Writing style
Experimental · Fragmentary · Lyrical · Stream of consciousness
Apple BooksThe Ginger Man
Literary fiction · Dark comedy · Picaresque
- Print length
- 347 pagesAtlantic Monthly Press, 1988
Description
J. P. Donleavy’s The Ginger Man is a picaresque novel set in Dublin in 1947. It follows Sebastian Dangerfield, an American student at Trinity College Dublin, through a succession of drunken, sexual, and sometimes violent misadventures. He also faces difficulties throughout his life, including a troubled relationship with his English wife and daughter. Rather than presenting a settled domestic or academic existence, the novel moves through episodes of disorder and conflict as Dangerfield pursues his desires. Its picaresque form keeps the focus on a restless protagonist whose actions repeatedly draw him into new complications in the unsettled world of postwar Dublin.
Reading profile
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Pace
Brisk
Tone
Absurdist · Dark · Humorous · Irreverent
Structure
Episodic · Fragmented
Focus
Character · Plot · Voice
Emotional intensity
4 / 5
Reading complexity
1–5 · higher means more demanding- Writing
- 4 / 5
- Ideas
- 3 / 5
- Structure
- 4 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 2 / 5
Themes
Book details
For the print edition listed above.
- Publisher
- Atlantic Monthly Press
- Language
- English
- ISBN
- 9780871131997
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