August Thompson has chosen an unusual structure for his debut which is what made me want to read it. Anyone’s Ghost is a love story which hinges on three car crashes involving two men, boys at the beginning of the novel, the last of which is fatal for one of them.
I wanted Jake as much as I wanted to be Jake as much as I wanted to be his friend as much as I wanted to be his brother.
When Theron starts work at the hardware store where his father has set him up with a job, he’s not expecting his manager to be almost as young as himself, or so cool. Jake is adept at dealing with customers, able to adopt a persona to please them all. By the end of their first day, Theron is smitten, eager to impress Jake and terrified both of embarrassing himself and discovering a sexuality he’s busy trying to smother. They bond over a mutual love of thrash metal, recklessness and self-destruction. The summer ends with their first crash after which Jake returns home to Jess who he’s been in love with since high school. Six years later, Theron is living in Brooklyn, still hankering after Jake who texts him suggesting they meet after years of silence, arriving in the middle of a hurricane which blacks out large swathes of the city. When their cab is sideswiped their Halloween plans are scuppered and the hurricane confines them to Theron’s apartment for four days, Theron’s fantasy of a life together scotched by Jake’s wedding ring. Over the next seven years, Theron’s life becomes less rackety, his longing for Jake tempered by his relationship with Lou until an invitation to Jake’s memorial shocks but doesn’t entirely surprise him.
It took me years to understand that Jake needed me as much as I needed him.
Beginning on the eve of the memorial, Theron tells us his story in flashbacks. His is an intensely introspective narrative as he wrestles with his confusion over his sexuality, who he wants to be and the mental state he fears he’s inherited from his father. The excruciating self-consciousness of adolescence is captured painfully well contrasting with Jake’s apparent coolness until it becomes clear that both Theron and Jake are grappling with a depression which threatens to destroy them both. Theron has idolised Jake since they first met when Jake was seventeen and Theron fifteen but knows little about the man he has become or the life he leads. By the end of this heart wrenching-novel, a certain clarity has been gained together with a glimpse of a more honest, settled future for Theron.
Picador Books London 9781035034086 320 pages Hardback (read via NetGalley)
This sounds quite melancholy, but I’m glad it ends on a more hopeful note. I like a bit of hope!
Oh, me, too! I don’t need an entirely happy ending but hope’s always welcome.
Good review–you are right, it is a different type book structure.
Thank you. It could have been a bit gimmicky but it works.
This sounds as if it might not always be an easy read. But a rewarding one.
I was certainly glad of that hopeful ending.
The description reminds me a little of the excitement when the film Memento was released, how effective it is to arrange a story in a certain way, to maintain interest. Partway through, I might even forget the beginning/premise and be all surprised when I missed certain clues along the way.
I loved Momento! Even watching it a second time was a pleasure, seeing how it was all so cleverly put together.