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Summary: One of Ireland's best comics!
Review: I should've expected nothing less of Brendan O'Carroll. This book had me laughing and remembering the memories of people and faces I have of northside Dublin, much in the way Roddy Doyle did with his Barrytown Trilogy. How true to reality this story is. He has accurately portrayed family life in Dublin, at least as I've seen it. In addition, O'Carroll had a delicious plot that really captured my heart. I'm off now to find books two and three in the series. Until then, I just may read The Mammy again.
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Summary: Fun read, not to be confused with "Angela's Ashes"
Review: This book was a simple book,a feel good book, about a family facing difficult times. The situations inevitably work out for the Brownes, this is a work of fiction, and you feel good for them as a result. There is no heavy lifting here and this book should not be confused with the work of Seamus Deane, Frank McCourt or Roddy Doyle for that matter, however it does make for some fun summer reading.
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Summary: A great book to read aloud!
Review: I received this book for my fifteenth wedding anniversary and read it over the course of several evenings and afternoons to my huband. We enjoyed it so. At times we had to stop to wipe the tears from our faces because we were laughing so hard. I can't remember the last time if ever we experienced as much laughter at a movie. I strongly recommend the book, just for the fun of it!
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Summary: Can't believe this book gets a 5-star rating. It's awful!
Review: This is not Angela's Ashes, or anything by Roddy Doyle (and I can't believe the latter wrote a blurb for it; for shame). This book is so bad, and obvious, you're "scarlet" for the author. One example is the stupid thread at the start about the son having problems with his willy, and the mother going through contortions thinking willy is a friend. I felt like I was six years old again at a pantomime, where the whole audience is in on the joke, and Twink is standing up there like a moron, going Willy Who? I bought this in Dublin Airport when I had to kill a few hours, and after the first forty minutes reading it, seriously contemplated spending the remaining two hours studying the menu at the snack bar. It was so bad, I tried to hide the cover so no one else could see I was reading this crap. And I ditched it in the waste basket in the loo when I left. It's annoying (but I suppose inevitable) that these books keep on coming. But that's the last one I waste my money on.
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Summary: Working class life in Dublin Ireland in the 1960's
Review: The Mammy is a great read! The cover alone caught my eye. The characters made me laugh out loud-on the train-during rush hour! I am looking forward to the next book in this trilogy. Go Agnes!
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Summary: Brendan O'Carrol has a great knack for the Irish wit.
Review: A must read book especially if you are Irish. The irish wit and humor is throughout the book. Thank God there is more to come, hated to finish the book. The Irish sure have a way of laughing at their own misery. Brendan O'Carroll makes the reader feel they are a part of it.
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Summary: An Absolutely Hilarious Fun Summer Read
Review: This book is incredibly funny and entertaining. When I saw the cover, I was expecting it to be be another book about a destitute Irish family. Boy was I wrong! The family is rather poor, but "the mammy" doesn't let that get in the way. They are a happy bunch. I laughed my way through this book.
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Summary: A mixed comic bag from Ireland
Review: At first I couldn't get even a smile from this often overly cute (sometimes annoying) comic fictionalized memoir of life in 1960s Dublin. O'Carroll's love of his characters is evident, but his penchant for malapropisms was often irritating. How can Agnes not know how to pronounce orgasm (let alone not know what one is) and be fully aware of a male child's biological changes in puberty? Why is she ignorant about certain adolescent slang terms for body parts and yet completely clued into every other word? It bothered me that he contrived these elements for cheap boyish body part jokes and it made Agnes seem stupid instead of naive (which I guess is what he tried for, but naivete certainly doesn't suit her). But when Agnes defended the nun's attack on her daughter's hair I finally laughed out loud. Any character who belts a nun with a cucumber earns major points with me since I wanted to do so years ago when I was attending a Catholic school. Maybe I didn't envision a cucumber as my weapon of choice, but I still longed to give a real sock to several of the nasty tempered nuns who often pulled hair and slapped students when screaming didn't suffice. From this point on (about one-third through) the novel finally comes alive. But for all the rest of the bothersome gags and pseudo-clever antics I did enjoy this book. It's not literature, for sure, but for anyone with a little of the Irish or Catholic in him it's worth a breeze through. It'll make a good airline book - you can speed through this light reading in a day easily.
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Summary: I felt like I was back in Dublin.
Review: This was an excellent book that truly captures the essence of growing up in Dublin. I felt as if I were sitting in a pub listening to my mother and my aunts retelling their own stories. I laughed aloud many times, and was touched by the strength of the women and their relationships with each other and their families.
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Summary: Get Your Cheeky Charlie's
Review: The Christmas rush in Henry St, the last minute shoppers, the dealers trying to sell the last of the Christmas wrapping paper, as you try to beat the crush in Dunnes Stores, Woolworths or Roches Stores and the colour, sights, sounds and smells of Moore St. 'The Mammy' brought it all back for me! The run to the bus on D'Olier St laden with socks for your Da and 4711 soap and bath salts set for your Mammy, as you try to make it home in time for a drink with your friends before midnight Mass. 'The Mammy' brought it all back! In the days of the Beatles, I was a big Cliff Richards fan and would loved to have danced with him. This is a great book. I loved Agnes and Marion. I admired their innocence and their strength. I envied their enduring friendship. Go read this book and be transported back home, even if you grew up on the south side!
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