Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Brilliantly captures the state of being 10-years-old, 10 Aug 2001
By A Customer
I had only read one Roddy Doyle short story before picking up 'Paddy Clarke...', and now I'm addicted. Doyle manages to write so convincingly from the perspective of a ten-year-old that it's impossible to put this book down. It isn't just the language (and the use of native terms is only a small stumbling block), but he also captures the mannerisms and thoughts so accurately. What results is a book that reminds you of your own childhood, the fun things, the scary things and the incomprehensible things. Paddy's bewilderment at grown-ups behaviour is explained through the application of child's logic - he is forever asking "Why?", and never gets an answer.The book has some hilarious moments, but never tries to be a comedy. It also has some tragic moments, which are treated lightly because of Paddy's minimal grasp of the adult world. He has many flaws which are obvious to the reader but hidden from his own view. Possibly the best book I have ever read.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
***It's my e-mail address...need I say more!?***, 27 Jan 2003
I suppose you need to have lived this life, at least in part, to truly recognise this book for all it's worth.Silver spoons, lavish christmas mornings, a never ending supply of pocket money, parents who couldn't say "NO!". Hmmm...perhaps those amongst you currently nodding internally should steer clear if 'seeing how the other half live' isn't your idea of a gripping read. Then again, it could be an education if you've no idea how the poor manage from day to day. 'Paddy Clarke HaHaHa' is a memorable insight to the trauma, tragedy, love and laughter of 'blue collar' family life. The fact that the main protagonist is a mere ten years old only helps stregthen the narrative. Each turn of events throughout the book is laced with the innocence and confusion surely ALL of us have experienced at one time or another during childhood. The book is more profound if you allow yourself to search through your own memories and connect to those of Paddy. It's not hard to do so if the home surroundings within the story and the events therein are familiar to you. Personally, they are...sometimes very much so. Doyle's observations, reactions and interpretations within the family unit are priceless. Anyone from a working class background will relate on every level. Read and be enriched....
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
A compelling and intuitive account of childhood. Brilliant., 5 Jan 2001
By A Customer
Having never read any of Doyle's novels prior to 'Paddy Clarke', I appoached this book with a certain naivety. I recall beginning this book on a crowded tube train and realising, almost immediately, that it was to be a novel of much depth and would require considerable concentration.The tale is told by a ten-year-old boy called Patrick Clarke and is set, as you would expect, in Dublin. It soon becomes apparent that to successfully navigate this book you must first learn to appreciate some genuine Gaelic lingo. This doesn't present too much of a problem as the learning process only adds to the enjoyment of the book. The account of Paddy's outlook on life conveys us back in time to an age when the world's greatest woes were classroom quarrels and would you make the under 11's football team this year. It's a truely nostalgic distraction from the troubles of adult life; it's the childhood we try to convince ourselves that we've left behind, but never leaves us fully. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is both hilarious and painfully tragic. It's an artful mix of warm-hearted humour and the trials of family life. Brilliantly written, Doyle portrays Paddy's endeavours in an enchanting, captivating and, sometimes, blatantly painful manner. This makes a recipe for a novel you just can't put down and puts in perspective the things we truely need to cherish.
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