Jernigan

David Gates lives in Missoula, Montana, and Granville, New York. He teaches at the University of Montana, and in the Bennington Writing Seminars, and was an editor at Newsweek, where he specialised in music and books. He is the author of two novels, Jernigan and Preston Falls, and the story collection The Wonders of the Invisible World. Jernigan was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award. Gates's short stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Paris Review and Granta.

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 The minute he starts talking, Peter Jernigan, the narrator of David Gates' astonishing first novel, grabs you by the lapels and compels you to listen to the sad-funny-tragic story of his life ... one of recent literature's most memorable anti-heroes -- Michiko Kakutani The New York Times What makes Gates' novel so good is not only its unblinking view of the horror and anomie of the American suburb, but also his hero's strangely seductive voice, which manages to be at once bitter and remorseful, funny and deluded Financial Times The pleasures of David's Gates' superb novel lie in the voice he has created for Jernigan: boozy and belligerent, overdosed on irony, and characterised by its syntactical short circuits, abandoned clauses and half-finished thoughts ... a joy of a novel' Observer Fearless in its exploration of expired American dreams and ruined prospects. A tale of fear and loathing in New Jersey, it strings beads of dark poetry and defiant laughter on the sinewy prose of survival -- Jay McInerney David Gates has created a memorable man for our times Chicago Tribune Brilliant ... reveals the screaming exhilaration of life in free fall. Esquire Extraordinary ... one of the more memorable pieces of literary heartache to come along in years. The best characters in fiction reveal themselves slowly, taking on a life so real they begin to live beyond their novels. You feel this happening with Jernigan. Boston Sunday Globe Vivid ... honest ... a throat-tearing voice - bitterly ironic, crippled by hyperactive intelligence, at war with itself - that recalls the boozy obsessiveness from Frederick Exley's A Fan's Notes and Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano. Village Voice Literary Supplement Peter Jernigan is a quintessential late 20th-century antihero ... with a wit so darkly sharp it could slice through a stack of Yellow Pages. Washington Post Jernigan - an unflinching wonderful modern fool, like a great many of us - makes us practically howl at his late-century insights, dim and profound, somehow, at the same time. Terrific! -- Barry Hannah Engrossing ... grimly funny, alarmingly revealing ... by the book's end Jernigan has taken on a mythic quality. Cleveland Plain Dealer [A] considerable talent ... intelligent ... powerful ... subtle and moving. Los Angeles Times [Jernigan] tells his tale so honestly, so self-critically, that the accounting itself becomes a kind of salvation. Newsweek Jernigan the man [is] stewed to the eyeballs in the Zeitgeist. Jernigan the book is great, nasty fun. -- Joy Williams Thorny, thoughtful, written with venom and verve, Jernigan paints an anguished portrait of an impenitent rebel. Houston Chronicle Exquisite ... rich ... Jernigan is compelling, amusing and disturbing, a lively, naked exploration of a tormented man living a life without contours. Kansas City Star