McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery In Ireland
by Pete McCarthy

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Book Reviews of McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery In Ireland

Book Review: Your Best Traveling Companion in Ireland!
Summary: 5 Stars

I acquired this on my recent visit to Ireland. It makes for a good travel companion. It made my trip more memorable. McCarthy kept me entertained with his funny anecdotes, keen observation of what it means to be Irish, exploration and filled with mad craic and some Celtic history thrown in. Some highlights, are his bog standard vehicle he dubs 'The Tank,' he returns to his former home in West Cork to visit relatives. His secret hiding place called 'The Convent.' He meets locals and other travelers as they share their stories. There are pages of hilarious moments and wild episodes of sheer fun. Listing his rules of 'McCarthyism' on travel. No. 8, Never Pass a Bar that has Your Name on It. Upon his encounters he makes references to Jeremy Iron's castle in Baltimore, Eiri Na Greine, a Japanese Irish band with a story that ran in the Examiner: Why Japan is Going Ga-Ga Over all Things Gaelic. I shouldn't mention, but hope it doesn't become another tourist trap-Clonakilty, a picture book Irish town famous for it's black pudding and Michael Collins. Skibbereen the epicentre of the great Famine is one of his quiet moments. To enlighten, No. 3 rule of travel, Never Bang on About How Wonderful Some Unspoiled Place is Because Next Time You Go There. You Won't Be Able to Get In. Speaking of enlighten, let's not get into the three day pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick. Some hilarious references he makes to German tourists desperately being Irish. So they buy Irish homes, fix them up and resale them. His trip from Wales with a couple he meets up with making elaborate sleeping arrangements. He joins them near the carpet underneath a table and ponders the arbitary cruelty of life. How's that for accommadations?

His descriptions of some Co. Cork places & the wanna be Irish in Killarney will always have me thinking I was with Pete myself. McCarthy's Bar is full of vividness and reflects a portrait of a rapidly changing Ireland. For example, Knock, a little village with a little shrine now a huge modernist basilica complex with eighteen self-service holy water fountains with a new airport. So you can fly in, pray, buy stuff & fly out. Anyone out there with a foresight of opening an Indian restuarant around Tubbercurry? Keep that in mind. There's a 'Guns 'N' Roses' florist, world's first paramilitary flowershop. Only in Ireland, right? The sentiments go on and on. All the names associated with Ol' Eire like, the Guinness ads, Daniel O'Donnell, Oscar Wilde, Elvis Costello and U2. It's like being in a Road Movie. I can't wait to read the sequel, 'Road to McCarthy.'

Summary of McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery In Ireland

While most travel writers seek out opportunities to meet the famous--or the infamous--McCarthy has the charming knack of just bumping into them on his rambles, which is how he met Noel Redding, formerly of Jimi Hendrix's band, and the author Frank McCourt. Far more interesting, though, are the eccentric and talkative bachelors and landladies who turn up in pubs, B&Bs, and the middle of the road. McCarthy has mastered the art of getting creatively lost, wandering the back lanes of Ireland where the hype of tourism has yet to arrive, pursuing stone circles, impossibly romantic ruined abbeys, and, of course, pubs. What he discovers is that "In Ireland, the unexpected happens more than you expect," which makes for a hilarious tour through one of the most beautiful, friendly, and quirky places on earth with a comedian who has honed the art of telling a good story and of having fun. --Lesley Reed

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