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Amazon.co.uk Review
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. Be jesus, isn't America a great and wonderful country?" His older brother Frank's Pulitzer Prize- winning memoir, Angela's Ashes, took its sombre tone from the bleak atmosphere of those slums, while Malachy's boisterous recollections are fuelled 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 US as adults. This book covers the decade 1952-1963, when Malachy roistered across the US, 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 and a semi-regular stint on the Tonight show hosted by Jack Paar. And his friendships with some well- heeled, well-born types , who shared his fondness for saloon life, bankrolled him in an East Side saloon, which 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. --Amazon.com
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
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First Sentence
There is a story in our family that one day my mother was strolling along with my brother Frank and myself, and pushing our twins in a pram. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
There is a story in our family that one day my mother was strolling along with my brother Frank and myself, and pushing our twins in a pram. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read Angelas Ashes and Tis by Frank McCourt I decided that maybe Malachy McCourt could offer something of similar literary genious. I have never been so dissappointed!! It may be unfair of me to review this book as the writing style annoyed me so much I read little more than the first 50 pages.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It's a rare thing for me to laugh aloud from a book, but Mr McCourt managed it. some great scenes and one-liners in here. I was sad that the book ended, I felt I had lost a friend. I am looking forward to the sequel.
for instance, one part which made me laugh- Malachy McCourt buys a rubber stamp which reads 'DECEASED', and he stamps all his bills and returns them, naturally ending with his electricity supply bein cut off. the only light in his room is a big neon sign flashing outside his window, but he says 'I found that by co-ordinating my blinking with the sign flashing on and off, I could read quite well'
I read this first, and now I am reading 'angela's ashes' of the two, I certainly prefer the brother Malachy's book. It's a matter of personal taste I guess, as my sister far prefers '...ashes'. they are quite different styles. I found this book a real cracker tho, and full of interesting and funny anecdotes, as well as a lot of the colour and the celebrities of New York in the 50's and 60's.
for instance, one part which made me laugh- Malachy McCourt buys a rubber stamp which reads 'DECEASED', and he stamps all his bills and returns them, naturally ending with his electricity supply bein cut off. the only light in his room is a big neon sign flashing outside his window, but he says 'I found that by co-ordinating my blinking with the sign flashing on and off, I could read quite well'
I read this first, and now I am reading 'angela's ashes' of the two, I certainly prefer the brother Malachy's book. It's a matter of personal taste I guess, as my sister far prefers '...ashes'. they are quite different styles. I found this book a real cracker tho, and full of interesting and funny anecdotes, as well as a lot of the colour and the celebrities of New York in the 50's and 60's.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After reading 'Angela's Ashes' and the sequel 'Tis' I felt pleasantly surprised when I discovered that Malachy McCourt had also published an autobiography. Prerhaps naively I assumed that 'A Monk Swimming' would somehow fill my craving for more laughs that'Angela's Ashes' provided! Yet, Malachy McCourt writes with an air of arrogance, and an all too common and frankly, a distaseful contempt for the English, which is far too prevalent among many Irish Writers. One example of this ocurrs in the preface when he shows 'gratitude' to the English "who for five-hundred-years stuffed their language down our throats, which we regurgitated with glorious chourus"! Not in your case Malachy! If his swipes at the English were not bad enough, he seemed determined to complicate his syntax, which was so confused at times, that I failed to follow what was going on! All in All, if you feel compelled to read this book, then by all means do, and form your own opinion because I am interested to see what other people make of it.
If you want a great autobiographical read, why not try Kathleen Dayus who combines humour with tragedy so astutely, that it makes her books gripping reads.
If you want a great autobiographical read, why not try Kathleen Dayus who combines humour with tragedy so astutely, that it makes her books gripping reads.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
my favourite book
i can't put my finger on why, but I love this book. The story is genuinely interesting and in parts it is very funny. I would recommend this book to anyone!
Published on 21 Sep 2009 by Mr. T. Coverdale
Once I started this, I found it hard to pick it up
Let me begin by saying I am Irish. I don't know who the target audience for this book was, maybe the IRA fundraisers in the US? His rants against the Brits are so outdated... Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2008 by Chris Parsons
Yes, different from Frank
Malachy McCourt tells his story in a much different tone of voice than his older brother. Like Frank, he raises a smile in his readers but it's a cheeky one. Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2008 by MYB74
An entertaining tale
This is the memoirs of the larger than life, hard-drinking Malachy McCourt. Born in America, rasied in Ireland and then back to New York as an teen. Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2007 by M. A. Ramos
"Drunk" does not equal "clever" (or indeed "funny")
A very boring book about a drunk Irish bloke who thinks it is funny to go on a four day drinking bender when his kids are born. Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2006 by Mr. Simon Watson
Not Frank McCourt, but maybe that's okay
Malachy McCourt is Frank McCourt's brother (u know Angela's Ashes). It's very obvious that they are brothers. They've got the same kind of huomour and attitude to life. Read more
Published on 21 Aug 2005 by Faith
A disappointment
I bought this book after the cripplingly funny "Angela's Ashes", written by McCourt's brother.
I admit I haven't read the whole of "Monk Swimming". Read more
I admit I haven't read the whole of "Monk Swimming". Read more
Published on 4 July 2003
He must have kissed the Blarney Stone ...
Malachy McCourt's collection of yarns about his early years in the States make a hilarious read. Irreverent, boisterous and shrillingly anti-British, he regales us with tale after... Read more
Published on 13 May 2002 by charlettday@hotmail.com
Definitely put-downable
Entertaining, but technically not very well written as a book. McCourt would have done better to write these vignettes as short stories. Read more
Published on 2 May 2001
Interesting
i found this book to be very captive. It was very witty through out it and showed great inside to the mans head. Makes good reading.
Published on 27 Feb 2001
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