More of wot I have read…

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, by Roddy Doyle

I had finished this book some time ago now, but I have been unable to write about it. It is a very difficult book for several reasons. The cultural references and language are hard to follow as Roddy Doyle writes in a particular late 60’s Irish vernacular. But, for me, the most difficult thing was that I found the main characters very troubling, almost alien. They are not necessarily evil, but they do exhibit the worst elements of children; bullies and cowards. If you like a challenging read go ahead, but I caution you there are parts of this book that are very haunting and desperately upsetting.


‘It is 1968. Patrick Clarke is ten. He loves George Best, Geronimo and the smell of his hot water bottle. He hates zoos, kissing and the boys from the Corporation houses. He can’t stand his little brother. He wants to be a missionary like Father Damien. He coerces the McCarthy twins and Willy Hancock into playing lepers. He never picks the scabs off his knees before they’re ready.

Kevin is his best friend. Their names are all over Barrytown, written with sticks in wet cement. They play football, knick-knack, jumping to the bottom of the sea. Shoplifting. Robbing ‘Football Monthly’ means four million years purgatory. But a good confession before you died and you’d go straight to heaven.

He wants to know why no one jumped in for him when Charles Leavy had been going to kill him. He wants to stop his da arguing with his ma. He’s confused: he sees everything but understands less and less…’