There Is No Meant to Be

A warm, witty, and wonderful book. A memoir that picks away at the rules of the form and finds something new underneath, Jarred McGinnis' story - told through dream, memory, speculation, and vivid confabulation - is a wild ride, and I'm entirely on board -- Jon McGregor Jarred McGinnis has a unique storytelling style, caustic, hilarious, unflinchingly honest and so captivatingly humane, I couldn't put this book down. Jarred's life is populated with the most intriguing characters and I loved spending time with them all. Part memoir, part story collection, part raucous celebration of what it means to be alive, there's something to enthral every reader in this book -- Jan Carson There Is No Meant to Be beautifully accesses the space(s) between novel and memoir, between masculinity and humanhood, and between physical matter and the imagination. Not only does the narrative rearrange literary boundaries, it dismantles stereotypes, rules, truths, histories and impossibilities, even the idea of the self. It’s a long time since I’ve read anything so raw and intimate, so daring and disobedient. I was left feeling certain that if anyone is capable of playing the ace in a hand of cards against The Fates, it's Jarred McGinnis -- Sarah Hall Astonishing, so funny and clever - the most beautiful and truthful song to the pain present in a good life -- Evie Wyld A fierce yet tender family saga - part memoir, part memory, part visionary. McGinnis writes with a rare, unsentimental honesty that takes your breath away. I loved this book so much and cannot recommend it highly enough. In a world teetering on madness, here is an ode to truth, courage, and the beautiful power of vulnerability. Stunning -- Elaine Feeney There Is No Meant To Be is quite unlike anything I've read before. It's a multi-layered, many-textured masterpiece that blends memoir with family myth and pure fantasy. It's a book that exposes the ambiguities of life: the fury and frustration that accompany love, the ugliness alongside the beauty, all told with McGinnis' characteristic dark humour and what feels like a dangerous level of honesty -- Charlie Gilmour