David Monagan

Irish-American guy moves his family from Connecticut to Cork and lives to write a book about it. The better part of the book tells stories from the first year, although they live there for two years. The tone of this book is manic-depressive going from the highs of exploring the Cork countryside in-depth and discovering a hideaway pub, to the lows of not being able to fit in and the fear of crime. A lot of the time Monagan looks down his nose at the modern Ireland replacing the picture book old Ireland. At times he approaches the France Mayes level of self-unawareness as he preaches how Ireland should after only being there a few weeks. Monagan's writing is not very lively nor amusing, and I have to say I was disappointed with this book overall despite the critical acclaim.… (meer)