Author John Niven tells of devastating impact of brother's suicide in new book
dailyrecord.co.ukThere is an agonising moment in John Niven’s memoir as he writes of his legs giving way and sliding to the floor after discovering his beloved brother’s debts.His younger sibling Gary was lying in a medically induced coma a few miles away in an Ayrshire hospital after the suicide attempt that would ultimately end his life.John’s pain is palpable on the pages as the bestselling novelist, known for his weapon-grade sweary prose, breaks down in his 42-year-old brother’s home after finding his electricity cut off and a raft of red unpaid bills.A few thousand pounds that in part resulted in his brother choosing to end his life.
Had he known, the former music executive would have paid it off in a heartbeat.A decade after Gary’s death, O Brother is the most brutally honest account of suicide and what it does to a family.
John, now 55, calls the book a forced confession. And the person he spares least in the telling is himself.He recounts without gloss his final harsh words over the phone to wayward Gary and the dismissive way he’d reacted over the years to his sibling’s low-level criminality.
Weary of his erratic behaviour, he was blind to the flashing red lights above his brother’s head, warning of what was to come.He said: “Suicide is like a Chernobyl of the soul.
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