- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Merlin Publishing; 1st edition (10 Mar 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1907162054
- ISBN-13: 978-1907162053
- Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 12.8 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 244,601 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
'This is a wholly delightful book, shedding a new and kindly light on the Shankill and those who live there.' --Irish Independent , April 17, 2010
Product Description
It's Belfast, 1975, and a 12-year-old boy wearing Brut aftershave has just been appointed paperboy to the Upper Shankill by Oul' Mac.
The smell of Tayto cheese and onion crisps is on his breath, and the aroma of fresh fish suppers and burning double-decker busses is in the air. It is the era of platform shoes and parallel trousers, and Paperboy is taking guitar lessons with Mr Rowing so he can play along to the Bay City Rollers.
Belfast in the seventies is like the newspapers he delivers: everything is black and white, albeit Orange and Green. There are bombings and killings on the evening news, but Paperboy is more interested in Doctor Who and Top of the Pops, bonfires and outer space, and of course, Sharon Burgess.
It is a time of hate and conflict, but Paperboy's only battles are with acne, dentistry and the wee hoods out to rob his paper money. The streets are ruled by the IRA and the UDA, but Paperboy is under the spell of a less threatening acronym: ABBA.
There are secrets at school and dangers on the streets, but Paperboy is happy, so he is. He is a good paperboy. He delivers.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Tony Macaulay is a respected professional community relations and youth worker based in Belfast. For example, he has written independently, "A discussion paper proposing a five phase process for the removal of 'peace walls' in Northern Ireland".
This book is his story of being a 12-year-old paperboy, living in the Shankill area of West Belfast. I, too, was a 12-year-old paperboy, but that's where my shared experience starts and ends.
Tony so well tells his story. It is actually difficult for adults to write in the prose of childhood. The retrospective voice is usually readily apparent. But here in Paperboy, you really do see the world from this boy's experiences.
It's a world of not quite comprehending the sectarianism and violence around you, and doing your best to get on with what really matters to most 12-year-old boys -- your mates, your music, and earning some pocket money to spend on your girlfriend.
And just like a youngster, there are key words that regularly reappear in the dialogue -- Sharon Burgess, "the only pacifist paperboy in Belfast", Bay City Rollers, "so I was".
Indeed, Tony writes in the local vernacular so well that the only criticism could be that he didn't include a glossary! This Yank has lived here long enough to not need one for Paperboy (!), and some phrases like, "God love the wee dote" probably pass without translation, but me thinks Tony should provide one for the American edition ("Och, ballicks!"). And/or subtitles when the film comes out!
Amidst all the humour, though, there is the reality of the environment that Paperboy grows up in. He notices more and more "peace walls" -- "... we were brilliant at walls in Belfast -- they were going up everywhere, higher and higher, all around me".
It's actually his dad who says to a neighbour who is demanding an even more walls, "Did you never think that it might be our side that's bein' walled in?"
And 35 years on, we have made little progress on dismantling our walls in Northern Ireland, whether physically or metaphorically. May Paperboy encourage more of us to put more effort into this.
This book is his story of being a 12-year-old paperboy, living in the Shankill area of West Belfast. I, too, was a 12-year-old paperboy, but that's where my shared experience starts and ends.
Tony so well tells his story. It is actually difficult for adults to write in the prose of childhood. The retrospective voice is usually readily apparent. But here in Paperboy, you really do see the world from this boy's experiences.
It's a world of not quite comprehending the sectarianism and violence around you, and doing your best to get on with what really matters to most 12-year-old boys -- your mates, your music, and earning some pocket money to spend on your girlfriend.
And just like a youngster, there are key words that regularly reappear in the dialogue -- Sharon Burgess, "the only pacifist paperboy in Belfast", Bay City Rollers, "so I was".
Indeed, Tony writes in the local vernacular so well that the only criticism could be that he didn't include a glossary! This Yank has lived here long enough to not need one for Paperboy (!), and some phrases like, "God love the wee dote" probably pass without translation, but me thinks Tony should provide one for the American edition ("Och, ballicks!"). And/or subtitles when the film comes out!
Amidst all the humour, though, there is the reality of the environment that Paperboy grows up in. He notices more and more "peace walls" -- "... we were brilliant at walls in Belfast -- they were going up everywhere, higher and higher, all around me".
It's actually his dad who says to a neighbour who is demanding an even more walls, "Did you never think that it might be our side that's bein' walled in?"
And 35 years on, we have made little progress on dismantling our walls in Northern Ireland, whether physically or metaphorically. May Paperboy encourage more of us to put more effort into this.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This funny, heartwarming memoir about growing up on the Shankill Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland during some of the worst years of the 'Troubles' will leave one pondering, "What are the things that make for peace?" The word 'Shankill' is synonymous with the worst of what bigotry can do to people, and with some of the worst excesses of paramilitary violence in Northern Ireland's history. Catholics in Northern Ireland cannot help but think of the "Shankill Butchers," a group of Protestant men who brought a reign of terror and death to Belfast's Catholic community in the 70s. But Tony's memoir of growing up in the Shankill during this same time period shatters all the worst stereo types of the bigoted Protestant the Shankill Road is famed for producing. Through firsthand experience with violence Tony concludes, "If someone hits you, you hit him back harder. It felt satisfying and powerful, but I knew this way solved absolutely nothing. I saw it every day in Belfast. Tit-for-tat for tit-for-tat. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a Catholic for a Protestant. Men excusing heinous acts of inhumanity to protect or liberate 'their' people, belligerently sowing pain and bitterness for generations to come. I suppose it made them feel powerful too. I got a little taste of it that night with my father and the wee hood, but I spat it out. It sickened me. There had to be another way. I resolved that I would be Belfast's first pacifist paperboy." (pg 35.) Through the remainder of the book this young paperboy turns his attention away from all the violence around him in pursuit of fulfilling his dreams - saving money to go to the Bay City Rollers concert, enjoying his mates from the local youth-club he participates in, and his first girl friend. What stands out is not how much the violence and Troubles all around him dominate his childhood memories, but just how much humor and hope shines through. It is obvious that Tony's life was made richer and his childhood dreams of peace were nurtured by adults around him. At times the books is so funny I was reduced to tears. In spite of terror, fear and death being a constant theme in each newspaper the paperboy delivered - all this bad news could not suffocate or stifle this young boy's dreams. I am reminded of one of the core rights of children as stated in the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Children (No 38), "In times of war do not make us part of any battle, but shelter us and protect us from harm." This book is an artful and humorous testimony to the adults who knowingly or unknowingly did just that for the author of this book, and has left me wondering - "what are the things that make for peace?"
A delightful and surprisingly thought provoking book. David Moser
Paperboy
A delightful and surprisingly thought provoking book. David Moser
Paperboy
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Excellent memoir, funny but with a number of poignant moments. A real insight into the life of an ordinary boy in working class Belfast during some of the worst times of the Troubles. If you were a Bay City Rollers fan you will also enjoy the re-telling of their visit to Belfast to play a concert there. For any Northern Irish child of the 70's it brings back memories of long gone things like spangles and snake belts, not to mention the great fashion of the time! Dr who fans get a look in too.
You don't need to know much about Northern Ireland but this book will give you an insight into the humour and stoic nature of the people of Belfast during some very dark days. A very human book - really worth a look.
You don't need to know much about Northern Ireland but this book will give you an insight into the humour and stoic nature of the people of Belfast during some very dark days. A very human book - really worth a look.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Paperboy
This is a good book but I'd question the accuracy of some of the things mentioned in it. My wife grew up in the same area, around the same time as the author & she reckons that... Read more
Published 24 months ago by Xandalree
it just took me back...
I grew up in the troubles and this book transported me right back to my childhood.It gives a true potrayal of that time as not everthing was about bombs and bullits we were... Read more
Published on 26 April 2010 by G. Malcomson
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