Rating: 
Summary: A Most Bizarre Travelogue
Review: I love this book. The premise is that due to a bet while under the influence he has to hitchhike around the perimeter of Ireland in a month. The fact that he paid more for the fridge than the value of the wager makes the concept even more entertaining. Some have criticized (I believe unfairly) the book for not being a detailed travel journal. I think that is a factually correct statement, but the point here is not to be a serious travel guide, but to be a humor book about funny experiences during a very odd odyssey. There are many amusing moments in the book, some of which are so well written that they made me laugh out loud. Purists may argue that it is a rather smallish fridge, but I don't think that matters; it's the concept of hitchhiking in a foreign country with a large, ungainly peculiar object that matters here. Tony Hawks is a very strange, and very funny man. If you are interested in a book filled with unusual comic characters and situations, this would be hard to beat.
Rating: 
Summary: Very highly entertaining...but Bryson it is not
Review: I picked this up on a whim from an Amazon UK travel e-mailing and I am quite glad that I did. Hawks' tale is quite amusing - how could a tale about carting a fridge around a country not be? - and is a progressively better read as it goes along. Yet after reading the likes of Bill Bryson's _Notes From A Small Island_, I couldn't help but be slightly disappointed. It is perhaps an unfair comparison, because travel writing has not seen any better than Bryson's work in that volume - where the humor and insight on the culture being examined (that of the UK) was simply impeccable. Bryson knew his subject very well, and his past experience with the native culture made the book so effective. Hawks essentially went into the fridge experience knowing nothing about the culture, and thus the treatment of Irish life is somewhat superficial. Invariably, any book taking the same sort of approach of Bryson's book (itself the Dave Barry version of Paul Theroux) will seem somewhat weak in comparison. Yet, all the same, of its own merits, _Round Ireland..._ is a quite enjoyable read - laugh-out loud funny enough to justify the cover price, and will be of particular interest to Eirephiles.
Rating: 
Summary: Charming, fun, and a real upper
Review: I picked up this book from the library on a whim, and found it perfectly delightful. The author makes a drunken bet to hitchhike around Ireland carrying a fridge, and decides to carry through with it. In the course of his travels, he encounters everyone from Swan Rescue to a real live King, takes his fridge surfing, and finds new and exciting uses for a doghouse ... The combination of Hawks' willingness to try just about anything, and the Irish fondness for embracing impossible quests (the madder, the better), makes for a fun read. And, although he sometimes strains for a one-liner, he comes across as a likeable chap and a fun companion on the journey. (I recently visited the West of Ireland, where I have family connections, and had a wonderful time, so this book helped me to re-live it.)
Rating:
Summary: Drunken "walk in the woods"
Review: I picked up this book on a trip to London based soley on its cover, putting down a copy of another travel book by Bill Bryson. It seemed kind of dumb, but potentially funny. I was very pleased to find that this book was well-written with sharp humour, insight, and rich descriptions of the author's travels around Ireland with a small dormitory-style refrigerator. It did turn out to be quite a stupid idea, but that's what makes the book an enjoyable read; there's really nowhere to go but up from that point. The fridge goes surfing, gets blessed by a nun, and travels with a horse while Tony makes numerous friends along the way. If you like the British flair in the novels of Nick Horby and Helen Fielding and enjoy travel writing, you should enjoy this book as well.
Rating:
Summary: FUN FOR THE FAMILY!
Review: I read this book (entirely) on a flight from Boston to Brussels on the way to a family vacation in italy and France. Luckily, the plane's ambient noise was so loud most people couldn't hear me laughing. Two days later, my wife had finished the book. Two days after that my 16-year-old daughter had finished it. And a day later my 13-year-old daughter had finished it. I didn't give it to my 8-year-old son. But I can say all of us enjoyed it immensely, and that I believe, as opposed to a previous reviewer, that it is FUNNIER than Bill Bryson's Walk in the Woods. Buy it and enjoy. I'm buying five more to give as presents!
Rating:
Summary: A 'cool idea' as one of the newspaper puns put it.
Review: I read this book recently after 'McCarthy's Bar', but wish I'd read it first. I can see however where Pete McCarthy pinched his ideas from. Hawks hawked (sorry!) his way around Ireland with trusty companion and, with a lot of help from RTE, in particular Gerry Ryan, gained a lot of free hospitality, which would be unthinkable in almost any other country. Yes, it was a daft idea, but it seems that not only did many people laugh with - as well as a few, at - the eccentric English 'eejit', but he himself felt a great deal of warmth for the country and it's people. The surfing had me in stiches and the Batchelor Festival cringing with embarrassment for him. It's only a shame that he didn't circumnavigate the whole island, only flitting in and out of the 'British' bit and rushed from Wexford back to Dublin.
Anyway, highly recommended, it takes a few chapters to get 'into' but it's worth it!
Rating:
Summary: Good Summer Read
Review: I would recommend this book to anyone who is Irish, into travel, or has ever made a druken bet and been tempted to follow up on it. This book is a quick light hearted read. I started laughing from the begining right till the end.
Rating:
Summary: fridge man!
Review: If anyone outthere is trying to understand the way irish people think and get into their sychee.... then this book is for you. The strange thing is that it is the truth about the way we think as paddy's!
Rating:
Summary: Bravo!
Review: If there has ever been a more idiotic bet someone actually went out and did, I'm not aware of it. Round Ireland With A Fridge is a wonderful, light-hearted read. Part humor, part traavelogue, Hawks does a wonderful job of describing his month hitching around Ireland. I highly reccomend this book.
Rating:
Summary: hilarous tale...not a travel guide!
Review: If you like Bill Bryson and those of his ilk, you will enjoy Tony Hawks' ludricous adventure. I laughed out loud while reading it. The whole tale starts from a ridiculous bet and Tony Hawks tells it with that dry humor the English do so well. My only complaint is the story started to get redundant--he spends a lot of time visiting the local pubs and they're much the same after a while. He does, however, meet some interesting characters,reminding you that truth is often stranger (and funnier) than fiction. If you are looking for a guide to Ireland--where to go, what to see--this isn't it. If you just want a good laugh in a quick read, pick up this book!
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