A Monk Swimming: A Memoir - Softcover

McCourt, Malachy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786884142 ISBN 13: 9780786884148

Publisher: Hachette Books, 1998

Synopsis

Slapped with a libel suit after an appearance on a talk show, Malachy McCourt crows, "If they could only see me now in the slums of Limerick, a big shot, sued for a million. Bejesus, isn't America a great and wonderful country?" His older brother Frank's Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, Angela's Ashes, took its somber tone from the bleak atmosphere of those slums, while Malachy's boisterous recollections are fueled by his zestful appreciation for the opportunities and oddities of his native land.

He and Frank were born in Brooklyn, moved with their parents to Ireland as children, then returned to the States as adults. This book covers the decade 1952-63, when Malachy roistered across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, but spent most of his time in New York City. There his ready wit and quick tongue won him an acting job with the Irish Players, a semiregular stint on The Tonight Show hosted by Jack Paar, and friendships with some well-heeled, well-born types who shared his fondness for saloon life and bankrolled him in an East Side saloon that may have been the first singles bar. He chronicles those events--and many others--with back-slapping bonhomie.

Although McCourt acknowledges the personal demons that pursued him from his poverty-stricken childhood and destroyed his first marriage, this is on the whole an exuberant autobiography that pays tribute to the joys of a freewheeling life.

About this title

Review:

‘One of the funniest books I’ve ever read. Everyone should rush to buy it’
Irish News

‘A drunken exhilarating version of the American dream’
The Observer

‘One grows to like Mr McCourt for his honesty, sympathise with him for his struggle... and laugh and sweat with him when the authorities seem to be closing in... a funny, oddly winning book’
New York Times

From the Back Cover:

'I WAS A SMILEY, LITTLE FELLA WITH A RAGING HEART AND MURDEROUS INSTINCT'

Malachy McCourt, younger brother to Frank, has his childhood portrayed in the much loved best-selling book, 'Angela's Ashes'. Here he tells the story of his own hell-raising days when he left Ireland and went in search of fame, fortune and fun in New York.

“Truth is I knew I couldn't do anything but tell stories and lies".

And tell stories he does. In turn longshoreman, saloonkeeper, raconteur, and actor, most of the book takes place in an assortment of watering holes whose occupants drink and talk too much.

'A Monk Swimming', the story of a life lived uproariously, is light-hearted and immensely readable, outrageous and comic.

"One grows to like Mr. McCourt for his honesty, sympathise with him for his struggle...and laugh and sweat with him when the authorities seem to be closing in...a fun, oddly winning book".
New York Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Hachette Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0786884142
• ISBN 13: 9780786884148
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304