The Coward - Jarred McGinnis Canongate Books readalong

 

When I picked up a book that I understood was a work of fiction and as I began to read I found that the name of the protagonist is the same as the author my first thought was one word. Brave. Which was pretty surprising really when the title of the book, The Coward, could be seen as the opposite of that! It would’ve been so easy to conjure a fictional name and have us all read the story of these lives fractured by tragedy and how the rebuilding of them is so vast and so immense. But I wonder how different the reader response would have been? Would it have evoked the same level of compassion and admiration? Somehow I doubt it. So I see it, almost as a stroke of genius to do what Jarred McGinnis has done. It’s clever too because offering it as a work of fiction means that he doesn’t have to stick solely to every single fact although the reading of it makes me feel that it’s pretty much accurate in most respects.

Thematically the book is about the crap that life can throw at us. It’s about anger and blame but it’s also about forgiveness and redemption. Plus it is a window as to how disabled people are perceived by the world and how that affects anyone with a disability. It looks at addiction and what that can do to somebody’s life. It portrays a kaleidoscope of emotions. It’s raw, honest with no punches pulled. It’s crisp writing that strikes a balance, in spite of the devastating situation the protagonist is in. Positivity and hope are tantalisingly implied as the narrative progresses. I laughed and I cried. The development of the relationship between father and son is absorbing. And as the events of the past unfold and peel away, like the layers of an onion, we begin to see how both Jarred and Jack, his father, carry their emotional scars like weights across their shoulders. At times they are both so absorbed in their own distress they fail to see what’s happening to each other. It’s grim at times and distressing even so some of the author’s wit is most necessary to offer a kind of light relief. I guess it also highlights how at times you need someone else to be the bridge, the anchor, the support you need to get through things which seem bigger than you are. She’s here in this book. And she is called Sarah. A wonderful character. And if she is a real life person, and I think she is, she’s a wonderful person.

Ultimately it reinforces the endurance of the human spirit and the ability that people have to summon the strength they need to find the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. 

My reading of this book was for Canongate Books readalong. I’m very grateful for that opportunity and for the gifted copy of the book. And to conclude -  if I may quote Jack, “I’m done talking to you. I need coffee. “