The Road to McCarthy (Hardcover)

This time around, McCarthy's lengthy pub crawls, sticky ferry trips and sporadic reflections on roots, religion and the heritage industry cover a wider area of the world map. Otherwise, it's really more of the same.

And that's fine by me. I love McCarthy's writing. I find it wry, witty, self-deprecating and deceptively sharp. And yes, it does make me laugh out loud on the bus. But beneath the blokey banter there are genuine and surprisingly subtle insights into some of the big issues facing twenty first century westerners.

For McCarthy, these are mostly to do with working out a sense of belonging in an increasingly dislocated, commercialised and globalising culture. Neither fully English nor fully Irish, and not truly at home in either place, it's not surprising that he uses travel writing to pursue his theme.

McCarthy is particularly good on the human need to build some kind of sensible narrative around our lives. Pointing out that no-one wants to live their life as experimental drama, he puts up quite a defence for the exploding interest in genealogy and the quest for a family story, which many of us have learnt to dismiss with a sophisticated sneer. He certainly pushed me to rethink that one.

Maybe it's an age thing - I probably wouldn't have felt this when I was twenty five - but I'm quite happy to give McCarthy's favourite themes a second go. And if they are surrounded by some entertaining but perceptive and thought provoking descriptions of his life and times in New York, Tasmania and several points in between, then that's fine too. Even if most of his life and times there are spent in scummy bars. Again.

But then, you may have experienced McCarthy's Bar as nothing more than a crass catalogue of repetitive drinking sessions in the company of a dull and irritating bore, whose main pastime is taking swipes at the English, the Irish and any other available nationality. In that case, The Road to McCarthy will probably seem like a cynical and lazy attempt to sell the same book twice.

You pay your money (or not) and you make your choice . . .

The Road to McCarthy is similar to its predecessor in the sense that it once again follows Pete on his quest for identity: He explores his roots - just as he did last time around - and stumbles upon the history of the McCarthy clan, and the supposed McCarthy Mor. Sounds unusual - far-fetched even? That's because it is. Far from tainiting the feel of the book however, it adds a mysterious quality and sees the author trekking the globe in a highly unusual detective adventure. McCarthy frequently reprises his role of teacher and historian as he lapses into fact mode, interspersed with tales of the unusual people and places he encounters on his travels. So entertaining are the accounts of events he has witnessed or conversations he has taken part in, that I frequently found myself asking 'how does he FIND these people?' The answer is simple; they flock to him. He is a magnet for strange personalities, and thank God he is because I haven't enjoyed a book this much in a long time.

The author journeys further afield in this book than the last, with his adventure taking him to Montserrat, Montana and Tasmania. It was the section set in the latter that I found the most interesting, with its often moving documentation of convict settlements upon the Australian island. It's certainly eye-opening, and I frequently found myself staring at the words in disbelief. The treatment of the prisoners - many sent there for stealing just a hankerchief or a loaf of bread - was shocking. It is exactly this storytelling technique that gained my respect for the author. One moment I was laughing alound at the absurdity of a situation, and the next saddened by his descriptions of these historic events.

It is rare for a sequel to surpass its predecessor in terms of entertainment value, but The Road to McCarthy does just that. It is a warm, witty and marvellously entertaining read, which is at the same time educational. Whether or not Mr McCarthy draws any conclusions from his experiences I really couldn't say. One thing is for certain however; I can't wait to see what he's got in store for book number three.