Rating: 
Summary: Tender tenderness...
Review: If 44 has not yet been translated into Spanish, may I offer myself for this task. I have always been very close to the C.Brothers, my brother (who died in that dreadful airplane crash in Los Andes) was educated by them though they were NOT as they are shown by Sheridan! at least in Uruguay!! Should this be of interest to somebody, please email me. I really enjoyed the book so much, it shows so much tenderness... Thank you very much. Rosario MartÃnez Lamas
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully charming
Review: If you enjoyed the memoir Angela's Ashes or `Tis, than 44 is a must. The life of Peter Sheridan will make you laugh, cry and want to live in the wonderful world of 44 Seville Place Dublin. Thank you Peter Sheridan
Rating: 
Summary: A Rewarding Read
Review: In the opening chapter of his memoirs, Peter Sheridan pedals off on his bike to run an errand for his father. Even at the age of 8, there's no way he could get lost in his own city. He "loves the statues and monuments. If Dublin were a woman, he'd marry her."*** "44 Dublin Made Me" will invariably be compared to Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" on the sole count of being Irish. The Irish, however, are a diverse people, and life in Dublin is very different from life in Limmerick. McCourt's family faced scraping poverty, whereas Sheridan's family (by no means millionaires) have a steady home environment, food on the table, and the constant presence of both parents raising a large brood. *** Peter Sheridan focuses on the decade of the 60s which begins with childhood innocence (getting a TV for the first time) and makes his way through adolescence and two defining events in the author's life -- a disturbing encounter on a train at age 13 and later the death of a family member. *** Sheridan has a wonderful voice for storytelling. He stays true to his kid spirit and endears without being precious. And in fine Irish tradition, every laugh has a tragic edge and every sadness is survived by some beauty.
Rating:
Summary: A Rewarding Read
Review: In the opening chapter of his memoirs, Peter Sheridan pedals off on his bike to run an errand for his father. Even at the age of 8, there's no way he could get lost in his own city. He "loves the statues and monuments. If Dublin were a woman, he'd marry her." *** "44 Dublin Made Me" will invariably be compared to Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" on the sole count of being Irish. The Irish, however, are a diverse people, and life in Dublin is very different from life in Limmerick. McCourt's family faced scraping poverty, whereas Sheridan's family (by no means millionaires) have a steady home environment, food on the table, and the constant presence of both parents raising a large brood. *** Peter Sheridan focuses on the decade of the 60s which begins with childhood innocence (getting a TV for the first time) and makes his way through adolescence and two defining events in the author's life -- a disturbing encounter on a train at age 13 and later the death of a family member. *** Sheridan has a wonderful voice for storytelling. He stays true to his kid spirit and endears without being precious. And in fine Irish tradition, every laugh has a tragic edge and every sadness is survived by some beauty.
Rating:
Summary: A Rewarding Read
Review: In the opening chapter of his memoirs, Peter Sheridan pedals off on his bike to run an errand for his father. Even at the age of 8, there's no way he could get lost in his own city. He "loves the statues and monuments. If Dublin were a woman, he'd marry her." *** "44 Dublin Made Me" will invariably be compared to Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" on the sole count of being Irish. The Irish, however, are a diverse people, and life in Dublin is very different from life in Limmerick. McCourt's family faced scraping poverty, whereas Sheridan's family (by no means millionaires) have a steady home environment, food on the table, and the constant presence of both parents raising a large brood. *** Peter Sheridan focuses on the decade of the 60s which begins with childhood innocence (getting a TV for the first time) and makes his way through adolescence and two defining events in the author's life -- a disturbing encounter on a train at age 13 and later the death of a family member. *** Sheridan has a wonderful voice for storytelling. He stays true to his kid spirit and endears without being precious. And in fine Irish tradition, every laugh has a tragic edge and every sadness is survived by some beauty.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent look at sixties Dublin.
Review: Peter Sheridan's Irish family is a cherished read. In descibing his fathers makeshift bathroom, Sheridan states that he used his own toilet paper made from a local telephone directory..."He's down to the r's...he's now wiping his arse with the Rileys"....Pure Irish dry humor at it's best! The loved and classic Beatles' "Sgt.Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" album is brought to life once again for us all. This book is a great look at a loving Dublin family, through their good times and bad times, in the 1960's. Very worthwhile!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent look at sixties Dublin.
Review: Peter Sheridan's Irish family is a cherished read. In descibing his fathers makeshift bathroom, Sheridan states that he used his own toilet paper made from a local telephone directory..."He's down to the r's...he's now wiping his arse with the Rileys"....Pure Irish dry humor at it's best! The loved and classic Beatles' "Sgt.Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" album is brought to life once again for us all. This book is a great look at a loving Dublin family, through their good times and bad times, in the 1960's. Very worthwhile!
Rating:
Summary: A Dublin valentine
Review: Simple, beautiful, and thoroughly engaging in the spirit of "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha" and "The Commitments." Dublin Nort'soiders at their best, managing to find love and spirit of community no matter what happens.
Rating:
Summary: The Lines Are So Fine
Review: When you read a McCourt memoir you read of bleak reality, a reality rarely tempered with happiness much less joy. There is humor, however of the sort that more often increases your respect for those who are able to find humor where few could even imagine it. At times the light moments are not so light, just bright in comparison to what you have read. At the other end there is Brendan O'Carroll and his trilogy of, "The Mammy", "The Chisellers", and "The Granny". This is fiction and it is outrageously funny, so much so that when there is a tragic event the pain you feel from laughing often tempers the darker moments. And then there is Peter Sheridan's work, "44 Dublin Made Me". And this work lies somewhere between the two others I have mentioned. I enjoyed the book a great deal. At times it is almost a hybrid of the other three Authors I mention, for even though it is a memoir and does contain painful events, they are not as painfully presented as I think they need to be for readers. I am in no manner diminishing the pain of the Sheridan Family; I am expressing a writing issue, or perhaps a stylistic point. There seem to be more of these Irish Memoirs as of late, and as they have been widely read, they by definition either create or reinforce notions people may have already brought to the book. The issue that I struggled with was the manner in which some material was presented, some was absolutely funny, and other issues were anything but humorous. I don't believe they ever can be humorous. And this is the part of the book that failed for me. The writing was a bit too neat and slick for want of a better word. The experiences of a young child read as an accomplished Author had written them rather than a talented writer bringing the thoughts of a young man across as a child may view them, but as an adult would read them. The book is very good and it's one I would recommend. I felt it worth noting that the story of any country or the people that live there can become a commodity. I don't believe that to be the case with this book, but I feel the first steps on a slippery slope are waiting to be trod upon.
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