Pete McCarthy (1951–2004)

This was a wildly entertaining book. A lot of people here have complained that McCarthy is "too English" for this to be a good book about Ireland but I think that's why I enjoyed it so much. I'm not Irish (unless you count ancestry like just about everyone else in America does) so this is a witty, charming look at Ireland from an outsider's point of view. Sure he has immediate family there and had been over the sea many times, but it still felt like this was the first journey and I could use this to help map out my own visit to Ireland. Who wants to see the same cities and things every other tourist does when you could take something like this book along and see a more behind-the-scenes Ireland.
I enjoyed the fact that, while McCarthy does take some undue cracks at Ireland and her people, he takes just as many cracks at himself and his own world view. This is an experienced traveler who isn't writing a travel novel, but is just talking to the reader as he goes on his own adventure. I like that he's not talking at you but to you through this, as if you're there with him. It made this book so much more enjoyable than the more academic travel books I've read before.
I would recommend this to anyone with a sense of humour and an interest in Ireland, even if to just expand their world view.… (more)

“The barman-shopkeeper was in his sixties, and a cardigan.” (p.35)

And so it goes on. A laugh out loud account of Pete McCarthy’s physical and spiritual journey through the West of Ireland. I just loved it. I feel my words won’t do him any justice, so I let him speak a bit more:

"‘Specially grown for flavour’, claim the supermarket’s Dutch tomatoes. Well, what other reason is there for growing tomatoes? Speed? Comfort? An ability to glow in the dark?" (p.34)

I love this kind of humour. Then, a strange thought occured to me halfway through the book. I felt like I was travelling with him when it suddenly hit me that he was no longer alive. This thought kept coming back. How can I accompany him on his journey when he is not treading this earth anymore? Does it provide any comfort for his loved ones? Do they feel being in his company again when they’re reading his book(s)? Or his absence is even more painful, probably.

Then, I completely forgot he wasn’t alive, just as he started contemplating about his own mortality. (I guess that makes sense though, dead people usually don’t ponder about it much. I think. Or maybe they do. Anyway.)

“[T]he crucial secret of human happiness: that it’s better to do a few things slowly, than a lot of things fast.” (p.272)

The book turned more serious but this didn’t spoil it at all. On the contrary, it made it better, special. A bit more than a funny guide. I guess the true talent lies somewhere there, in entertaining the reader and not taking oneself too seriously, looking at everything with a great sense of humour but acknowledging what is serious. It is even more powerful that way: when the funny guy turns grave, you know it is really important.

A final advice from Pete McCarthy:
“If life is a book, then read it while you can. Don’t save up any pages for later, because there might not be one.” (p.305)

A bit longer review here: https://blueisthenewpink.wordpress.com/2016/03/17/lets-read-the-most-hilarious-g...

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Hangosan felröhögős, nagyon szórakoztató kalauz Írország nyugati részéhez, és az emberekhez (nem csak az írekhez). Közben vele együtt keressük a helyünket a világban. Nagyon jó volt vele utazni. Sajnálom, hogy nem írja már meg azt az észak-írországit soha.… (more)

For some reason I got bogged down a little more than halfway through this book, and put it aside for quite a few weeks, but I always knew I wanted to come back to it, and am glad I did. I think that after hearing it so heartily recommended by so many people for so many years, I had a nearly fatal case of too high expectations, but I can't deny that Pete McCarthy is a good writer, with an eye and ear for the telling detail, and a deep affection for Ireland and the Irish. McCarthy's Bar is often funny, and sometimes surprisingly contemplative and heartfelt. I could have done with fewer mean-spirited jabs at fat American tourists (We mean well, Pete. Really.), but have to admit that when I'm in Ireland I always steer well clear of the kinds of places where he finds them in most egregious abundance, so perhaps I'm not fully in touch with how monstrous my compatriots and I seem in a place like Killarney or Knock. All in all, a worthwhile read that goes a long way towards explaining why the Irish are so very good at making people feel that they've come home, and why those of us who have spent a lot of time there are never really sure we should leave.

Sad footnote, that I only found out after I'd read the book and written this review: Apparently Pete McCarthy died in 2004 at only 52 years old. Towards the end of the book he quotes a man who is in the business of setting up Irish pubs all over the world on why they have succeeded so well in Italy. "The Italians are like us," he says. "They value family and religion, and having a good time because you're a long time dead." (p. 329). It seemed like Pete McCarthy followed this reasoning and got a lot out life, and I am doubly glad about that now that I know his was so short.… (more)