The Mammy
by Brendan O'Carroll

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Book Reviews of The Mammy

Book Review: Come Ye Back Agnes Browne
Summary: 5 Stars

There in the Jarro becomes a moving and tender portrait of working-class life in 1960s Dublin. To the fatherless Browne clan, Agnes is more to them than just a beloved neighborhood character. She's just about anything there is to be. The pages of 'The Mammy' have all the hiliarity of Paul Roach and the charm of Dickens. There are page-to-page funny accounts like Agnes educating the "facts of life" to her eldest son, Mark. Marks awareness of his changing self had me tickled Irish pink. The one of the man in the James Bond movie with the three nipples. The one about P.J. and Dolly Foley had me laughing through the whole Chapter 8. The story is an Irish "Leave It to Beaver" meets "The Waltons." I can't tell you how much I really loved reading this book. I loved the ending when the two Browne boys arranged a meeting with Cliff "Harry" Richard for their mammy on Christmas Day. It just goes to show in a sad and busy world that someone's dream can come true. When you read about Agnes Browne, you will be captivated by her strength and wittiness like you always known her as your next door neighbor. 'The Mammy' will warm your heart and put a little Irish jig in your soul. Slainté y'all!

Summary of The Mammy

This is in large part due to the fact that her husband, Redser, who falls squarely into the above-mentioned category, has died--thanks to a careless driver--just before the novel's opening pages. Our first glimpse of the pragmatic, lovable Agnes comes as she's waiting in the social services office on the afternoon of his death, determined not to lose a penny of her widow's benefits as a result of dilly-dallying. She doesn't even have the necessary death certificate yet, but that's not nearly enough to slow down Agnes Brown: "No, love, he's definitely dead. Definitely," she says to the clerk, then, turning to her friend for backup, "Isn't he, Marion?" Marion, made from the same tough stock, agrees solemnly: "Absolutely. I know him years, and I've never seen him look so bad. Dead, definitely dead!" The scene is emblematic: Agnes knows how to fight, and she isn't afraid to do it. Her deadpan humor becomes a hallmark.

As for her children, they get into the usual trouble--fights, girl problems, and the like. But there are also some charming, unexpected episodes in the book. For example, Agnes's oldest child meets a Jewish man and performs small tasks for him on the Sabbath, which eventually leads to greater goods. Among other things, Mark learns about the Jewish faith, new knowledge he accepts with bemusement and some of his mother's innocence and good humor. Upon hearing that the man doesn't celebrate Christmas, he exclaims: "Will yeh go on outta that! How can yeh not believe in something when it's real?"

The book is not without its share of tragedy, but Agnes takes it all with aplomb. She's clearly the glue that binds her pack of youngsters together: "The rule in the Browne family was: 'You hit one, you hit seven.' Since March twenty-ninth and Redser's demise, little had changed in the Browne house. If anything, the house was less tense." The Mammy is a slight book--it tells the simple, fairly conventional tale of a single Irish family--but it makes up for its gaps with humanity, in the same way Agnes Browne makes up for what she and her children lack. --Melanie Rehak

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