Items related to Emerald Germs of Ireland
One of Patrick McCabe's funniest books'There is something special about the relationship we all have with our mothers...' Meet Pat McNab, forty five years old, often to be found propping up the bar of Sullivan's Select Bar (not that Mrs McNab knew that - oh, no - she and Timmy the barman didn't get along at all) or sitting on his mother's knee singing away together like some ridiculous two-headed human juke box. But that was before we begin the story - Emerald Germs of Ireland could, more accurately described as Pat McNab's post-matricide year...Patrick McCabe's new book tells the stories in the life of Pat McNab - a soft lad who is living with his dead mother and fending off the meddlesome ways of his small town neighbours. Mrs Tubridy, the turf man and the like. It has some quite golden moments of comedy as well as the maniacal twists and turns that are the hallmarks of McCabe's genius.
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Emerald Germs of Ireland combines the unstoppable narrative of McCabe's Booker-shortlisted Breakfast on Pluto with the ballad-like episodic format of Mondo Desperado; the result is McCabe's most disciplined and best book to date.
Review:
Pat McNabb is a sad sack of a man, 45 and still living at home with his abandoned mother--indeed, still sharing her bed and often to be found seated "on his mother's knee, the pair of them singing away as though they were some ridiculous kind of two-headed human jukebox". But then a thwack from a black saucepan takes away the life of mother McNabb and Pat embarks on an odyssey to cover up his heinous crime, taking a terrible toll on visitors to his house, including a lovestruck childless friend of his mother's and a scheming neighbour with designs on his land. Now his mother's songs haunt his life, at once provoking painful reminiscences and dictating the ingenious nature of the serial killings.
The plot allows McCabe to indulge his trademark grand Gaelic guignol, but even in its most excessive moments there's a sympathy for poor Pat that raises this above its inherent cruelty into something truly affecting. --Alan Stewart
‘Emerald Germs is an extraordinary confection. Melancholy, nasty, and extremely funny’ Jane Shilling, Sunday Telegraph
‘A mesmerising, disturbing and sometimes wildly funny book’ Carolyn Hart, Marie Claire, Book of the Month
‘A mesmerising, disturbing and sometimes wildly funny book’ Carolyn Hart, Marie Claire, Book of the Month
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- PublisherPicador
- Publication date2001
- ISBN 10 0330391615
- ISBN 13 9780330391610
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages384
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EMERALD GERMS OF IRELAND.
Published by
Picador, London
(2001)
ISBN 10: 0330391615
ISBN 13: 9780330391610
New
Hardcover
First Edition
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. This copy is in new, unmarked condition bound in black cloth covered boards with black titling to the spine. This copy is bright, tight, white and square. The unclipped dust wrapper is in new condition. International postal rates are calculated on a book weighing 1 Kilo, in cases where the book weighs more than 1 Kilo increased postal rates will be quoted, where the book weighs less then postage will be reduced accordingly. Meet Pat McNab, forty-five years old, and about to embark on a homicidal rampage sparked by matricide. Or is he? Pat spent endless hours chain-smoking and propping up the counter of Sullivan's Select Bar (not that Mrs. McNab knew anything about it -- she and Timmy the barman didn't get along at all) or sitting on his mother's knee singing away together like some ridiculous two-headed human jukebox. But that was all before the story really began -- Emerald Germs of Ireland is in essence Pat McNab's post-matricide year. Pat, who now spends many of his waking hours sitting by the window in his old dark house, watching videos and nibbling abstractedly on pieces of toast, reflects on those long-gone days with Mommy, while fending off the persistent interferences of his small-town neighbors: the puritanical Mrs. Tubridy; that irascible seller of turf, the Turf Man; Sgt. "Kojak" Foley, and other unwanted snoops who could soon come to regret their inquisitive, nose-poking ways. This is Patrick McCabe at his fiendish best. Dark, emotionally powerful, and surreal, Emerald Germs of Ireland is also his funniest work to date, masterfully displaying the anarchic twists and turns that are the hallmarks of his comic genius. Ref III 2. Seller Inventory # 030528
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