false 30512 33 In Roddy Doyle's Booker Prize-winning novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, an Irish lad named Paddy rampages through the streets of Barrytown with a pack of like-minded hooligans, playing cowboys and Indians, etching their names in wet concrete, and setting fires. Roddy Doyle has captured the sensations and speech patterns of preadolescents with consummate skill, and managed to do so without resorting to sentimentality. Paddy Clarke and his friends are not bad boys; they're just a little bit restless. They're always taking sides, bullying each other, and secretly wishing they didn't have to. All they want is for something--<I>anything</I>--to happen. <p> Throughout the novel, Paddy teeters on the nervous verge of adolescence. In one scene, Paddy tries to make his little brother's hot water bottle explode, but gives up after stomping on it just one time: "I jumped on Sinbad's bottle. Nothing happened. I didn't do it again. Sometimes when nothing happened it was really getting ready to happen." Paddy Clarke senses that his world is about to change forever--and not necessarily for the better. When he realizes that his parents' marriage is falling apart, Paddy stays up all night listening, half-believing that his vigil will ward off further fighting. It doesn't work, but it is sweet and sad that he believes it might. Paddy's logic may be fuzzy, but his heart is in the right place. <I>--Jill Marquis</I> 2305040 1993 Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha total:1960|5:438|4:804|3:562|2:124|1:32| 1960 7372 2645 174 4 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 26 07:14:03 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 27 12:35:58 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jul 10 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sun Jan 11 04:44:46 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 11 04:45:16 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 15:52:30 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 20 21:10:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Aug 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 12 06:05:11 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 29 14:50:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Oct 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 16 07:57:23 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 29 06:26:05 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 10:59:15 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 13:24:53 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Mon Dec 01 07:14:07 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 07:24:03 -0800 2008
almost socked a guy in the face in my undergrad irish lit class for
saying 'i loved it, but it's not one i'd recommend to my sister.' that so...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Nov 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 28 11:16:22 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 14 20:54:06 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 12 01:49:07 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 06:21:36 -0800 2009 ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Apr 21 04:26:15 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 22 04:20:06 -0700 2009 ...more...]]> 3 0 false true Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 20 06:40:22 -0700 2008 Thu Nov 06 12:38:19 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Feb 16 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 09 09:45:36 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 16 17:01:23 -0800 2008
This coming-of-age novel features brilliant dialogue. The story is narrated by Paddy Clarke, a stand-in for Doyle, who tells about being a boy in Barrytown, a suburb of Dublin. The narrative is swift, sometimes j...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1994 Sun Sep 23 08:59:17 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 27 13:28:24 -0700 2007
Paddy is a ten year old boy growing up on a new housing estate built to accommodate the urban sprawl ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Aug 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 23 00:11:33 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 03 15:52:37 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Nov 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 01 18:19:13 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 21 08:26:19 -0800 2008 Acid House and then Alan Sillitoe's Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. Three sides to the same coin (assuming here for the sake of the argument that coins have three sides). Stories of miserable working class lads with realism and grit, ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Apr 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 06 22:58:19 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 08 11:40:14 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Aug 13 20:31:59 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 20:33:12 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat May 12 04:43:32 -0700 2007 Sat May 12 04:49:43 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Sep 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 21 19:15:29 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 29 14:56:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Wed Oct 22 00:00:00 -0700 2003 Mon Aug 10 07:50:51 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 10 07:51:22 -0700 2009 more...]]>