the author has squandered his abilities on a squalid, sordid tale, of no remarkable consequence. It rather reminded me of being de...more

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Mar 08, 2008 Abailart rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I wonder if neuroscientists will ever be able to analyse tears that contain the byproducts of great happiness and great sadness at the same time. And what is such an intense feeling called? Even to think of this book brings a tear to my eye, and reading it I cry buckets. This horrible, loveable, picaresque hero and antihero, this moonchild of Irish imagination. Wow

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Aug 27, 2011 Nicky rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The ramblings of a young man as he tries to destroy himself and others with drink, debt, and women, while supposedly a law student with young wife and child in post ww2 Ireland. This book was very hard to read, the style is utterly different from anything I've read. It has lots of choppy phrases and unattributed dialogue. Often times things skip from past the present, thoughts to actions and things happen during the time span of the book which are not discussed but simply reffered to later on. I...more

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Mar 17, 2012 Ilona rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gave-up-on, fiction-general

A truly dreadful book. I quit reading on page 29 of 347, and here’s why:

From the blurb from the back cover:

“…wildly funny, picaresque classic novel of the misdaventures of Sebastian Dangerfield, a young American ne’re-do-well….”

And this, from the fateful page 29:

“He drove his fist into Marion’s face [his wife]. She fell backward against the cupboard… In tattered underwear he stood at the nursery door. He kicked his foot through and tore off the lock to open it. Took the child’s pillow from und...more

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About J.P. Donleavy

James Patrick Donleavy is an Irish American author, born to Irish immigrants. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II after which he moved to Ireland. In 1946 he began studies at Trinity College, Dublin, but left before taking a degree. He was first published in the Dublin literary periodical, Envoy.

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Books by J.P. Donleavy

The Lady Who Liked Clean Restrooms: The Chronicle Of One Of The Strangest Stories Ever To Be Rumoured About Around New York

The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman

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Trivia About The Ginger Man

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Quotes from The Ginger Man

“Dear Mr Skully,

I have caught my neck in a mangle and will be indisposed for eternity.

Yours in death
S.D.” — 10 people liked it

“And Mary, what of other men? There are no other men because my heart has gone out to you. And if you don't laugh I'll tell you what i think. I won't laugh. I think it's a fine instrument that God made for the poor likes of us to enjoy.” — 2 people liked it

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Ginger Man, The

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