McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery in Ireland (A Lir Book) | 
 enlarge | Author: Pete Mccarthy
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  97 reviews
Sales Rank: 18234
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0340766050
Dewey Decimal Number: 910
EAN: 9780340766057
ASIN: 0340766050
Publication Date: March 15, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Publisher: SceptreDate of Publication: 2001Binding: Soft CoverDescription: Minor wear. 374pp.
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Amazon.co.uk Review
The premise of Pete McCarthy's first book, McCarthy's Bar, is that you should never pass up the opportunity of having a drink in a bar that shares your name. There is clearly more to this plan than the obvious publicity stunt, since it could work with books as well--try reading Cormac McCarthy after reading this hilarious, informed and intelligent book, and you may well be tempted to buy books by every other McCarthy around. Born in Warrington, Pete McCarthy decides to go back to rural Ireland, to rediscover his Irishness. The feeling that you have heard this sort of thing all before doesn't last for long. There is a serious writer struggling to make himself heard above the many excellent jokes and this is what makes McCarthy's book so distinctive. Although he can crack Brysonesque quips with the best of them ("I've often wondered how businessmen used to cope before [mobile phones] were invented. How did they tell their wives they were on the train?"), and take us through hilarious and largely drunken set-pieces, McCarthy is equally at home discussing Celtic standing stones and the potato famine. The resulting book is a wonderful debut. By the end, we, too, would like to move to Ireland. You sense that McCarthy has such a genuine feeling for Ireland, Irishness and Irish history that he can only temper his writing with side-splitting humour. In this way, his first book successfully embodies much of what it is to be Irish. --Toby Green
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| Customer Reviews: Read 92 more reviews...
 Never pass a bar that has your name on it May 18, 2008
This is a humorous - at times hilarious/laugh-out-loud funny/need to quote to the nearest person - travel book by an English man exploring his family ties to Ireland. Pete McCarthy travels across Ireland in the hopes of answering the question: "do I belong here?" Along the way, he paints the picture of a country that has changed due to a rapid economic boom - a place where the old and the new sit side-by-side in what seems to be a very tenuous balance.
Pete believes that one should always stop and have a drink in a pub that bears one's name. Since McCarthy is a popular surname in Ireland, he gets plenty of chances to sip the devil's brew while getting to know the local folk. This is, I suppose, how travel books should be written (if you discount the constant potshots at American and German tourists).
Raise your glasses to the late Pete Mc Carthy May 3, 2008
Pete Mc Carthy wrote a couple of excellent books chronicling his travels around Ireland and further afield before his sad death from cancer last year. McCarthy's Bar & The Road to McCarthy are both well worth a read. If you like travelling, meeting interesting characters and a nice pint of Guinness then Pete McCarthy will soon become your friend.
The book isn't so much a travel guide as a humourous look at different sides of Ireland as seen through the witty eyes and ears of the late Pete. I especially enjoyed the part when he visits Lough Derg, having been there twice myself! Some other reviewers have complained about some of his observations and also his attempts at humour. While the humour in this may have been exaggerated somewhat, it IS funny, for God's sake! Those who think otherwise are probably the sort of people who don't laugh at anything, considering themselves above that sort of nonsense.
There are some genuinely funny moments and some clever turns of phrase and Mc Carthy has definitely established a real flair for storytelling in this, the first of his books.
On the frequent occasions when Pete just happens to be having a pint (again..) i wish i was on holidays. There's something extra nice about having a pint on a summer's day and not feeling guilty about it.
I thoroughly recommend Pete's books to anyone with a sense of humour.Unfortunately, his sad demise means that we won't be able to share any more of his adventures.
The world is a sadder place without him.
( This review is currently on Amazon as written by "A Customer", however, it is my review, i believe i may have originally registered under a now defunct email address.In any case, it is my review, which i am now re-posting under my usual name).
McCarthyism January 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Travel is about many things but one of the most esoteric is the idea of identity. Travel forces us all to confront and assess our own notions of identity and belonging. By encountering new nations and new national identities our own character comes in to question.
How do I relate to these people? Do I feel "at home" here? Do I find values here compatible? Or alternatively jarring?
For a long time I have personally been very interested in the idea of folkways, genetic memory and collective historical identities. The questions of who we are so often appear linked to the questions of who we were.
It was to my delight that I stumbled across this book when clearing out books from my recently deceased Grandmother's house. McCarthy was a great travel writer because he gets at the heart of the question of identity. He questions his own desire for Irishness and his detestation of his own English identity. However he does not make this a solely personal discovery questioning the state of Irish identity in general as a consequence to economic and social changes in the last 10 to 20 years.
As well as this look into the heart of the author and the nation that he is traveling McCarthy makes intriguing insights into the nature of global Irishness. He looks at what motivates disparate peoples to consider Irishness and hospitality as being synonymous.
Whilst McCarthy struggles with these meta-questions he always does so using a razor sharp and often self-depreciating wit. The humour is really what drives this book and keeps the pace from faltering and becoming too navel gazing.
It is also notable that during in this sojourn to the most hospitable and friendly country in the world (tm) McCarthy spends 90% of his time alone. And this loneliness creates, I found, a dark undertone to the whole project. This darkness is nowhere more evident than in the descriptions of his penitential pilgrimage. In these passages McCarthy creates an atmosphere of exhaustion that leads to a whimpering close as the energy and humour of the episode begins to sap.
The ultimate revelations McCarthy finds are not those he hoped for. But there is a sense of self-discovery. To share in this personal awakening creates a sense of privilege for the reader and elevates this whole project far above a simple exercise in travel writing. It is more than a funny book about Ireland it has a deeper psychological and philosophical impact than that. It is a discussion of who we believe we are and who we can be.
Best book I've read? October 27, 2007
Without a doubt, yes.
Pure comedy genius and, being Irish and studying in England at University, I truely appreciated the humour in all their full, idiotic, foreign-person-having-no-clue, glory!
A must read.
 Regurgitated platitudes October 10, 2007
1 out of 13 found this review helpful
How very superficial. How trite and disserving to all except Mr McCarthy and his publishers.
It is a book that everyone likes to think captures the essence of Ireland. Oh Really? Where is any mention of horses for instance, or the fanatical following of sport, the corruption in politics or the quiet intelligence of the Irish, their innate spirituality and the respect for other people and their lives? None of this comes through and yet it is as important to understanding the place as knocking back a few pints of Guinness and playing spot the leprechaun.
Mr (call me Pete) McCarthy is not an Irish lad, just a good writer trading on his roots. The book is to be recommended only as an example of how to milk the Irish legacy cash cow.
Justin.
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