Daniel Cann

The place in question is Ireland and what follows is the author’s account of a journey from Cork (home of his ancestors and existing relatives) to Donegal in the remote North West of the Emerald Isle and everything in between.

He recalls being taught by Christian Brothers as a youth and family trips in the 1950s on ferries full of cattle as well as humans from England to Ireland to visit family. He has always had a connection to Ireland he explains through his roots, but he also wonders if it goes deeper than that because of his sense of belonging. McCarthy sets off to find out if this is possible or as he puts it ‘Am I Just a sentimental fool, my judgement fuddled by nostalgia, Guinness, and the romance of the diaspora?’

The book like its author travels at a gentle meandering pace, taking the reader on a quirky and hugely enjoyable journey. Along the way we are treated to McCarthy’s wry and witty observations of the places he visits and the people he meets. It’s not just the Irish that come under his microscope but people of all nationalities around the world. He finds there are English, Welsh, German and East European itinerants in Ireland looking for work or just attracted by the lure of the country. There are also hilarious accounts of the many tourists he observes in pubs, bars, scenic and historic parts of the country. Ireland it seems can profoundly affect you whether you are a policeman from Chicago with an Irish grandfather or a stockbroker from Tokyo.

Throughout the course of this book we are treated to slices of the comic and the absurd. The relaxed, slow-paced gentility of the locals contrasts starkly with the eccentricities and sometimes frankly moronic behaviour of some of the tourists McCarthy encounters along the way. He is there to record it all as the pints are served and the folk music belts out in the background.

The book has a serious side as well; this is after all a personal quest to answer his important question. As well as the towns and tourist traps he also visits places in the West of Ireland that many people have probably not heard of or seen. This is where the author also excels as he explores ancient Celtic sites, standing stones, Celtic crosses and the breathtaking rugged beauty of the coast.

He avoids the pitfall of talking down to the reader or sounding scholarly, in fact, McCarthy is self-deprecating and brutally honest making this a richly rewarding and hilarious read. He brings plenty of himself to the trip: His insider and outsider point of view, his witty and sometimes caustic observations, his introspection as well as his easy interaction with nearly everyone he meets. The reader gets the impression that travelling with him would be an unforgettable and rewarding experience with comic incident never far away.

If you want to learn about dolphins, pubs that double as cycling shops, a theme park pub that serves as a ‘local’ to its residents rather than the actual pub in the village, the price of Singapore noodles across the West of Ireland and all things eccentric, absurd and magical about the place then it is all faithfully recoded and hilariously recounted here.

Although the book’s focus is travelling in Ireland, McCarthy gives a vivid and fully fleshed out account of what our society is like as a whole in the early 21st Century. His critical and observant eye does not miss a thing. I found his description of sharing a ferry crossing with raucous passengers to the country just as amusing and revealing about us as a whole and not just about Ireland and all things Irish.

Read this and be thoroughly entertained. It is comic, thought provoking, revealing, poignant, but never dull. The craic is indeed high for this excellent quirky tale of one man’s quest to discover his roots and identity.