Why I Can't Like the Ginger Man

I tried. Really, I did. I tried to like the Ginger Man, both the book by J.P. Donleavy, and the main character, Sebastian Dangerfield, but it is just not possible for me.

Early in the book, we get to see Dangerfield at his worst. His relationship with his wife and child is neglectful at best, and abusive at worst. In fact, the abuse is extravagant, both physically and emotionally.

We aren’t given much of a honeymoon period with Dangerfield. Early in the book, we are exposed to the worst of his character. Here’s a passage from page 21, when his wife returns from a trip out of town to find Dangerfield passed out drunk amid the wreckage of their home.

Sebastian up off the table. He drove his fist into Marion’s face. She fell backward against the cupboard. Dishes crashing to the floor. 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 under its head and pressed it hard on the screaming mouth.

          “I’ll kill it, God damn it, I’ll kill it, if it doesn’t shut up.”

I read much of the book desperately looking for hints that Dangerfield at least recognized what a terrible person he was, but that recognition never comes. He consistently uses women for sex and any money he can take from them, steals from anyone he can to find more money for alcohol, and searches for ways that he can use his aristocratic accent to be given a free ride. There are brief glimpses when we get to see him desperate for something better, or when we see a scene from the past when he seemed more genuine, but those glimpses don’t result in any change in Dangerfield’s current approach to life.

The final straw came at the end, when Dangerfield reunites with Mary, for whom he may have genuine feelings. (Even this assertion is suspect, as he is coldly clear in wanting to reunite with both Mary and her money.) She has run away from her abusive home life to be with Sebastian in London, and he, predictably, mistreats her. She leaves him, and once again, in the last few pages of the book, reconnects with him. Here’s part of how their first meeting goes:

Sebastian’s arm whistled through the air. The flat of his palm cracked against the side of her face and Mary sat stunned. He slapped her again.

“I’m going to kick the living shit out of you. Do you hear me?”

Her arms raised to ward off the blows. Mary and chair fell backwards. Dangerfield tripping over a table on top of her.

This reunion took place on Christmas Eve, and the book ends on Christmas morning, with Dangerfield and Mary apparently reunited, hopeful of a peaceful and prosperous future. Mary appears to have accepted Sebastian’s half-apology, which he utters later on Christmas Eve, “I’m a shit, Mary…Touch of meanness in me.”

It’s not enough, Sebastian. There were moments when I enjoyed reading Ginger Man, but it’s not the comic novel that it’s credited to be. Read A Confederacy of Dunces instead.