The Luck of Ginger Coffey (novel)

Last updated

The Luck of Ginger Coffey
TheLuckOfGingerCoffey.jpg
First US edition
Author Brian Moore
Genre Fiction
Publisher Andre Deutsch (UK)
The Atlantic Monthly (US)
Publication date
1960
Media type Print
Pages243
OCLC 367113
Preceded by Murder in Majorca (as Michael Bryan) (1957) 
Followed by An Answer from Limbo (1962) 

The Luck of Ginger Coffey, a novel by Northern Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore, was published in 1960, in the United States by The Atlantic Monthly and in the United Kingdom by Andre Deutsch. In Canada, it received a Governor General's Award. The book was made into a film, directed by Irvin Kershner, and released in 1964. Robert Shaw starred in the title role.

Contents

Plot

Encyclopaedia Britannica describes The Luck of Ginger Coffey as being about an "Irish-born Canadian immigrant whose self-deluded irresponsible behaviour nearly breaks up his family". [1]

The book's protagonist, James Francis Coffey, is called "Ginger" because of his reddish hair and moustache. He is unfulfilled in his career, no matter which job he takes. After his release from the Army, he and his wife, Veronica, together with their daughter Paulie, move to Montreal.

In Canada, Coffey still has trouble finding work. Veronica gets very upset when she finds out that Ginger is still unemployed and has spent their ticket money home.

However broke and empty-hearted they may be, they do have one friend to count on in Canada: Gerry Grosvenor, who helps Coffey get a job working as a proofreader at a newspaper. Coffey is unimpressed once again and continues to tell Veronica it will all get better, but Veronica has her own plans for improving her life in Canada. She leaves Coffey for Grosvenor and takes Paulie with her. She also takes all of Coffey's money and most of his belongings. Coffey gets a small place at the YMCA, and during his stay there he encounters a man who offers him a diaper delivery and pick-up job.

Coffey finds this job even more repulsive than his current one but takes it anyway, with a plan in mind: To get back at Paulie and impress Veronica with his selflessness. Veronica is still unconvinced, but Paulie turns to her father's side and they get a flat of their own. Coffey is obsessed with Veronica and begins to get sick from lack of sleep and food and an excessive work schedule. He is also obsessed with being promoted to reporter so that Veronica will take him back, but unfortunately she only brings up the topic of divorce. After many drunk excursions, fist fights with Gerry, a run-in with the police and promotion battles, Veronica finally sees how hard Ginger is working and fighting for her, and at the moment when he finally decides to let her go she sees just how much he really loves her.

Quotation

“Love – why, I'll tell you what love is: it's you at 75 and her at 71, each of you listening for the other's step in the next room, each afraid that a sudden silence, a sudden cry, could mean a lifetime's talk is over.” ― Brian Moore, The Luck of Ginger Coffey

Reception

When the book was published in 1960, Kirkus Reviews described Coffey as a "somewhat jauntier figure" than the protagonists in Moore's previous two books. "If Ginger has learned to compromise, so too has Brian Moore, and this third book, with its tempered finale, is less devastating than the earlier ones." [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Time in Between</i> 2005 novel by David Bergen

The Time in Between is a novel by Canadian author David Bergen. It deals with a man, who mysteriously returns to Vietnam, where he had been a soldier earlier in his life, followed by his children, who also go to Vietnam to search for him. The novel was the recipient of the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Shaw (actor)</span> English actor and novelist (1927–1978)

Robert Archibald Shaw was an English actor, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. Beginning his career in theatre, Shaw joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre after the Second World War and appeared in productions of Macbeth, Henry VIII, Cymbeline, and other Shakespeare plays. With the Old Vic company (1951–52), he continued primarily in Shakespearean roles. In 1959 he starred in a West End production of The Long and the Short and the Tall.

<i>Angelas Ashes</i> 1996 memoir by Frank McCourt

Angela's Ashes: A Memoir is a 1996 memoir by the Irish-American author Frank McCourt, with various anecdotes and stories of his childhood. The book details his very early childhood in Brooklyn, New York, US but focuses primarily on his life in Limerick, Ireland. It also includes his struggles with poverty and his father's alcoholism.

Each winner of the 1960 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit was selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Moore (novelist)</span> Novelist and screenwriter from Northern Ireland

Brian Moore, was a novelist and screenwriter from Northern Ireland, who emigrated to Canada and later lived in the United States. He was acclaimed for the descriptions in his novels of life in Northern Ireland during and after the Second World War, in particular his explorations of the inter-communal divisions of The Troubles, and has been described as "one of the few genuine masters of the contemporary novel". He was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1975 and the inaugural Sunday Express Book of the Year award in 1987, and he was shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times. Moore also wrote screenplays and several of his books were made into films.

<i>Sliding Doors</i> 1998 film

Sliding Doors is a 1998 romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Peter Howitt and starring Gwyneth Paltrow while also featuring John Hannah, John Lynch, and Jeanne Tripplehorn. The film alternates between two storylines, showing two paths the central character's life could take depending on whether she catches a train. It has drawn numerous comparisons to Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski's 1987 film Blind Chance, the outcome of which also hinges on whether the protagonist catches a train.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Ure</span> British stage and film actress

Eileen Mary Ure was a British stage and film actress. She was the second Scottish-born actress to be nominated for an Academy Award, for her role in the 1960 film Sons and Lovers.

"Moe n' Joe" is the 75th episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the 10th of the show's sixth season. Written by Matthew Weiner and directed by Steve Shill, it originally aired on May 14, 2006.

<i>The Luck of Ginger Coffey</i> (film) 1964 Canadian film

The Luck of Ginger Coffey is a 1964 Canadian film directed by Irvin Kershner. It is based on the Governor General's Award-winning novel by Northern Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore, published in 1960.

<i>P.S. I Love You</i> (film) 2007 film by Richard LaGravenese

P.S. I Love You is a 2007 American romantic drama film directed by Richard LaGravenese from a screenplay by LaGravenese and Steven Rogers based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Cecelia Ahern. The film stars Hilary Swank, Gerard Butler, Lisa Kudrow, Gina Gershon, James Marsters, Harry Connick Jr. and Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

The Just William series is a sequence of thirty-eight books written by English author Richmal Crompton. The books chronicle the adventures of the unruly schoolboy William Brown.

<i>Austenland</i> 2007 novel by Shannon Hale

Austenland is a 2007 chick lit novel by Shannon Hale, published by Bloomsbury. It follows protagonist Jane Hayes, a graphic designer living in New York City who is secretly obsessed with Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice, specifically Colin Firth's portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 BBC adaptation. Her aunt dies and, in her will, leaves Jane a trip to an Austen theme park in the English countryside, where customers and actors role-play as characters in the Regency era. The novel is the first in Hale's Austenland series, followed by Midnight in Austenland. A film based on the first novel was released in 2013, starring Keri Russell and directed by Jerusha Hess.

<i>Cold Heaven</i> (novel) Novel by Brian Moore

Cold Heaven is a novel by Northern Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore. It was published in 1983.

<i>The Copper Beech</i>

The Copper Beech is a 1992 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. Set in the 1950s and 1960s, the storyline follows the lives of 12 characters living in a small Irish town, in chapters with interlocking plot elements. The novel was recorded as a BBC audiobook in 2007.

<i>Tricks</i> (novel)

Tricks is a young adult verse novel by Ellen Hopkins, released in August 2009. It tells the converging narratives of five troubled teenage protagonists. It is noted for its gritty realism in addressing issues of sexual activity and drug use for a young adult readership. It has been banned in some places due to its references to drug use, sexual themes and language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liam Redmond</span> Irish actor (1913–1989)

Liam Redmond was an Irish character actor known for his stage, film and television roles.

<i>The Doctors Wife</i> (Moore novel)

The Doctor's Wife is a novel by Northern Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore, published in 1976. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, it tells the story of Sheila Redden, a doctor's wife from Belfast, who takes an American lover eleven years her junior while in Paris. She then separates from both her husband and her new lover.

Mott the Hoople is a 1966 novel by Willard Manus, and is best remembered as providing the name for a British rock group of the 1970s.

<i>The Gumazing Gum Girl!</i>

The Gumazing Gum Girl! is an American children's superhero chapter book series by Rhode Montijo and co-authored by Luke Reynolds. It came out on August 20, 2013. The series is inspired by retro-styled superhero comic books and low-budget monster films.

References

  1. Kuiper, Kathleen. "The Luck of Ginger Coffey". Encyclopaedia Britannica . Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  2. "The Luck of Ginger Coffey". Kirkus Reviews . August 1960. Retrieved 5 September 2019.