Media Center: 'Antagonist' by Lynn Coady
WHO: Lynn Coady
WHAT: THE ANTAGONIST, a novel
WHEN:
Published by Knopf January 25, 2013
WHERE:
The author is an award-winning writer, editor, and journalist who lives in Edmonton.
WHY:
“A very human drama, laced with humor and insight.
What makes a bully tick? In the case of Gordon Rankin —‘Rank’ to his friends—the external hulk does not really mirror the inner self, who fears his own strength and is reluctant to engage.
“As the adopted son of a saintly mother and an overbearing father, Rank was encouraged to use his size and strength to help deal with the teenaged hoodlums who hung around his father’s ice cream shop and then to earn a hockey scholarship through his role as an enforcer. Years later, when a long-estranged friend publishes a novel in which the brutish central character is based on a thinly disguised Rank, Rank rails at the unjust expropriation of his story. In a long series of unanswered emails to his friend, he explores his past and the catastrophic incidents that led him to disappear from view.
“What begins as a self-justification fueled by rage ends as an endearing journey of self-discovery and self-forgiveness.”
—Barbara Love in a starred review for LIBRARY JOURNAL
“Only a writer as wonderfully gifted as Lynn Coady could elicit such extraordinary sympathy for a man as full of self-destructive rage as Rank, her main character. You won’t soon forget either him or this haunting novel.” —Richard Russo
Media Resources:
About the book | Author bio | Download the jacket or the author photo | Also available from Random House Audio
Publicist for this title:
Sara Eagle | 212-572-2195 | seagle@randomhouse.com