Book of the Month–October 2012
The Antagonist
By: Lynn Coady
Gordon Rankin, nicknamed Rank has had his life plotted out almost since birth. When people see his huge, muscular stature, they make assumptions about his personality–sometimes inaccurate assumptions that ignore his sensitive nature. Pressured by his passive-aggressive father, his hockey coaches and friends, Rank accepts the role of goon until a fight he gets into ends tragically.
Years later, Rank discovers that a university classmate has written a novel and recognizes the main character as a fictional version of himself. Rank is horrified to see the personal stories he shared with his friend in confidence turned into fiction. In a response to this betrayal, Rank sends a series of e-mails to the author angrily correcting the errors and omissions, in the process reclaiming his own story.
The Antagonist explores the complex relationship between Rank and his angry father, Gordon Rankin, Sr. It also addresses the issues of narrative ownership and authorial responsibility.
Also available as:
eBook
Acknowledgements and Awards
2012: Alberta Readers’ Choice Award (finalist)
2012: Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction
2011: Scotiabank Giller Prize (finalist)
Book Reviews
The Globe and Mail
The National Post
Quill and Quire
About the Author
Lynn Coady was born in 1970 and grew up in Port Hawkesbury, a small industrial town in Cape Breton. Her love of writing led her to study journalism at Carlton University but after a year realized that a career as a writer would be more satisfying than one as a journalist and studied English and Philosophy instead. She completed a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of British Columbia while writing her first novel Strange Heaven.
Coady has said that the book was inspired by an experience she had after she wrote her 2006 novel, Mean Boy. The main character in that novel was based upon the life of Canadian poet John Thompson. When she read at Mount Allison University where Thompson had taught, she was confronted by his colleagues who resented her appropriation of Thompson’s life.
Coady is currently living in Edmonton.
Author Interviews
The National Post
Quill and Quire
Read Alikes
If you liked The Antagonist, you may also enjoy:
Other Books by Lynn Coady:
Mean Boy
Play the Monster Blind
Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)
Saints of Big Harbour
Strange Heaven
Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)
Other Fiction
Finnie Walsh by Steven Galloway
The Good Body by Bill Gaston
Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards
Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella
Non-Fiction
Georges Laraque: the Story of the NHL’s Unlikeliest Tough Guy by Georges Laraque
Tough Guy: My Life on the Edge by Bob Probert
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