The Reason You're Alive

The Reason You're Alive by Matthew Quick, 226 pages.

David Granger, a crusty, profane, and un-apologetically non-pc Vietnam Vet tries to forge a better relationship with his son after he, Granger, has surgery to remove a brain tumor. Somehow his relationship with his son is the least interesting and believable part of the book. It seems to me that if someone who has known you for their whole life thinks your a racist and an asshole, it's probably not just because of your colorful language; they would have seen your sensitive side at some point.  Quick, author of The Silver Linings Playbook, among other novels, has created a complex character in Granger. He's quick to anger, prone to violence, and though demonstrably (ehhh) not a racist, uses racially charged language. Quick shows him to be, as the story unravels, at his core a kind and loving man..It was a very enjoyable book, especially so in audio format; R.C. Bray does a great job reading this. He really became the character for me, so much so that when I started another audiobook immediately after this one and found that Bray was the narrator, it was so jarring that I had to put that book aside for later. Granger has to work on some other relationships besides the one with his son, and these subplots are more satisfying, making this a book worth reading.