Knick Knack Paddy Whack

Rating:
Summary: Ardal, I was disappointed
Review: Oh it had potential, it really did! If only he had gone through it a bit more, cleaned up a bit of the grammar and etc., we'd have quite a good piece before us. Ardal, I am disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: A great portrayal of small-town life in Ireland
Review: This book is a very true portrayal of small-town life in Ireland; to me the plot wasn't such a big deal, I was engrossed by the character depictions, it felt like the ending was put in almost as an afterthought. This is simply great "observational" literature. I think that some of the low ratings for this book reflect a cultural mis-understanding/wedge between the Irish and Americans. Being an Irishman living in America, I can understand that the Irish sense of humor can seem shocking to folks here; I thought this book was hilarious, and it goes to show that humor is subjective. Paddy's verbal lashing out at everyone and everything around him is his way of dealing with the world. You can extend that to a lot of Irish people. Remember that Ireland has been a disenfranchised, colonised, oppressed, invaded state and that reflects on the people. Maybe when America has lost its empire, this kind of thing will go down much better!

Rating:
Summary: Terrible waste of time.
Review: This was a horrible book. I didn't care about any of thecharacters, so when the alleged "shocking conclusion"happened I didn't bat an eye. Felt very disappointed that I wasted my time on this book, hope no one else does the same.

Rating:
Summary: A good first book by a talented comedian
Review: When I started reading this book I found it hard to put it down...picking it up at every free moment I had and continueing to read on. I must admit, though, that the "shocking conclusion" didn't actually shock very much, but for Ardal's first book it was very good. Will deffinately check out future books by this irish comedian!