a book
The Ginger Man
J.P. Donleavy · 2010 · 368 pages
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 American ne'er-do-well studying at Trinity College in Dublin. He barely has time for his studies and avoids bill collectors, makes love to almost anything in a skirt, and tries to survive without having to descend into the bottomless pit of steady work. Dangerfield's appetite for women, liquor, and general roguishness is insatiable--and he satisfies it with endless charm.
recommended by 3 people
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11 Books on Johnny Depp
“The adventures of one incorrigible Sebastian Dangerfield. Unruly, willful, and wholly devious. This lyrical, comic wonder was introduced to me by Hunter. Every man should read this, and spend at least one evening in his life impersonating this unapologetic horror of an individual!”↗
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
“I was horrified yet set alight by the brutal amorality of Sebastian Dangerfield from J. P. Donleavy’s The Ginger Man.”↗
Cillian Murphy
“One of those books that you read as a young man and become intoxicated with, yet it is a book to be savored over the course of a life. It was written with great mischief and humor, but full of empathy for the outsider struggling to imagine a purpose in this world. Donleavy is a writer who will be dearly missed.”↗