Slapped with a libel suit after an appearance on a talk show, Malachy McCourt crows, "If they could only see me now in the slums of Limerick, a big shot, sued for a million. Be jesus, isn't America a great and wonderful country?" His older brother Frank's Pulitzer Prize- winning memoir, Angela's Ashes, took its sombre tone from the bleak atmosphere of those slums, while Malachy's boisterous recollections are fuelled by his zestful appreciation for the opportunities and oddities of his native land. He and Frank were born in Brooklyn, moved with their parents to Ireland as children, then returned to the US as adults. This book covers the decade 1952-1963, when Malachy roistered across the US, Europe and Asia, but spent most of his time in New York City. There his ready wit and quick tongue won him an acting job with the Irish Players and a semi-regular stint on the Tonight show hosted by Jack Paar. And his friendships with some well- heeled, well-born types , who shared his fondness for saloon life, bankrolled him in an East Side saloon, which may have been the first singles bar. He chronicles those events--and many others--with back-slapping bonhomie. Although McCourt acknowledges the personal demons that pursued him from his poverty-stricken childhood and destroyed his first marriage, this is on the whole an exuberant autobiography that pays tribute to the joys of a freewheeling life. --Amazon.com

2008-06-09 Once I started this, I found it hard to pick it up

Let me begin by saying I am Irish. I don't know who the target audience for this book was, maybe the IRA fundraisers in the US? His rants against the Brits are so outdated...yes, Croke Park was appalling, but I don't think you can blame every *living* Brit for the errors of the past. He paints a picture of himself as a swashbuckling, devil-may-care Irishman, but his behaviour is just loutish, you wouldn't want him as a neighbour and I for one feel very, very sorry for his poor wife and family. Read a McCourt by all means, but his brother Frank is a far more sympathetic character. This one goes straight to the jumble sale.