I found this in a hospice shop. I was v.saddened to hear of his recent death (any author's death; any early, painful, mourned passing). I will enjoy this i'm sure, a fitting legacy...

Pete McCarthy RIP

(7/12) Review to follow

This was a slow-burn for me; early on I thought there was a bit too much of the awld oirish blarney; I thought it was going down the self-indulgent rambling route of Bruce Chatwin’s Songlines. But, that was the point, it was about story telling and the journey being more important than the destination. As McCarthy pointed out, it’s no surprise that the ‘stream of consciousness’ writing style started in Ireland, because that’s how people talk there!

The subtext of the journey for PM was to revisit places in West Ireland where he had spent happy times as a boy, and to try and understand if he ‘belonged’. Its great to see his Irish side (social, communicative, funny) fighting with his more reticent, dry-witted English side. It makes for a funny book, but also contemplative on the nature of place defining who we are, and our ability to make life-changing decisions to live your own life; be the person who you are, and not view the world through rose-tinted (green-tinted?) glasses.

Released on Tuesday, December 14, 2004 at about 1:00:00 PM BX time (GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) at The Knights Templar pub, 95 Chancery Lane in London - Chancery Lane, England United Kingdom.

RELEASE NOTES:

Taking to London meet-up or will release wild sometime today...

I read this sometime ago but it wasn't as hilarious as I had expected. (Maybe I am getting fussy!). However I did enjoy it.

I didn't realise that he has passed away though. Will take another look. I am going to release it somewhere....