After surviving a car accident Jarred wakes up in hospital and is told that he won't walk again. As the details of the timeline that led up to the accident are revealed we are taken back to his childhood and what unfolds is a story of disability and how our accepts this but also forgiveness and redemption.

The synopsis of the novel sounded really interesting and I wasn't disappointed but what I wasn't expecting is to become so emotionally invested in both Jarred and Jack's story; never have I ever wanted a book to finish with a happy(ish) ending more. The characters were fully rounded and 'real' carrying their damage and doing their best to start again and I couldn't recommend this book more highly.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

Part memior/part fiction is an interesting take.

A tough read at times but I'm glad that I persevered. Both uplifting and utterly depressing.

There was lots to like about this book; interesting characters and lots of emotion but ultimately, I felt the actions of the main character (Jared) were too frustrating. Still, it was a powerful story that dealt with topics such as alcoholism, parenting, and dealing with trauma really well.

Jarred is a troubled soul, recently confined to a wheelchair after a car accident. He has no option but to return to his childhood home, and to a father he hasn't seen for ten years. He experienced a troubled childhood, with alcoholic parents and the death of his mother, followed by the deterioration of his relationship with his grieving father.
The novel builds up a picture of Jarred and his life, each chapter shifting between his past and his present situation. He's angry and rebellious, but likeable and self deprecating, He still blames his father and himself for all that has happened including his mother's death, and although he tries to rile his father, their relationship slowly begins to heal. Jarred fights this as best he can, but ultimately they rekindle their love for each other.

Although this sounds like a sad read, it is easy to get caught up in Jarred's story. I was eager to keep reading not just because the narrative was engaging, but because the writing flows along easily. The characters are authentic, and the story redemptive.

I really enjoyed this book and was glad to have read it.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced review copy.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A combination of memoir and fiction in this book. A good read if you want something a little different. Thought-provoking and sad in places. A recommended read.

Very different read for me but it is a well written story focusing on the difficult life of Jared, his relationship with his family particularly his father Jack and the tragic events and characters surrounding various stages of his youth and early twenties. The story weaves between these timelines and is more about the mental health issues, feelings and attitudes he faces in the journey to adulthood and following a trauma (which leaves him disabled but never really gets fully explained in the book).It’s a good read though with some interesting characters and insights. The loose ends I think allow the reader to invent their own conclusions which I quite like!

Absolutely completely fabulous book. Totally gripping and heart rending and beautiful. Excellent discussion starter on WHAT IS AUTOFICTION, EXPERIMENTAL FICTION , MEMOIR, NOT-MEMOIR. Genuinely brilliant. Can't wait to see/hear/read more from Jarred.

This has an usual plot based around a disabled young man. It was possibly part bio and part fiction. Jarred finds himself homeless, jobless and living with his father who is an alcoholic. Jarred himself is a very troubled soul who was somewhat wayward as a teenager. He is sarcastic to others with regards to his disability after an accident and gives us able bodied a great insight into his life and struggles. Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC and I look forward to more from this new writer.

It was Ok but I couldn’t get into it purely because it was memoir and part fiction. I found it hard to read because of this. But it also gave W huge insight of how something can have such a huge impact on your life and be destructive

This was well written and heart-breaking. You couldn't help liking Jarred, even though he could be such a pain. He was partly victim of circumstance, but he didn't actually help himself and didn't appreciate the devastation his own actions caused. He didn't seem to understand that blame lay partly with him - yet it was his awful accident that gradually brought him to his senses. I thought the relationship with his father was so well done - obvious they had warm feelings for each other, but couldn't bear to admit it. I'd love to know how much was fiction and what was fact.

I am DNFing this book since I found it self indulgent. Writing a fiction about your story is a no for me.

A challenging read at times facing disability, discrimination, self destruction and a family torn apart. Following an accident Jarred thinks life can't get any worse. But can life get better? Is it time to heal emotionally even when your body is broken. The author is a wheelchair user so this brings a reality to the emotional side of Jarred. A great read which at times is uplifting.

A combination of memoir and fiction this book is a wonderful story, a story of guilt, fear, anger, and hurt. It's well written and pulls you in, each chapter jumps between past and present but I followed this fairly easily, even without anything marking the time line.
While I enjoyed this book, I wasn't expecting the slur that popped up in chapter 48, and the ending was too abrupt, I felt like even just a sentence or two to close it off would have been better.

Ah this was such a tough read at times! The story begins with the main character in a horrific accident. Then everything changes. This book explores themes like relationships, addiction, disabilities, and trauma and it does it really well, without feeling too negative, despite the subject matter. A brilliant read I'd recommend to anyone.

"The Coward" by Jarred McGinnis is a novel in which the protagonist is named after the author and is a wheelchair user, like the author, but it's not a work of memoir. We see Jarred in the present and also through flashbacks to his past. Themes include loss of a parent, grief, alcoholism, strained relationships and the enduring power of friendship and first love. It's a story of adjustment and growth, utilising humour throughout, as Jarred comes to terms with an altered way of life.

This is a good read, albeit a tough one at times, about a troubled character who ends up in a wheelchair (the story starts there) and it follows his emotional review of his life, relationships and errors.

It's part fact, part fiction and written very movingly about loss, addiction and pain and yet has humour woven through it.

It's confusing at times as it moves back and forth, but, overall it's a solid, interesting, challenging, thought provoking read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

This book was different to my usual choice of read, but I did like it. It definitely makes you think about certain situations and things that might happen to people and how this will change them. Whilst I did have to read this book in stages to take it all in, I would recommend this book to people looking for something other than an ease read.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is an incredible book. After a car accident, Jarred will never walk again. He is left without a job and he forced to go and live with his estranged father. The book explores family relationships, self confidence, self esteem and coming to terms with a devastating trauma. Gripping

I enjoyed this story, it was well written, had good narrative and good pacing and the characters were well developed and relatable. I read this quickly and would definitely recommend it

I thought The Coward was excellent. It is a tough read in places, but also funny, refreshingly honest and uplifting in places.

This is part memoir, part fiction (although I suspect more fiction than memoir); Jarred was a troubled, rebellious teenager whose mother has died and whose father is alcoholic. The book opens with him in his mid-20s, in hospital after a car accident which has left him permanently unable to walk and using a wheelchair. He phones his father, who is now sober, after a 10-year estrangement because he has no-one and nowhere else to go to. The book deals with Jarred’s coming to terms with disability, his shattered but possibly salvageable relationship with his father and his dealing with his own demons – which quite often make him a hard character to like.

It sounds unremittingly grim, but Jarred McGinnis writes extremely well, he structures the story very grippingly and injects enough wit and humour to make this an excellent read. He manages to avoid (and parody on occasion) the toxic positivity which seems to pervade so much discourse these days; being disabled, especially at first, can be emotionally and physically very tough and McGinnis shows both the personal aspects of this and the reactions of others to someone in a wheelchair, both good and bad. It’s clear-eyed and powerful but never self-pitying and nor is it a righteous polemic; it’s just a good story which also has important things to say about attitudes to disability, masculinity, resilience and the possibility of redemption – and what that may actually mean.

For me, The Coward was a very fine novel and a really good read which I can recommend very warmly.

(My thanks to Canongate for an ARC via NetGalley.)