Day 24

Books Left: 98
Current Book: The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy

I'm liking The Ginger Man a lot, which is sort of surprising, cause it's written sort of stream-of-consciousness, which usually I hate.  Donleavy changes points-of-view frequently, but since it's almost always either Sebastian or the omniscient narrator narrating, it's not too hard to follow.  As he gets agitated, Sebastian's inner monologue gets more fast paced, and not really confused, but...I can't really think of another way to describe it besides "stream-of-consciousness".  Sometimes it's hard to tell what is currently happening and what he's thinking about from the past.

In the past (like when we read The Sound and the Fury in high school), I absolutely HATED this type of writing.  So I'm not sure if Donleavy just handles it better than Faulkner (that little Faulker), or if I'm better at understanding it now that I'm older.  The Sound and the Fury is at number five on the list, so I have awhile until I get there, but I'm interested to see if I can tolerate it better this time around.

Now, as The Ginger Man was first published in 1955, I don't really understand why it was banned in the United States.  Yeah, there's a lot of booze and sex, but it's not explicit at all.  At the moment, Sebastian is having an affair with a girl who works at the laundromat, and if it wasn't for the description of him as a "whoring, boozing young wastrel", I wouldn't realize that they in fact had sex.  It just seems like they're spending time together.  I can definitely see how Sebastian is despicable-he cheats on his wife, neglects his child, refuses to work, and spends all their money on alcohol.  But I still feel sorry for him.  I think this is mostly because I empathize with the fact that he's poor, even though his situation is technically by choice.  He could get a job, he just doesn't want to.  He reminds me a little of George Amberson in that respect, but even entitled George got a job when the money ran out.  Anyway, I think Sebastian is very depressed, stuck in a loveless marriage, and uses alcohol as a coping mechanism.  If he lived now, his family would have an intervention, he'd go to rehab, and turn his life around.  I hope things turn around for him by the end of the novel.