O Brother

By: John Niven

Narrated by: John Niven

John Niven’s little brother Gary was fearless, popular, stubborn, handsome, hilarious and sometimes terrifying. In 2010, after years of chaotic struggle against the world, he took his own life at the age of 42.

Hoping for the best while often witnessing the worst, John, his younger sister Linda and their mother, Jeanette, saw the darkest fears they had for Gary played out in drug deals, prison and bankruptcy. While his life spiralled downward and the love the Nivens’ shared was tested to its limit, John drifted into his own trouble in the music industry, a world where excess was often a marker of success.

Tracking the lives of two brothers in changing times – from illicit cans of lager in 70s sitting rooms to ecstasy in 90s raves – O Brother is a tender, affecting and often uproariously funny story. It is about the bonds of family and how we try to keep the finest of those we lose alive. It is about black sheep and what it takes to break the ties that bind. Fundamentally it is about how families survive suicide, ‘that last cry, from the saddest outpost.’

©2023 John Niven (P)2023 Canongate Books Ltd

Critic reviews

Oh my God, this book! O Brother feels like war-level reportage from the nuclear-blast that suicide inflicts on a family. [. . . ] The honesty is unflinching, the humour night-black, and yet the sheer energy and power of the writing means you can, as I did, inhale it in just two sittings [. . . ]. A book whose genuine importance is only equaled by its sheer, visceral, compulsive readability (CAITLIN MORAN)

Absurdly well-written, painfully funny and painfully painful (ADAM KAY)

Heartbreaking and heartwarming (WILL YOUNG)

Hilarious and Tragic

John Niven is laugh out loud funny at times when describing some of the more chaotic episodes of his brother Gary’s life, but in essence this is a moving and deep description of what drives someone to suicide and the painful repercussions for those left behind. It’s even more affecting by being read by the author himself. Highly recommend.