Really, really interesting. Also funny and - this is kind of weird to say, considering the contexts in which it happens in the book - but some of the most beautiful and honest writing about sex I've ever come across. Still, the guy is an asshole. I mean, REALLY an asshole. ( )

Disappointed. What an idiot. ( )

3121 The Ginger Man the complete and unexpurgated edition, by J. P. Donleavy (read 19 Oct 1998) This is no. 99 on the Modern Library panel's list of the 100 best novels in English of the 20th century. It is an awful and nauseous book, telling of Rodney Dangerfield, an American in Ireland and England, who is immoral, blasphemous, and extremely uninteresting. I was sure glad to get to the last page. The blurb on the jacket from Time says Donleavy makes the reader love Dangerfield for his killer instinct, flamboyant charm, wit, flashing generosity--and above all for his wild, fierce, two-handed grab for every precious second of life. This is all false--I despised him and thought he was a stupid, asinine bore who did revolting things. ( )

This book really blew me away. It's not one I would have even picked up were it not recommended to me by a friend, as despite being Irish I'm not a huge fan of Irish books. It was somewhat Joycean in style, but didn't seek to slavishly imitate. The voice of the protagonist was intoxicating and infectious. He was, put simply, a complete git, but I couldn't help but sympathise with him. At times this book was hilarious, at times pathetic - often both simultaneously. Like all good books, it hurtled along without giving me a chance to pause for breath. I became completely lost inside it and felt utterly bereft when it was over. I cannot recommend it highly enough. ( )

A poor man's Ulysses? I never really got into this book; some might say never gave it a chance. It was more readable than Ulysses but seemed a little to similar to it - not in plot but in the dialogue and walking around one of the British Isles. Has a nice tempo and the writing style is decent enough, although the edition I read is probably inferior to the one from 2000-2001. Net: not a good book for me but perhaps another would like it. ( )