The Ginger Man a snippet from The Times

[Gilbert's Girl]

Times2
The Times May 22, 2006
I really have read . . .
Sid smith

. . . The Ginger Man
They’re making a film of The Ginger Man, J. P. Donleavy’s 1955 novel of high style and low life in postwar Dublin. Johnny Depp will star, and should be pretty good as Sebastian Dangerfield, an ex-GI supposedly studying for a degree but far more concerned with maintaining his own impoverished elegance: he’s the Burlington Bertie of Trinity College — if Bertie were also a thief, fornicator and two-fisted brawler.
There’s nothing so deadly as humour quoted in bleeding chunks. But a random opening of the book reveals Sebastian introducing a foul-mouthed thug as “the son of the rightful Lord Mayor of Dublin. And his uncle wrote the national anthem.” In reply, Sebastian is greeted thusly: “For the love of our Holy Father the Pope, may he get himself another gold typewriter. Give me your hand before I beat you to death with bound copies of The Catholic Herald.”



But the Irish roaring boy is only one of Dangerfield’s acts. He also plays the put-upon innocent, the wily adulterer, the melancholy exile, and a dozen other roles, all of them vividly rendered and therefore utterly convincing, except for the fact that they’re laid end to end.

The Ginger Man spent several months in the pocket of my school blazer, and was read and reread with the particular hunger of the adolescent looking for a way to live. But it stands up well. If a pub punch-up seems these days less impressive, and if smashing the furniture for firewood is less romantic, yet Donleavy’s prose remains lyrical, inventive and funny. The film would be worth it just for the gold typewriter.

I really haven’t read The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B. Donleavy followed his raffish masterpiece with increasingly bloodless reprises, whose central characters had the ginger man’s whimsy but not the fire in his belly: the soppy alliterative title says it all.

[Liz]

He also plays the put-upon innocent, the wily adulterer, the melancholy exile, and a dozen other roles, all of them vividly rendered and therefore utterly convincing, except for the fact that they’re laid end to end.

Interesting. I never really thought of him in that light. Thanks, GG.

[Gilbert's Girl]

He also plays the put-upon innocent, the wily adulterer, the melancholy exile, and a dozen other roles, all of them vividly rendered and therefore utterly convincing, except for the fact that they’re laid end to end.

Interesting. I never really thought of him in that light. Thanks, GG.

I guess its interesting to get another perspective.

[Jackslady]

Thanks for this GG. I really wanted to read the book and join the discussion but I had difficulty obtaining a copy. None of my local bookshops seem to stock anything by Donleavy and the library didn't have anything, either. I will have to check out amazon and see how much it is.

Sorry if I'm behind, but is this project still being filmed this summer? We haven't heard anything recently have we? JD is going to be pretty busy if he's going to fit it in before returning to POTC3.

[Gilbert's Girl]

Thanks for this GG. I really wanted to read the book and join the discussion but I had difficulty obtaining a copy. None of my local bookshops seem to stock anything by Donleavy and the library didn't have anything, either. I will have to check out amazon and see how much it is.

Sorry if I'm behind, but is this project still being filmed this summer? We haven't heard anything recently have we? JD is going to be pretty busy if he's going to fit it in before returning to POTC3.

No, the last that was mentioned said early next year but that is also out of the question as Johnny will still be filming Shantaram.
I got my copy from my library, maybe you could get it through the inter library loan service.

[Boo-Radley]

Thanks for that GG. The book sounds intriguing, I have a copy, but haven't read it yet. My sister and her brood will be coming for a visit early next month, and will be with us half of this summer so reading (for my own edification) will again be pushed to the back burner. My only consolation is that I will probably be reading a lot of bedtime stories to the kiddies, since my daughter grew up I miss doing that.

Live in Depp
Boo

[DeppInTheHeartOfTexas]

Boobaba, The Ginger Man is definitely not a bed time story for the kiddies!

[Boo-Radley]

Boobaba, The Ginger Man is definitely not a bed time story for the kiddies!

So true DITHOTbaba, unless my goal is to star prominently in future visits to their shrink.

Live in Depp
Boo

[DeppInTheHeartOfTexas]

And find youself a permanent home in the dog house as far as you sister is concerned!

[Boo-Radley]

And find youself a permanent home in the dog house as far as you sister is concerned!

True, true, 'cause homey don't play that!!


Live in Depp
Boo

[Brasco's Baby]

Sounds pretty interesting to me I suppose, I'm not sure.