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Peter Jernigan is a drunk single father who’s far too clever for his own good. His slow descent into disaster is marked with brilliant wit, equally hopeless characters and David Gates's unmistakable razor-sharp storytelling prowess. Shot through with gin and irony, Jernigan is a funny, scary, mesmerising portrait of a man walking off the edge with his eyes wide open - wisecracking all the way.
Synopsis
Jernigan by David Gates, Stuart Evers
Peter Jernigan's life is slipping out of control. His wife's gone, he's lost his job and he's a stranger to his teenage son. Worse, his only relief from all this reality - alcohol - is less effective by the day. And when the medicine doesn't work, you up the dose. And when that doesn't work, what then? (Apart from upping the dose again anyway, because who knows?) Jernigan's answer is to slowly turn his caustic wit on everyone around him - his wife Judith, his teenage son Danny, his vulnerable new girlfriend Martha and, eventually, himself - until the laughs have turned to mute horror. But while he's busy burning every bridge back to the people who love him, Jernigan's perverse charisma keeps us all in thrall to the bitter end.
Reviews
'David Gates makes me sick with envy' -- Nick Hornby
'A sizzler of a novel, a whirlwind. It swept me up in the opening paragraphs ... I found myself wishing I could read fast enough to swallow it whole in a single sitting' -- Joseph Heller
'A bravura performance, sprawling and energetic, soused and noisy, with a bitter comic edge ... a rambunctious and enthralling portrait of a man who, by looking too closely, has finally lost sight of himself' Guardian
'A relentless, combustible mix of high literary art and low humour, wisecracking profanity and shellac dark glimpses into a man's wilful self-annihilation ... if there is one book that deserves to come in from the cold in the way Revolutionary Road, Alone in Berlin and Stoner have, it's David Gates's Jernigan.' -- Stuart Evers
About the Author
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Book Info
Publication date
6th August 2015Author
David Gates, Stuart EversMore books by David Gates, Stuart Evers
Author 'Like for Like'
recommendations
Publisher
Serpent's Tail an imprint of Profile Books LtdFormat
Paperback256 pages
Categories
Literary FictionThe EvergreenseBook Favourites
Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)ISBN
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