A Monk Swimming : A Memoir
by Malachy McCourt
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Book Summary Information
Author: Malachy McCourtEdition: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 1999-06-02
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 304
Book Reviews of A Monk Swimming : A Memoir
Book Review: An Amusing Read; No Depth, But Doesn't Claim To Have Any
Summary: 3 Stars
I may be in the minority, in not having read his brother Frank's Angela's Ashes. Still, as noted in other reviews (both positive and negative), this isn't Frank McCourt. And it doesn't pretend to be.
It's an interesting, somewhat disjointed tale of an Irishman who comes to America broke and largely uneducated, and succeeds at a number of different endeavors, from bartender (and bar owner) to actor to gold smuggler. He's frequently drunk, and he frequently cheats on his wife. So he's not the admirable character many would like.
Further, he bends the English language into pretzels. Often it works. Sometimes it doesn't. When it doesn't, it just comes off as being "cute" and "clever." But it's fascinating to observe when it does work.
It very much captures the feel of 1950s and 1960s America, and overall it's an interesting book. Never quite enough detail, and not quite enough holding it together. Still, some vivid pieces and moments.
A while back, I read a description of a staged and decorated room as looking like "a rainbow vomited up." Well, take elements of self-centered boastfulness, some mid-20th Century America, a dash of Ireland, copious amounts of alcohol, colorful writing--mash them all together in a press, throw away the liquid, take the lumps and bits and pieces and smear them across the pages of the book (or, as McCourt might say, across the pulp of trees beavers might well have chewed up, then slapped flat with their tails), and you have an idea of what's in "A Monk Swimming."
Summary of A Monk Swimming : A Memoir
Slapped with a libel suit after an appearance on a talk show,Malachy McCourt crows, "If they could only see me now in the slums of Limerick, a big shot, sued for a million. Bejesus, isn't America a great and wonderful country?" His older brother Frank's Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, Angela's Ashes, took its somber tone from the bleak atmosphere of those slums, while Malachy's boisterous recollections are fueled by his zestful appreciation for the opportunities and oddities of his native land. He and Frank were born in Brooklyn, moved with their parents to Ireland as children, then returned to the States as adults. This book covers the decade 1952-63, when Malachy roistered across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, but spent most of his time in New York City. There his ready wit and quick tongue won him an acting job with the Irish Players, a semiregular stint on the Tonight show hosted by Jack Paar, and friendships with some well-heeled, well-born types who shared his fondness for saloon life and bankrolled him in an East Side saloon that may have been the first singles bar. He chronicles those events--and many others--with back-slapping bonhomie. Although McCourt acknowledges the personal demons that pursued him from his poverty-stricken childhood and destroyed his first marriage, this is on the whole an exuberant autobiography that pays tribute to the joys of a freewheeling life.Slapped with a libel suit after an appearance on a talk show, Malachy McCourt crows, "If they could only see me now in the slums of Limerick, a big shot, sued for a million. Bejesus, isn't America a great and wonderful country?" His older brother Frank's Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, Angela's Ashes, took its somber tone from the bleak atmosphere of those slums, while Malachy's boisterous recollections are fueled by his zestful appreciation for the opportunities and oddities of his native land. He and Frank were born in Brooklyn, moved with their parents to Ireland as children, then returned to the States as adults. This book covers the decade 1952-63, when Malachy roistered across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, but spent most of his time in New York City. There his ready wit and quick tongue won him an acting job with the Irish Players, a semiregular stint on the Tonight show hosted by Jack Paar, and friendships with some well-heeled, well-born types who shared his fondness for saloon life and bankrolled him in an East Side saloon that may have been the first singles bar. He chronicles those events--and many others--with back-slapping bonhomie. Although McCourt acknowledges the personal demons that pursued him from his poverty-stricken childhood and destroyed his first marriage, this is on the whole an exuberant autobiography that pays tribute to the joys of a freewheeling life.
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