McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery in the West of Ireland FROM THE PUBLISHER
One man's hysterical journey around the emerald isle in search of namesake pubs and his Irish roots —A #1 bestseller in Ireland.
Pete McCarthy has long held a deep love for his mother's homeland and admits that, despite the many exotic places he has visited, nowhere can match the particular magic of Ireland. To find out whether this is due to overwhelming nostalgia for childhood holidays or to a deeper tie with the country of his ancestors, Pete sets off on a trip around Ireland. Travelling through spectacular landscapes, but at all times obeying the rule "Never Pass a Bar That Has Your Name On It," he encounters McCarthy's Bars up and down the isle, meeting fascinating, friendly, funny people before pleading to be let out at four o'clock in the morning.
Written by someone who is at once both insider and outsider, McCarthy's Bar is a wonderfully funny and affectionate look at modern Ireland.
About the Author:Pete McCarthy is the writer and performer of many series for radio and television, including the BBC's "Desperately Seeking Something," and Channel 4's "Travelog," for which he won the Travelex Award for Best TV Travel Writer. McCarthy's Bar is his first book.
FROM THE CRITICS
Daily Telegraph
Funny, informative, intelligent. I'd go anywhere with this
man.
London Times
Jocular, but never patronising, McCarthy is the ideal guide.
Library Journal
Fans of Bill Bryson will enjoy reading McCarthy's droll narrative of his rediscovery of his family's roots in Ireland. Winner of the Travelex Award for Best TV Travel Writer, BBC personality McCarthy takes the reader on an odyssey through Ireland, where he unfailingly obeys his rule: "Never Pass a Bar That Has Your Name On It." The son of an Irishwoman and an Englishman, McCarthy spent many idyllic summers in the Emerald Isle and here revisits places he remembers from his youth. Traversing rural areas from Cork to Donegal, McCarthy observes that although much has changed, the Irish people of his childhood have not. Humorous and history-laden, McCarthy's debut is already a No. 1 best seller in the land of his forefathers and is sure to be popular in public libraries.--Sandy Knowles,, Henderson Cty. P.L., NC Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
An affectionate portrayal of the eccentricities and charms of western Ireland by a quintessentially self-deprecating British traveler. Following in the footsteps of Eric Newby and Redmond O'Hanlon, BBC writer McCarthy takes us along on his rather pointless but colorful wanderings in western Ireland. Raised in northern England, as a child the author often spent long holidays with his mother's family in Eire—well before the country became the trendy, buffed-up place that it is today. Like Frank McCourt (whose Angela's Ashes put considerable fat into the fire of the current craze for the Emerald Isle), McCarthy occasionally waxes sentimental about the old days when things were gray and parochial. Early on he wonders,"Is it possible to have some kind of genetic memory of a place where you've never lived, but your ancestors have? Or am I just a sentimental fool, my judgement fuddled by nostalgia, Guinness, and the romance of the diaspora?" Mercifully for us, McCarthy (although he rightfully bemoans the theme-park atmosphere that accompanies economic prosperity and development) is no self-righteous moralizer ruing the fact that his ancestral countrymen now have a bit of money in their pockets. Neither is he a know-it-all bore. Well aware that a good companion is the first necessity of a good trip, the author scrupulously avoids pedantry and never misses a chance to ridicule his own ineptitude. (Chancing upon a 19th-century sheep shed that has recently been remodeled into a bed and breakfast, he gleefully relates the landlady's remark after shaking his hand:"Sure, ye can see ye've never done a hard day's work in your life.") Unfailingly sharp, good-humored, and offbeat:suretoplease Celtophiles of every greenish hue.
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