Rating: 
Summary: DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME....
Review: This book is a great dissappointment. If you are looking for the artistry Frank McCourt's ANGELAS ASHES you are not going to find it here. Malachy does not have his brother's gift for words. And who cares about his irresponsible youth all over New York and India?? It is a book that would never have been printed if it was not for brother Frank and his glowing succes with the fabulous ANGELAS ASHES. Take my word for it, don't waste your time with A MONK SWIMMING....please!
Rating:
Summary: Shallow book, badly written
Review: This wretched book's defenders say that its critics are just too uptight to appreciate Malachy's story, but they're wrong. Although he is not my favorite kind of person, what I most object to about this book is how poorly written it is: The narrative is episodic instead of thoughtfully plotted; the writing style comprises nothing more than cliches, cloying mannerisms, and juvenile attempts at cleverness; and the characters range from one dimensional (the author) to all but invisible (his victims). The book gives us absolutely no one to care about. Anyone who thinks it is well written doesn't know what good writing is.
Rating: 
Summary: chalk one up for malachy!
Review: Having read Angela's Ashes and knowing what a cute and charming lad Malachy was in childhood I was dying to know how he would "turn out." Needless to say, I was not disappointed....Malachy's misadventures made me laugh out loud and wonder if I would ever get to know someone that zany with a gigantic lust for life...both McCourt brothers have been blessed with the gift of storytelling...don't pass it up.
Rating: 
Summary: A major dissappointment after reading Angela's Ashes.
Review: On the coattails of his brother's classic hit(Angela's Ashes), A Monk Swimming by Malachy McCort is a singular dissapointment. This memoir can be summed up as a superficial glimpse into an arrogant Irishman's experience getting laid and drunk in America. I wish I had spent my money buying 'Tis by Frank McCourt, instead. However, I gave the book two stars because I'm Irish, too, and can relate to some of his humorous midadventures.
Rating: 
Summary: Frank Lite
Review: I enjoyed reading this book. It was a fun read about a guy I learned about in Frank's book and wanted to get to know better. Thus, I think it is necessary to read Angela's Ashes first. I found Angela's Ashes as moving and profound and darkly funny as everyone else. But, Frank can come across as a dour fellow with the odd manner. I can handle only so much of him at a time. While Frank is a wonderful writer in the tradition of the oral Irish story-tellers, Malachy is a barroom cut-up. He is funny and outrageous and tries to beef up his mostly light-weight stories with a colorful tapestry weaved from a golden Irish tongue. What makes Malachy's book interesting is how he responded emotionally to the poverty that Frank so well wrote about. Frank in Angela's Ashes tells us the facts of the poverty. Malachy tell us how it affected him as a young man just in America. A Monk Swimming puts some emotional meat on Anegela's Ashes. It is a delight to read Malachy's wonderful use of language. To read this book must be like listening to Malachy at the bar ruminating on some of the more interesting things to have happened to him and how he learned, or didn't, from the episodes. The most interesting parts of the book deal with his marriage and divorce. And the gold smuggling in India. The latter being absorbing if only for how bizarre it must have been to have lived through such events. As noted in a previous review, the dedication to the book is one of homage for Diana, who is not mentioned. As best I can tell, the book ends with Malachy at about 33. I smell a sequel here and a discussion of the lovely Diana. I look forward to reading McCourt lite redux as even now I am doing the big brother thing with 'Tis and looking for a good companion to have a drink and a story with when taking a break from Frank.
Rating: 
Summary: Bring on more Malachy!
Review: It serves no purpose to compare the two brothers. They are different writers/talents and different human beings. As my own personality tends to be more like Frank, I am particularly delighted with this fresh and humorously 'sobering' book from Malachy. (Couldn't help the pun.) Malachy is JUST TELLING A STORY - HIS STORY! Readers should try to get over their own personal, perhaps uptight issues and enjoy the humanity that Malachy is offering up. What a unique glimpse into a personality that most of us rarely see, or want to see, close up.
Rating:
Summary: My small soapbox.
Review: I am really shocked to read the other reviews of this book. Most of you are judging the PERSON in the story, NOT the actual book. I think that it speaks a lot for the author that people were so moved, even if to hatred, by his words and his story. If I were Malachy I would delight in these strong responses! And please, PLEASE remember, this is NOT supposed to be Angela's Ashes. How awful it is to be constantly compared to your sibling by complete strangers who think they know it all!! Read the book for yourselves rather than basing your opinion on all of ours! Take it out of your library if you're afraid of wasting money!
Rating:
Summary: Hillariously funny
Review: You will enjoy this book and the masterful use of McCourt's language. It will make you laugh out loud no matter where you read it!
Rating:
Summary: one-star reviewers: please re-read the book
Review: I am struck by the sheer number of readers that accuse the writer of unacknowleged shameless self-pity, debauchery, womanizing, and family neglect. The book is a honest, unadorned look at his life -- whether you see his life as funny or pathetic. Actually, I belive he flat out states in several instances in the book that he was pathetic, that he was a wonton womanizer, that was a lousy father and husband. He admits his stupid self-pity. I'm not so sure that he is revelling in all those 'fun and games' that are detailed in some of the passages about his debauchery. He tells of the debauchery, but in many of these instances he is, in essence, admitting the emptiness and remorse that follow behavior such as this. McCourt is simply revealing -- in a brutally honest narrative -- the events that led up to his split with his wife. You can easily draw comparisons with this type of writing approach -- read James Ellroy's "My Dark Places." In both books, the authors are less concerned about how people, God, or history will judge them, but are more concerned that an honest, unflinching assessment of their lives might create an uncompromising, and therefore interesting, insight into what makes them tick.
Rating:
Summary: Irritating and egotistical
Review: I've been taking a break from this book for over a month now. I just can't bring myself to go onto the next chapter. I'll admit i expected something "rollicking and fun" but this is just some ego-maniac given a soapbox to stand on. I wish I had just gotten the audio version as i think the language would've worked that way - seeing it printed out was just too irritating : "just a mo'"? I've finished 2 other books during the breaks i've taken from this one and at this rate I should be finished by Christmas.
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