Round Ireland with a Fridge

Rating:
Summary: The Remarkable Story of a Quite Pointless Achievement
Review: Given the choice of touring Ireland with a Ferrari or a fridge Hawks provides an unassailable case that you will have a far more enjoyable time if you leave your Italian monster in the garage.

As a fan of Bill Bryson's repartee and Theroux's narrative, the otherwise non-event of circumventing Ireland with a fridge makes for an eye-twinkling, beer-consuming epic that surely some day a Hollywood director will recognize. He may need a few pints of Guinness and his "beer goggles" on before he recognizes this work of genius for the masterpiece that it is.

Hawks skill as an accomplished comedian who is a regular on BBC Radio traverses to a very readable book.

If you've read the title and cannot possibly conceive why somoene might attempt such an excercise then this book is for you. Hawks recounts the confusion, verve and passion that is created on what can only be accurately described as a marathon pub-crawl, with talking point in tow, around the worlds best venue for pub crawling.

If anything this book serves to explain why anyone would take on a bet for 100 pounds involving buying a fridge costing in excess of the winnings.

The one question that remains that after it's travels, immersion in the Atlantic and use as a dirty laundry repository, did the item in question work when plugged in?

Rating:
Summary: the meaning of life
Review: Of course everyone from Plato to Ariana Huffington has chimed in with there view of the meaning of life, but one feels they miss the mark just so. Not Tony Hawks, with fridge in tow, he reveals the three secrets of a truly happy life -- stout, friendship, and a goal.

Now if your goal is to hitch-hike around Ireland towing a fridge behind you, well... then the friendship and stout take care of themselves. In a hilarious read Hawks recounts his adventures in Irealnd after having bet his friend 100 pounds that he could hitch-hike around Ireland towing a fridge with him.

Don't dawddle, buy this book! I would sell you mine, but I've only just finished it and already want to start reading it again.

Truly laugh out-loud funny...

Rating:
Summary: This is not supposed to be a travel book!
Review: Many reviews here have critisised this book as being a rubbish travel book. This is not a travel book and was never intended to be a travel book. It is simply the story of a man who travelled around Ireland with a fridge - end of story. I am Irish and remember when all this happened - I remember listening in to the radio show every day to hear what he was up to and remember his arrival to Dublin when nobody came out to see him. It is therefore interesting to read his actual story and see what was really happening behind his story on the radio. But it's not a travel book!

Rating:
Summary: Laugh Out Loud
Review: I don't normally read travel books, but my husband is an avid devourer of same, and so when I gave him this as a gift, I was curious. He would read a few pages and then laugh. A lot. Out loud. I wondered what on earth could be so funny in a travel book. I had never read a book which made me laugh out loud. So after he had finished, I began reading the book.

I just couldn't put it down. It was hilarious, right from the ridiculous premise where the author agreed to a drunken bet to hitch-hike round Ireland with a fridge as a travelling companion. He meets a quite a few eccentric characters along the way, none of whom I knew (at least I don't think so, but you can never be quite sure. Nearly everyone in Ireland knows someone who's a cousin of someone else's cousin or brother, or aunt... you get the idea.)

My favourite line has got to be when asking for directions, the author got the reply, "You can't get there from here."

It's so funny because it's true, people do say that, I'm a culprit myself.

How did he manage it? Did people really let the madman with a fridge get into their cars and their lives? Read the book and find out, you won't be disappointed.

You'll be laughing out loud too.

Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of Silent Screams and Shadows of the Rose.

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: Sweet, cute, silly, and entertaining, but hardly uproarious
Review: This is a fine book if you seek a light, fun read. If you have an taste for the cute, the sweet and the absurd you'll find it entertaining. However, in terms of what you might expect based upon the setting and title, and recognizing how much more the book could have been, it is somewhat disappointing.

As Hawks stresses, his is a pointless exercise and adventure. The fact that he enjoys such success, and encounters so many kind, good hearted people who are above taking themselves too seriously, and who are willing to play along and help him in his hitchhiking journey, is uplifting. Furthermore one is touched by the unhesitating generosity that he encounters. He comes to some realizations about the importance of human relationships which are truly substantive and profound. They are presumably the underlying thesis, and make the book worth reading.

What detracts from the book is how Hawks contrasts most of Ireland from the more serious minded, task oriented world. While his intent is probably to draw a favorable contrast between Irish priorities and attitudes and those of other cultures, particularly the English who Hawks uses as his reference, he unwittingly betrays typically British attitudes about the Irish. This comes across through subtly condescending descriptions which convey the impression that he finds the Irish less productive, less focused, less mature, and even childlike. He also continually reinforces the negative stereotype that the Irish typically spend much of their time in ongoing, excessive consumption of alcohol. The book almost suggests that "only in Ireland...". Maybe it would be less grating if the writer weren't English.

This would be a good book to read on the plane or by the pool. However, don't expect to learn much about Ireland, or even the Irish by buying it.

Rating:
Summary: Most fun I've had in a while
Review: What happens when a drunken British comedian bets his buddy he can circumnavigate Ireland with a fridge? You get a hilarious story of Tony Hawks and his travels across the green Isle.

Although the topic sounds contrived, you'll find yourself laughing as Tony takes the fridge surfing, sleeps in the (literal) doghouse, and gets adopted by a local radio station.

The humor is light, self-depracating (like all good travel stories) and quick to give you a smile. Some sections may even make you spit milk through your nose. Enjoy for some good laughs!

Rating:
Summary: More comedy! Less history!
Review: This is one of those rare travel boks where you feel completely wrapped up in the adventure without learning anything about the country it takes place in. (Minus the fact that in Ireland, every pub has it's own drunk. Which is nice to know.) Tony Hawks mixes two great forms of comedy; One being his observational humor about the oddities of the characters he meets. The other being the fact that he was funny in real life. Hearing his recaps of what he did and the speeches he give are well worth the price of admission.

Rating:
Summary: A hilarious read, great for sharing
Review: I got this book on the recommendation of some friends. I ended up reading it to my wife over the course of several weeks.

With two of us to share the comedy this was a wonderful book. Plenty of tales of possible disaster saved at the last minute by the present of The Fridge.

Recommended for anyone who feels like a pick me up. And definitely a great read to share with a friend!

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.