The Talk of the Town
13 journalers for this copy...
Patrick Scully, the wee bollox, is living life at large up above in Dublin and is trying to make his own way in the world. A typical story you might think a young man finding his feet, making new friends and trying to shrug off the mantle of a small town boy by moving to the big city. People left behind in small town Castlecock include young Joe, sister Val, the mentally unstable and infinitely suspicious Mammy and that pointy eared bollox Plunkett McKenna, all of whom don't really have that much to do with the story when alls said and done. Patrick was a promising youth - football star, spelling bee genius - but the demise of his Da, the local Guarda Patrick Scully Senior has sent him cantering off down the wrong path and there is no turning back now.
This book rang a lot of bells for me - from both Catholic and Prody bell towers in fact. A long time ago I moved to Ireland to work. I won't mention the town which was to be my home for a while but it bears some uncanny similarities to Castlecock, home of Patrick Scully, and it was characterised by a rocky outcrop topped by a historic monastery to which hoards of Americans flocked seeking a little bit of heritage. Located about half way between Dublin and Cork, both cities were regarded as hubs of the modern civilisation and also brightly illuminated devils traps, established not as centres of trade, commerce or learning but rather as places where the local youth were lead astray... straight on a path to the devil. If you wanted to make a break for freedom and get either above to Dublin or below to Cork then you'd have to get on the bus which ran erratically about once every three days. Apart from that if you didn't have a car or a tractor then you were fucked. And trapped.
The town had one high street which was populated by a small supermarket, a tourist information office (selling the kind of celtic themed nonsense that Patrick Scully steals in the book), a butcher, two turf accountants, an ill-founded Indian restaurant and about 28 pubs. My local was both the main pub in the town and also the undertakers. If you approached the building heading south, the sign on the gable said "Feeghan's Public House". The gable on the north bound approach said "Feeghan's the Undertakers". Sometimes people dropped down dead at the bar and were carried straight upstairs to be laid out. My neighbours were a local farmer who had a "special crop" and fancied himself as a Druid. Occasionally he'd turn up in his robes and get blind drunk in a corner. Other locals included a man who lived in a horse box and a man who'd fallen off the cliffs of Moher while inebriated and miraculously survived.
Based on my own personal experiences of the Emerald Isle I'd say that this book is the most truthful representation of small town Ireland I've ever read. It is also well written, vibrant, acute, accurate and will have you quietly grinning to yourself from the turn of the first page. I wonder how many Hail Marys Ardal O'Hanlon had to do after this was published?
This review is taken from my goodreads.com review page.
This book is now waiting to go travelling as part of a bookray.
Released 12 yrs ago (12/1/2011 UTC) at Liverpool, Merseyside United Kingdom
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
shovelmonkey1 - HOST
4evagreen - UK/UK
kingfan30 - UK/UK
pinkydinky - UK/EU
mysteriousmummy - UK/EU
EmgeeNL- EU/EU
lydoula - EU/EU
booksieboo - EU/EU
Icila - EU/Intl
hawksgirl - US/US<--------TRAVELLING HERE!
biibsw - CAN/ Intl
J4shaw - Aus/NZ
sfogs - NZ/...
Please try to keep this bookray moving in good time and always pm the next person on the list to ensure that they actually still wish to read this book by the time it gets to their turn. Hope you all enjoy it!
Thanks
Initially I liked Patrick, his was a character I could well imagine. He was stuck in a dead end job while many of his contemparies had gone onto college and unlike his best friend 'Balls' was not the most eloquent around strangers and with members of the opposite sex in particular, he was the sort of bloke that rather slipped through the cracks of society. I could relate with some of his experiences when he returned home to his family and village chiefly because of the similarities in my own life when I left home at 16.However, as the story progressed he became more and more dislikeable self-obsessed, homophobic, sexist, violent drunkard and ultimately self-pitying. He somehow believed that life owed him something rather than going out and grabbing it for himself. In truth the sort of person I dislike the most.
That said the story, for me, was always compelling and I certainly did not expect the way it ended. It is not a book that will live that long in the memory but as a comedian/celebrity's book it is one of the better ones that I have read.
Released 12 yrs ago (12/17/2011 UTC) at Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire United Kingdom
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
3 Jan 12 - I have only been to Ireland once and that was to Dublin, so my knowledge of small town Irish life is limited to what I have read in the past, and to be fair it does not appear too different to living in a small English village where everyone knows everyone and even the smallest scandal is spread like wild fire!
Patrick is not a likeable character by any means and I was thinking throughout this, just grow up and get a life! The way he was with Francesca was despicable, he seemed to forget he did the cheating first and as for stalking and reading her diary! I did like the fact we got to see her point of view though.
I knew from the beginning that this would not end well, but it kept my interest and I would be happy to read more by Ardal, although to be fair anything would have been better than the last read -Tristram Shandy!
Patrick slowly spirals out of control as the book goes on. I also liked the way that very slowly his past, in particular the death of his father, is gradually revealed.
The ending was a surprise in some ways but also inevitable.
Released 12 yrs ago (1/18/2012 UTC) at Bookring/Bookray, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- Canada
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
What a truely awful book if it hadn't been part of a bookring there is no way I would have persevered with it. The characters are one dimensional, unlikeable and badly described. I found it difficult to follow, confusing and disjointed and the less said about the ending the better. I am really shocked this is on the 1001 books list when there are so many better books out there that aren't. The only good thing about it was it is short.
Will pm the next recipient and send off as soon as possible.
Released 12 yrs ago (2/10/2012 UTC) at -- Controlled Release, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- United Kingdom
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
The book is ready to be mailed to Belgium.
Released 12 yrs ago (3/21/2012 UTC) at Exchange/Trade, A Bookcrossing member -- Controlled Releases
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Released 11 yrs ago (4/9/2012 UTC) at Ixelles / Elsene, Bruxelles / Brussel Belgium
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Like some other readers, if I hadn't signed up for this as a bookray, I wouldn't have had a good reason for reading it right to the end.
Thank you nonetheless for the opportunity to read it and form my own opinion.
I have the next reader's address and will be forwarding the book today or tomorrow.
Released 11 yrs ago (5/3/2012 UTC) at -- Per Post geschickt / Persönlich weitergegeben --, Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Thanks for sharing anyway.
Released 11 yrs ago (6/29/2012 UTC) at La Chapelle-sur-Erdre, Pays de la Loire France
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
Released 11 yrs ago (8/14/2012 UTC) at Washington, District of Columbia USA
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
I found mysteriousmummy a very fair summary of the book's characters, although it has always been my opinion that that description pretty much sums up those from that part of the world. The place at the time the book was written would best be described as 'bleak' and I think the author captures this well.
On the whole, I enjoyed the book.
Though it's another one off the list.