McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery in Ireland - Softcover

McCarthy, Pete

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312311338 ISBN 13: 9780312311339

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2003

Synopsis

The #1 Irish Bestseller

Despite the many exotic places Pete McCarthy has visited, he finds that nowhere else can match the particular magic of Ireland, his mother's homeland. In McCarthy's Bar, his journey begins in Cork and continues along the west coast to Donegal in the north. Traveling through spectacular landscapes, but at all times obeying the rule, "never pass a bar that has your name on it," he encounters McCarthy's bars up and down the land, meeting fascinating people before pleading to be let out at four o'clock in the morning.

Written by someone who is at once an insider and an outside, McCarthy's Bar is a wonderfully funny and affectionate portrait of a rapidly changing country.

About this title

Review

The premise of Pete McCarthy's first book is that you should never pass up the opportunity of having a drink in a bar that shares your name. There is clearly more to this plan than the obvious publicity stunt, since it seems to work with books as well--my favourite author is Cormac McCarthy and, after reading this hilarious, informed and intelligent book, I am tempted to buy books by every other McCarthy around.

Born in Warrington, Pete McCarthy decides to go back to rural Ireland, to rediscover his Irishness. The feeling that you have heard this sort of thing all before doesn't last for long. There is a serious writer struggling to make himself heard above the many excellent jokes and this is what makes McCarthy's book so distinctive. Although he can crack Brysonesque quips with the best of them ("I've often wondered how businessmen used to cope before [mobile phones] were invented. How did they tell their wives they were on the train?"), and take us through hilarious and largely drunken set-pieces, McCarthy is equally at home discussing Celtic standing stones and the potato famine.

The resulting book is a wonderful debut. By the end, we, too, would like to move to Ireland. You sense that McCarthy has such a genuine feeling for Ireland, Irishness and Irish history that he can only temper his writing with side-splitting humour. In this way, hisfirst book successfully embodies much of what it is to be Irish. --Toby Green

Review

"The funniest book I've read this year." --John Walsh, The Independent (U.K.)

"A travelogue of Ireland told through great set pieces and jokes...The author seems to have a natural aptitude for meeting funny, strange, and fascinating people. This book will make you laugh out loud." --The Irish News (Belfast)

"McCarthy's Bar is so unrelentingly funny it needs to be taken in small doses...When it comes to playing stooge in ridiculous travel situations, he makes Michael Palin look shy and Bill Bryson positively somber." --The Australian

"[McCarthy] is a worthy addition to the ranks of P.J. O'Rourke, Bill Bryson and Peter Mayle...He narrates a series of hilarious and surprising adventures with an acerbic eye and a comedian's gift for timing...This wonderful debut will appeal to readers who are looking for a well-observed travel guide, or simply for its incisive hilarity." --Publishers Weekly

"[McCarthy's] chronicle of what he heard in these neighborhood gathering places/social clubs/confessionals was quintessentially Irish, which means hilarious, sentimental, surprising and revealing." --The Dallas Morning News

"McCarthy makes an amiable traveling companion - witty, affable, with an endearing knack for meeting, or attracting, the most eccentric characters...With self-deprecating wit and a sly sense of the absurd, he makes even the most mundane experience entertaining." --Booklist

"Unfailingly sharp, good-humored, and offbeat: sure to please Celtophiles of every greenish hue." --Kirkus Reviews

"Fans of Bill Bryson will enjoy reading McCarthy's droll narrative of his rediscovery of his family's roots in Ireland." --Library Journal

"McCarthy's Bar is as far removed from the staid, traditional travel guide as one likely could get and still learn where to go, what to see, how much it might cost and what to expect." --San Antonio Express News

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0312311338
• ISBN 13: 9780312311339
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352