Ingram <\/p>\n
Author: Louis C.K. <\/p>\n
ISBN-13: 978-1637747902<\/p>\n
Publisher: Benbella Books <\/p>\n
Guideline Price: \u00a324.99<\/p>\n
Having ridden higher than any other comedian, Louis CK became a pariah to mainstream culture after admitting allegations of sexual misconduct were true in 2017. Now he has written a novel. Cue ill-wishers on X laughing derisively at the quote-tweeted opening paragraphs of his debut.<\/p>\n
He hasn\u2019t done himself any favours by collecting a cheque from the murderous Saudi regime at the Riyadh comedy festival, something many will justifiably feel is inexcusable.<\/p>\n
Still, among the \u201ccancelled\u201d comedians, he\u2019s refreshing because he has no illusions about clawing back mainstream favour and accepts he screwed up.<\/p>\n
Rather than being self-pitying, CK\u2019s novel seems preoccupied with the hardness of marginalised lives. However, hearing him on Theo Von\u2019s podcast describe his protagonist entering his mind unbidden makes one wonder if the book is an unwitting piece of inner-child therapy.<\/p>\n
Its period somewhat indeterminate, Ingram is a Bildungsroman about a simple-minded yet dogged boy who is born into poverty so abject his ailing mother sends him off alone, convinced he will fare better solo. His familial life is so brutal that these early sections are almost poverty porn. The neglected nine-year-old\u2019s ignorance is so total as to be implausible. You may initially dismiss Ingram\u2019s voice as cutesy ventriloquism in the mould of Forrest Gump and feel the snides on X have a point.<\/p>\n
But as Ingram\u2019s journey through Texas picks up, the sheer force of CK\u2019s empathy renders him a living, breathing character. The misery is leavened by how Ingram, through stages of development and picaresque encounters, comes into his own and makes simple joyous discoveries such as drinking Coca-Cola. Ingram\u2019s Martian-like unfamiliarity with the world lets us see it anew through his eyes.<\/p>\n
CK\u2019s comic sensibility \u2013 looking at things so simply that we see them afresh \u2013 is a good fit for a child\u2019s voice, but while the book isn\u2019t completely devoid of humour thanks to Ingram\u2019s misunderstandings, one wonders if CK is straining for worthiness by keeping things largely po-faced.<\/p>\n