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57th out of 156 books
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123 voters
The Pig Did It
A poster pig‚ a pig of evil and redemption‚ and shall we go so far as to say a Pig of Peace? Why not? Joseph Caldwell does in this hilarious send−up of the Irish lyric novel. What the Pig did to the lives of the title characters−star−crossed lover−the heart broken and triumphant who act out ancient tales of passion and family feuds against a lush and wild Irish land and se...more
Hardcover, 195 pages
Published
January 2nd 2008
by Delphinium
(first published December 30th 2007)
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A self-obsessed New York writer retreats to his aunt’s house in Ireland in order to mourn a failed relationship. Actually, it never actually was a relationship, as the woman in question preemptively rejected him through her indifference. That doesn't affect his heartbreak, though, and he requires sufficient time and a suitable location to indulge in self-pity. So off he heads to his aunt’s house, where he anticipates that the stark landscape of the Irish coast will provide a fitting backdrop to...more
Jan 14, 2008
Donna
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
People who like novels set in foreign countries
Recommended to Donna by:
Discovered it while browsing at Barnes & Noble
Shelves:
2008,
light-for-fun
I was quite pleased with the first half of this story. Caldwell writes poetically and precisely in describing the Irish countryside, and it was a pleasure to find the characters and their circumstances truly humorous. I expected the pig to play a larger role in the story, but he made only an occasional appearance.
A little over half-way through the book, the story began to drag out and I found myself skimming through long descriptive paragraphs that seemed unnecessary. The murder mystery came to...more
A little over half-way through the book, the story began to drag out and I found myself skimming through long descriptive paragraphs that seemed unnecessary. The murder mystery came to...more
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Usually I choose a book because I’ve read a good review, or I am familiar with the author’s other books, or it has come to me recommended by a good friend. I am not very good at picking books off a library shelf to read. Rarely am I satisfied, so I mostly don’t select my books this way – except when I’m desperate. Last Wednesday was one of those days.
But I couldn’t have made a better choice. Well, how can one NOT think a book entitled “The Pig Did It” would be worth reading. What on earth could...more
But I couldn’t have made a better choice. Well, how can one NOT think a book entitled “The Pig Did It” would be worth reading. What on earth could...more
A prissy Aaron McCloud has come to Ireland to drown his sorrows over an unrequited advance made on one of his college students. While returning to his Aunt's home on the West Coast of Ireland, this narcisisst become involved with a pig, his aunt, and her eccentric circle of friends. The pig unearths a skeleton who is quickly identified as the itinerant Declan Tovey. Hijinks ensue, but the murderer's identity is hidden in plain sight. Because of the peculiarities of many Irish families whose sibl...more
This was the goofiest book I have read in a while. The main character Aaron McCloud is an American who travels to Ireland, the home of his relatives, to nurse a broken heart and a bruised ego after a woman snubs his attempts to win her over. He takes a bus from the airport to travel to his family's home village. On the way the bus is stopped by a herd of pigs in the road. The travelers all get off to try and round up the pigs. As Aaron finally gives up on his chase of a particularly difficult pi...more
Oi (oink?). This was not my cup of tea. Others seem to have really liked it, though, so you may too.
By the synopsis, I thought I’d really enjoy it. But not so much. I feel like perhaps it was a bit of a satire/farce of traditional Irish blarney stories, if there are such a thing…I wouldn’t know because I haven’t read any. There were far too many of melodramatic soliloquies and a lot of blaming each other and themselves for the murder of the guy dug up in the yard. No one spoke like a real person...more
By the synopsis, I thought I’d really enjoy it. But not so much. I feel like perhaps it was a bit of a satire/farce of traditional Irish blarney stories, if there are such a thing…I wouldn’t know because I haven’t read any. There were far too many of melodramatic soliloquies and a lot of blaming each other and themselves for the murder of the guy dug up in the yard. No one spoke like a real person...more
I had a very hard time with this book. While on the surface it would seem to be an enjoyable romp, the main character made this book almost completely unbearable. The main character is an author who lives and works in New York City and has traveled to his ancestral home of Ireland to get over a girl who wouldn't go out with him. Here is where the first problem comes in. He was never in a relationship with this woman. I can't relate to this man's complete self-indulgence. His ability to drop his...more
Aaron McCloud has come to Ireland to grieve for his lost love. Well, not exactly lost. Having generously chosen to offer himself to Phila Rambeaux, a student in his writing class who came to his party “wearing a dress of black silk with orange and blue geometrics that looked like intergalactic debris left behind by a failed space probe,” Aaron has been soundly ignored, if not dismissed outright. His childhood home on the west coast of Ireland, in the company of an almost-beloved aunt, is the pla...more
This extraordinary and quirky novel continually surprised me with more and more unexpected behaviour by the characters.
Told from the point of view of Aaron McCloud, who has come to this small village in Ireland from New York City to stay with his aunt Kitty, the novel begins with Aaron's detour. The bus Aaron is traveling on is held up by pigs loose on the road. When Aaron tries to help, he ends up left behind and followed by a pig.
He takes the pig to his aunt's house and there the trouble reall...more
Told from the point of view of Aaron McCloud, who has come to this small village in Ireland from New York City to stay with his aunt Kitty, the novel begins with Aaron's detour. The bus Aaron is traveling on is held up by pigs loose on the road. When Aaron tries to help, he ends up left behind and followed by a pig.
He takes the pig to his aunt's house and there the trouble reall...more
I'm somewhat puzzled why this book was on the Washington Post's Best Books of 2008 list. It's a macabre comedy sprinkled with some great dialogue. However, the book is rather uneven. I enjoyed the first half much more than the second half. Aaron McCloud is a 32 year old, divorced, creative writing teacher in New York City. After a failed relationshp that existed only in his own mind, he retreats to Ireland to spend time with his Aunt Kelly who lives in an isolated cottage by the sea in County Ke...more
This fellow heads home to Ireland to mend his broken heart, which in reality was simply a wounded ego. He arrived there intent on "grieving" and kept being twarted in doing so due to never ending strange events. His bus stopped to help round up a load of pigs that had gotten out. He helped, got lost, got stuck with a pig that decided to follow him home. The bus had left him and he had to walk/hitch hike with the afore mentioned pig. The gal who owned the pig didn't want it now. In the mean time,...more
This is a bizarre little book. Aaron has gone to Ireland to rid himself of a perceived failed love by visiting his aunt Kitty. On the way there, he attempts to rescue a pig that the owner, Lolly, evidently doesn't want. The pig creates many issues, the biggest being the digging up of a body in Kitty's garden. The rest of the book involves the way the 2 women and a local man, Sweeney, handle the situation. Perhaps this is supposed to be a commentary on the lives of those who live in western Irela...more
I honestly don’t even know where to start my comments when it comes to The Pig Did It. I’m not even sure if I liked it or not, but it was compelling in some odd way. I had to keep reading, just to see where the story went. I didn’t particularly care for any of the characters, and I felt like the author was almost trying to hard to be witty and amusing, but I wanted to keep reading.
There are a lot of soliloquys and odd events, the setting on the coast of Ireland is gorgeous and the sea is almost...more
There are a lot of soliloquys and odd events, the setting on the coast of Ireland is gorgeous and the sea is almost...more
I've never heard of Caldwell, but at peek at the book's opening intrigued me so I took it home and finished it in one sitting. It's a slim little thing at 212 pages and a fast read. Caldwell's a brilliant writer whose prose you can really wallow in, simultaneously cynical, comic, and lyrically poetic. He just crafts these amazing turns of phrase that have you admiringly re-reading passages, as much as you want to get on with the story.
The Pig Did It is the first of a trilogy, and the second was...more
The Pig Did It is the first of a trilogy, and the second was...more
What I liked most about this mystery/romance was the self-deprecating, seemingly candid inner monologue of the narrator, a man who goes to a small Irish town to mourn a broken relationship and ruminate on how “she done him wrong.” He expects to be a tragic figure, at least to himself, as he nobly comes to grip with such a huge loss. It’s very funny when he keeps having to postpone indulgent, dramatic walks on a beach under tragic grey skies, to heal himself. Rollicking life just keeps intervenin...more
This book is different than anything I have read for awhile. It is a quirky book about an Irish-American man who goes back to visit his aunt in Ireland to mourn the passing of an (imagined) relationship with a woman. The author sets the stage in a parody of dramatic early 20th century Irish novels, and is very funny. Poor Aaron cannot quite find the time to mourn Phila, because as he attempts to walk the beach in the requisite head-bowed-hands-clasped-behind-the-back posture, things keep happeni...more
zzzzzzzzz..... Purely a case of an author trying way too hard to entertain and failing badly. First of all, don't be fooled into thinking this is the complete story. Oh no, it is only the prelude to another two books, which I am sure are equally as bad. The premise of an American professor going to Ireland to act out a moody depressive episode, because one of his students didn't fall in love with him, is a snooze fest. Especially since he mopes around the entire book upset, because he cannot wal...more
The Pig Did It was a impulse buy - as was the second in what will be a trilogy by this author. Both are autographed copies. It seems Joseph Caldwell had been in town at Joseph Beth in Legacy Village not that long ago. The autographs are not why I bought the pair. I bought them because the setting is Ireland and having live there, I love to be transported on a return visit by novels. I think Caldwell did this for me, at least a little bit. I have only read the first in the trilogy so I am holding...more
Novelist and professor, lovelorn Aaron McCloud leaves New York to visit his not-much-older aunt Kitty at the family home in Western Ireland. An accident lands him with a disobedient, stubborn pig, who follows him home and digs up a corpse in Kitty's cabbage patch. Kitty is sure that the pig's owner, Lolly, killed the man, but Lolly is sure that the culprit was the McClouds' hereditary enemy, Sweeney. And Sweeney, who is in love with Kitty despite his hatred of the McClouds, is sure that Kitty ki...more
I'm not qualified to comment on the Irish-isms in this book and how accurate or satirical or overdone they might be, which seems to be one of the main points of disagreement among reviewers. What I can say is that I got several chuckles out of the comedic scenes (a pig, a skeleton, and a couple of bungling cops make for scenes that beg to be done as a film). Some reviewers disliked the main character's arrogant and self-absorbed inner dialogue; I found him funny and down to earth. I like the pre...more
Joseph Caldwell's "The Pig Did It" is a truly Irish novel. That is to say, it is absolutely hysterical and romantic and insane all at once. A middle-aged New York college professor returns to Ireland to visit his aunt after a failed love affair with a student. Dejected and borderline suicidal, the man befriends a wayward pig and the pig's attractive young owner, who happens to be a bitter family rival of his aunt's. When the pig accidentally uncovers the body of a long-dead man in the aunt's gar...more
This had such strong reviews at Amazon, most of them saying things like "hilarious" and "sparkling" that I was intrigued. It's set in County Kerry, so I thought that would also make it a short fun read. But it is TEDIOUS even if the style is "sparkling" -- scenes go on interminably for pages on non-events, like a darts game. Maybe I"m missing some really crucial symbolism or something, but I got halfway through it and decided not to finish even though there's a mystery to be solved. The characte...more
This is a highly self-conscious comic piece about a befuddled American who wanders back to the family home in County Kerry, Ireland, where he picks up a wandering pig and stumbles across a family murder. There are some promising eccentric characters, love interests, etc., but it is overlain by overly poetic writing and long descriptive passages, poorly developed characters, and magical-realism elements that manage to be both weird and trite. Although I enjoyed the setting, some of the imagery an...more
Tedious book. Premise looked amazing but story was slow and stupid. A man mourning a relationship that had never been. Ugh.
What better place to wallow in self pity than Ireland? But when lovelorn Aaron McCloud, 30-something professor of creative writing, finds himself surrounded by pigs, enmeshed in a murder, and (once again) hopelessly in love, he discovers that self pity requires more work than it's worth. Joseph Caldwell proves himself a master of satire in this hilarious comedy of errors. What's more, he's not afraid to take on the Irish. (If you are a sensitive Irishman, then read Caldwell's other wonderful sat...more
THIS IS AN AMAZING BOOK!
It was wonderful to read such a well written work of fiction featuring folks who live along the coast of Ireland. The rambling way conversation is made between friends verse the terse responses to strangers is factual and fascinating. There are love affairs, a near death experience, a skeleton, a sea seeking to eat living souls from the land, a long waged clan fight, a wronged priest and a mysterious pig that leads humans to discover the mysteries that are holding their l...more
It was wonderful to read such a well written work of fiction featuring folks who live along the coast of Ireland. The rambling way conversation is made between friends verse the terse responses to strangers is factual and fascinating. There are love affairs, a near death experience, a skeleton, a sea seeking to eat living souls from the land, a long waged clan fight, a wronged priest and a mysterious pig that leads humans to discover the mysteries that are holding their l...more
Filled with decorative sentences and an amusingly unreliable narrator that you alternate between wanting to smack for his arrogance and laughing at for the same, The Pig Did It is not a mystery in the tradition of good guy/bad guy solve-the-mystery-justice-is-served sense. It is more a jaunt through eccentric personalities and self discovery with characters to love in spite of their folly. It is an enjoyable and laughable caper playing with the nature of the Irish, that comes to a sadly unsatisf...more
It's been awhile since I've read a book that I chose randomly from the shelf of a public library. In this case, it was the title that pulled me in. I don't know why, but I'm fascinated with books that have animals as main characters. However, this story is not really about a pig. Yes, a pig is part of the story--and i love it when the pig shows up!--but it is really a story about love, obsession, murder, family lore, and the Irish landscape, particularly the sea. In fact, I would say that the se...more
This was short, odd, quirky read. Actually, any book which centers on a pig's fixation on the main character, discovers the body, and becomes a curious spectator to the action at key moments, is not your usual murder mystery.
The main character is a writer, so the author gets to mock how writers see drama in their daily lives. As the story unfolds, the character must describe it in "authorly" terms. Pathetic and funny.
Hum, a writer writing about a writer, whose sister is a writer. Seems like a ch...more
The main character is a writer, so the author gets to mock how writers see drama in their daily lives. As the story unfolds, the character must describe it in "authorly" terms. Pathetic and funny.
Hum, a writer writing about a writer, whose sister is a writer. Seems like a ch...more
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A playwright and novelist whose books include The Pig Did It, The Pig Comes to Dinner, and The Pig Goes to Hog Heaven, Joseph Caldwell has been awarded the Rome Prize for Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in New York City and is working on various post-Pig writing projects.
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“Today, Aaron decided, he would begin to grieve in earnest. He would walk the lonely beach, mocked by gulls, uncaring, his every step a stately rebuke to the malign forces that had blighted his fate. His was the tragedy of a man who couldn't have his own way, and he intended to make known his anguish in the solemn solitude that only a stretch of sand, a suspiring sea, and a beetling cliff could provide.”
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Jan 14, 2011 11:15am