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Poor Mouth: A Bad Story about the Hard Life

by Flann O'Brien, Patrick C. Power (Translator), Ralph Steadman (Illustrator)

4.06 · Rating Details · 1,462 Ratings · 118 Reviews

The Poor Mouth relates the story of one Bonaparte O'Coonassa, born in a cabin in a fictitious village called Corkadoragha in western Ireland equally renowned for its beauty and the abject poverty of its residents. Potatoes constitute the basis of his family's daily fare, and they share both bed and board with the sheep and pigs. A scathing satire on the Irish, this work br ...more

Paperback, 128 pages

Published March 1st 1996 by Dalkey Archive Press (first published 1941)

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Community Reviews

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Jul 16, 2010 David Katzman rated it it was amazing

I have quite the man-crush on Flann O’Brien. Call it a bro-mance if you wish. I’m making my way through all his work, including his newspaper columns. There’s something so anti-twenty-first-century about his use of multiple pseudonyms and personas in our look-at-me-age of “FACEBOOK STATUS: Pooping right now.” Here we have Brian O’Nolan who wrote his novels as Flann O’Brien and his newspaper column as a character Myles na Gopaleen (think mid-century Stephen Colbert). He even allegedly wrote lette ...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Geoff rated it it was amazing

Yesyesyes! Flawless, hilarious, scathing, blistering satire* of Irish/English colonialism of the Gaels and the Gaelic tongue. The funniest book you will read this or any other day. Not a rib-tickler or a knee-slapper but a whole body- and soul-shaker. Books like this make you glad to be a human being, alive and well and of unsound mind. Can you tell I liked it? Read this book. It's not even very long. Laughter destroys empires and pierces little lethal holes in the armor of imposed ideologies, l ...more

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Feb 06, 2013 Rowena rated it really liked it

Shelves: irish-lit

This was a satire about the Irish life told by narrator Bonaparte O'Coonassa (what a name!). There are LOTS of references to potatoes, poverty, drunkenness, perpetual rainfall and the Gaelic language issue. It's a very grim book but manages to be quite funny because of the narrator's writing style. A very good introduction to Flann O'Brien, in my opinion.

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Apr 06, 2016 Cody rated it really liked it

Shelves: flannism

Plaid Goeth Before the Fall.

A proper yarn, a fable of epically Gaelic proportion (the heroes travel kilometers!), and some running gags about pigs and a certain name—these are but a few of the substantial charms of The Poor Mouth. In ol’ Ireland, where the sun is a mere rumor, the potato the national flower, and the rain only stops long enough to replenish itself with a glass or three of rye, this brutal farce unfolds and takes to task the pride that goes with nationalism and excessive cultural ...more

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Sep 08, 2010 MJ Nicholls rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, pogue-mahone, art-or-illustrated, worshipped, dalkey-by-proxy

Better than a bag o' potatoes for breakfast, so it is. Its like in literature will never be seen again!

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Mar 25, 2015 Emma Flanagan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics-goal-2015, irish-lit-read

The Poor Mouth, originally published in Irish under the title An Beal Bocht and the pseudonym Myles na gCopaleen, it is considered one of the great works of modern Irish literature. It is a satirical fictional autobiography of Bonaparte O'Coonassa, born in a cabin in a fictitious village called Corkadoragha in western Ireland equally renowned for its beauty and the abject poverty of its residents.

It is a parody of autobiographies of life in the Gaeltact and on the islands off the west coast whi The Poor Mouth, originally published in Irish under the title An Beal Bocht and the pseudonym Myles na gCopaleen, it is considered one of the great works of modern Irish literature. It is a satirical fictional autobiography of Bonaparte O'Coonassa, born in a cabin in a fictitious village called Corkadoragha in western Ireland equally renowned for its beauty and the abject poverty of its residents.

It is a parody of autobiographies of life in the Gaeltact and on the islands off the west coast which were popular at the time and generally showed how miserable life had been, and then were used to inflict misery on generations of Irish school children (mention Peig Sayer's to anyone in Ireland over the age of about 30 and watch the look of fear and dread spread over them). The title "The Poor Mouth" comes from a well known phrase, "putting on the poor mouth", and means to play up ones misfortunes in order to elicit sympathy and charity from others. The characters spend much of the time discussing how unfortunate they are, and generally putting on the poor mouth.

I enjoyed it but didn't love it. While I found it amusing, the scene where pigs are dressed up in clothes in order to get a larger grant from the school inspector was particularly funny, I felt some of the satire is now somewhat dated. I was spared that instrument of torture that is Peig Sayers and her like, and so had no point of reference for the form of work is parodied, though I am aware of them. Equally the world it portrays is now so far removed from modern Ireland, that I though I know of it from history lessons, I cannot relate to it. Satire generally requires an ability to relate and identify with the events portrayed.

The encapsulation of the language and mode of speech, even in translation, was excellent. It thoroughly encapsulated the rhythms and phrases common to the Irish language, be it in Irish or Hiberno English.

Overall, I'm glad I read it and I will read more of Flann O'Brien (I've heard very good things about The Third Policeman). However I would be wary of who I would recommend this to. I suspect that those with no experience of Ireland would find it difficult to understand. ...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Bondama rated it it was amazing

Although much of the American public may be unaware of the incredible talent that was Myles naGopaleen, Brian O'Nolan, Flann O'Brien (he wrote under many, many pseudonyms) I sincerely think that anyone who loves humour, surrealism, etc. is missing out if you don't at least sample this man's writing.

It's been said many times that O'Nolan (I believe that's his birth name)and his good friend, James Joyce, used to sit with each other for hours, without uttering a word. I don't know if this is true, ...more

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Aug 27, 2009 Dan rated it liked it

Shelves: novels

In this comic work, Flann O’Brien satirizes the "Gaeltacht autobiography", a kind of literature that was popular in Ireland in the first half of the century, and which emphasized misery and impoverishment. Typically, the tone of the writer of this type of literature implies a doubt that anyone could have experienced worse conditions than those he or she is describing (Angela's Ashes comes to mind as a recent instance of this sort of narrative). In this fictional memoir, O’Brien undermines and su ...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Alma Castro rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: irish, classic

Flann O’Brien is sinisterly funny in his short novel about the life of Bonaparte O'Coonassa. The story is based in a rural area in the West of Ireland and it is home to the most Gaelic residents known to Ireland. O’Brien satirizes the Gaelic roots of these residents by using the carnivalesque to exaggerate their living conditions.
All of the residents of Corkadoragha are extremely poor and they only have potatoes to eat. They share their homes with animals even though they cannot stand the smell Flann O’Brien is sinisterly funny in his short novel about the life of Bonaparte O'Coonassa. The story is based in a rural area in the West of Ireland and it is home to the most Gaelic residents known to Ireland. O’Brien satirizes the Gaelic roots of these residents by using the carnivalesque to exaggerate their living conditions.
All of the residents of Corkadoragha are extremely poor and they only have potatoes to eat. They share their homes with animals even though they cannot stand the smell of them simply because they don’t know any better. The weather conditions of Corkadoragha are also carnivalesque in that it rains so much, you can swim to different parts of the town. O’Brien is satirizing not only the poor uneducated people of the west coast but is also frowning up the people of Dublin and of the English.
The Dubliners for instance have a yearly feis where the townspeople get to show off their Gaelic-ness by dancing and speaking Gaelic. Crowds come from all over to experience what seems to be the last of the traditional Gaelic community of Ireland. The President of the feis scorns the villagers in a silly speech where he warns that it is not only necessary to speak Gaelic but you must also speak of the Gaelic language itself to be truly Gaelic. He says, “There is no use in having Gaelic, if we converse in it on non-Gaelic topics. He who speaks Gaelic but fails to discuss the language question is not truly Gaelic in his heart; such conduct is of no benefit to Gaelicism because he only jeers at Gaelic and reviles the Gaels. There is nothing in this life so nice and so Gaelic as truly true Gaelic Gaels who speak in true Gaelic Gaelic about the truly Gaelic language” (O’Brien).
The feis goes on for days in which some of the villagers lose their lives because of the mandatory Gaelic dancing. Many of them faint because they have not eaten anything for days. O’Brien is satirizing and sneering at the Gaelic Revivalists because they don’t really know or care what it’s like to be hungry and uneducated. It is almost as though they are live figures in a museum that are not allowed to feel human, only Gaelic. O’Brien talks about the death of a baby that belongs to the main character and it is because of their seclusion, miseducation and poverty that the little baby dies. It is the only part of the novel where O’Brien uses a serious tone and reveals his true thoughts and feelings about the whole foolishness of the nationalist sentiment.
One of the characters in the novel, the village beggar, Sitric O'Sanassa is made the exemplary Gael by the Dubliners and the tourists because he is so poverty stricken and so hungry, that he can barely stand up. His attitude towards life is amazingly happy though, as if being Gael and poor is a blessing instead of an affliction. Again, this is O’Brien’s way of mocking the whole revivalist attitude. He is trying to express his disappointment in how the Gaelic speaking people of the west are treated by both the Irish and English governments. The residents are given meager aid and education and are expected to be thankful for it. For example, in the novel the main character goes to school to learn English and is beaten by the English schoolmaster for not answering correctly about what his name was. Bonaparte was told that his name was to be “Jams O’Donnell,” the same as everyone else in the class. Throughout the novel, it is the only bit of English Bonaparte ever learns and in the end finds his father that amusingly has the same name.
O’Brien also mocks the traditional roles of the other members of the family. Bonaparte’s father is in jail because he was accused of something he didn’t do. His mother is an idiot that takes everything literally and his grandfather is an old coot who is constantly thinking of ways to make money. The Old Grey Fellow, as Bonaparte would call him, puts himself in charge of the money made from the humiliation of the residents by the Dubliners and tourists at the feis.
O’Brien’s novel touches deeply upon the serious and sensitive matters of the Gaelic speaking people of Ireland and how they are viewed by the rest of Ireland. Yet it also satirizes the way of living from within the Gaelic community. Overall, I feel there are two ways you can read this novel. You can read it as a laugh-out-loud satire which lightheartedly and lovingly mocks the ways of the Irish or you can see it as a cry for justice and change in the attitudes of the world in regards to the Gaelic speaking citizens of Ireland. Only O’Brien is witty enough to have written something so obscure as famine, poverty and humiliation in a humorous way.

...more

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Jan 08, 2016 Beatriz rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Un libro muy gaélico con gente muy gaélica.

Me ha gustado bastante, me he reído con la ironía de O'Nolan, pero he tardado bastante en leérmelo (creo que tengo un problema con los libros de menos de 150 páginas). Supongo que el libro gusta todavía más si te has leído alguno de los libros que parodia (aunque yo no me he leído "Tirant Lo Blanc" y eso no me ha impedido leer "El Quijote").

Lo que sí me ha gustado muchísimo de esta edición (a parte de estar muy bien cuidada) es el traductor y sus notas ...more

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Feb 06, 2016 Josh rated it it was amazing

Pretty much perfect weird, short satire of the wretchedly poor turn-of-the-20th-century rural Irish life. Every meal is potatoes, every day is a downpour, and no one knows anything about the outside world.

Flann O'Brien's writing is tough to describe - it's funny without really being comic, surreal but about daily life. This one is less plotted than his longer novels, but it's a good intro to O'Brien, too, at just over 100 pages.

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Feb 26, 2013 Oscar rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: míos, mainstream, humor, clásicos

’La boca pobre’ es un puro disparate. Desde el primer momento, Flann O’Brien te introduce en un juego caracterizado por la parodia, llegando al ridículo en muchos casos, de las costumbres y tradiciones más típicas del folclore irlandés. En esta historia, los irlandeses se alimentan solo de patatas, que además es el único alimento que les apetece; les gusta ser pobres, se regodean en sus miserias, porque el buen gaélico asume lo que la vida le trae; viven en el campo, dando más importancia a sus ...more

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May 08, 2011 Ramon rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Establishes Flann "the man" O'Brien as one of my favorite authors, the most underappreciated of the Irish triumvirate (Plus JJ and Sammy Beck) and easily the funniest. Well... I mean, like, if Joyce made you giggle in the head, and Beckett with your heart, then Flann's all about the belly laugh. The muppet in lit's balcony is Flann, and here, he calls bullshit on the Gaelic Novel (take that, um... poor, subjugated underclass) with infectious, wicked, and just plain WRONG aplomb, by Gawd.

And he w ...more

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Jun 30, 2010 Bruce rated it really liked it

This short novel, written by Brian O’Neal (whose most commonly used pen name was Flann O’Brien) under the pseudonym Miles na gCopaleen, was written in Irish Gaelic and later translated, thus being subject to all the vagaries associated with translations. It is a parody on the style of works of the Irish literary revival, his satire being aimed at those who want to romanticize the Gaelic people and culture. In the novel, the author exaggerates the poverty, the ignorance, the fatalism, the drunken ...more

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May 14, 2014 Paul Cockeram rated it really liked it

This book is one long, fine joke told by a Gaelic writer at the expense of the Gaels; at the expense, also, of those seeking to exploit or romanticize them. Three things lie at the heart of the joke: Gaelic language, Gaelic poverty, and Gaelic misery. Think of Kate McKinnon's miserable Russian peasant character Olya Povlatsky on Saturday Night Live, whose refrain seems to be her unwavering desire to escape her miseries through the sweet release of death. In Flann O'Brien's The Poor Mouth, a cert This book is one long, fine joke told by a Gaelic writer at the expense of the Gaels; at the expense, also, of those seeking to exploit or romanticize them. Three things lie at the heart of the joke: Gaelic language, Gaelic poverty, and Gaelic misery. Think of Kate McKinnon's miserable Russian peasant character Olya Povlatsky on Saturday Night Live, whose refrain seems to be her unwavering desire to escape her miseries through the sweet release of death. In Flann O'Brien's The Poor Mouth, a certain Mr. O'Sanassa similarly begs for his companions to throw his body into the sea so he may escape the potatoeless squalor of his life and the "house" he has made from a hand-dug hole in the ground covered with garbage.

Welcome to Corkadoragha. It's a fictional village on the coast of western Ireland, facing the Blaskets and other windswept islands where nineteenth century Gaelic life was so earnestly chronicled in other texts. In those texts, the scholars and writers of books such as Tomás Ó Crohan's The Islandman, intentionally or not, established a stereotype of the impoverished Gael who lives at the mercy of the sea and the elements. The heroes of those narratives are charming, honey-tongued characters, always up for a drink and a story. Flann O'Brien takes on this stereotype with a savage wit, satirizing it relentlessly in The Poor Mouth. O'Brien sends up the twin spectacles of romanticism and desperation that haunt the Irish literature of island life. At times the book reads like one long inside joke, mocking Ó Crohan's favored phrases such as "their like shall never be seen here again," sprinkling the ubiquitous potatoes through every chapter, and featuring again and again and the unceasing rain that falls night and day over Corkadoragha.

Stereotypes of Irish life are taken up, lampooned, and revealed as patently ridiculous. Every house contains a single mother, an old man, a hopeful child playing in the ashes, and at one end of the house the ever-present mattress of reeds where the humans, cows, and pigs all sleep together. The potatoes boil forever on the stove while the old men cozy up to the fire and tell stories of hard times gone by. Occasionally a group of tourists drives up in their motor-cars, almost always scholars on a mission to record the Gaelic language they fear will imminently pass from the earth. These scholars and tourists are a particularly rich source of comic relief. In one scene, a man accidentally records the squeals of an escaped pig, proclaiming it the best Gaelic ever recorded. At another particularly biting moment, the President of a Gaelic society speechifies, "Gaels! It delights my Gaelic heart to be here today speaking Gaelic with you at this Gaelic feis in the centre of the Gaeltacht. May I state that I am a Gael. I'm Galic front and back, above and below. Likewise, you are all truly Gaelic." He goes on in this manner for quite some time, speaking throughout the day until more than a few Gaels in the audience, weakened by hunger and poverty, die--their like never to be seen again.

This kind of humor declares outright war against political correctness, making fun both of marginalized people and the do-gooders who seek to "save" them. The most successful, happiest characters are the ones who end up alone in caves, warmed by an eternal flame that feeds on a river of whiskey even as he's sustained by another river of whiskey. It's the Irish poet in retreat, the retiring Gael whose stories never stop, even if the public proves to be more interested in the squeals of a suited pig. ...more

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Feb 26, 2014 Li'l Vishnu rated it really liked it

Shelves: quick-and-pleasant

...a smothering fire arose in the end of the house—my mother burning the place. Back went the Old-Fellow in one leap, threw a couple of old sacks on the smoke and beat them with a big stick until the fire was quenched. He then beat my mother and gave her beneficial advice while doing so.
— p. 421 (in The Complete Novels)

For me, Flann/Myles goes in the same car with Charles Portis. Both are so imaginative—but also have a real knack for strange dialects. I just love the way their people talk. Hell, ...more

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Feb 24, 2013 J.M. Hushour rated it it was amazing

Flann O'Brien desecrates his own people in this hilarious and mockingly evil book which pokes black-natured fun at the Gaeltacht genre of Irish fiction. It is the tale of Bonaparte O'Coonassa who lives in the west Irish village of Corkadoragha where boots are unknown and feared, the terrible Sea-cat stalks the night, and Gaels drop dead in droves at every public function featured. The likes of this will never be there again! Highly, highly recommended.

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Mar 25, 2014 Zac O hArgadain rated it it was amazing

An-Chliste! This book is very clever! Coming from an Irish-American family that came over during the Famine (Gorta Mor) speaking Irish Gaelic and that endured a lot of trauma on this side of the Atlantic, it is a great view into what those who remained in Ireland still speaking the language went through. What a great way to critique imposed stereotypes, Gaeltacht policy and the crushing weight of imperialism. It will have you laughing at every point, while also treating the struggle of the Irish ...more

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Sep 19, 2014 Norah rated it it was amazing

I read this a long time ago, and it has stuck in my memory. I found my review recently in the roof-space while looking for something else!

"If you want to understand the Irishness of the Irish, read The Poor Mouth by Flann O'Brien or Myles na Gopaleen, translated from the Gaelic. Brought up by his mother and grandfather (his father being 'in the jug'), poor, but appreciative of beauty and the traditions of the Gaels; basic earth humour, pigs in the kitchen stuff (Ambrose and the Bad Smell!); hard ...more

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Jul 10, 2015 Elmursard rated it it was amazing

Shelves: humor, satire, classics, irish

Flann O'brien's mighty satire "The Poor Mouth" is certainly one of the greatest novels i've ever read. It's awkwardly funny and absolutely nicely written. Even though I had never heard of Gaeltacht autobiographies before reading this it still makes a lot of sense. Particularly I loved the episodes about irish language and if some certain pieces in the whole novel seem a little bit too awkward that view of Rehabilitation and Research of irish language are just mesmerizingly witty. That was the fi ...more

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Oct 23, 2008 Matthew rated it it was amazing

Shelves: laugh-riots

Originally written in Gaelic!

HILARIOUS MISERY!!!

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Aug 12, 2011 Kevin Tole rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-novels, irish

I am giving this edition 1 star only to publicise the utterly poor quality of this Flamingo edition. Do yourselves a favour and track down the old Paladin / Picador edition if you can find it.

Flamingo must be one of the poorest of the poor publishing houses - either that or they are putting on the poor mouth - have gone out of their way to make this as cheap as possible possibly reflecting the hard times and the hardships of the Gaels which have fallen upon them, the ill luck and bounteous quant ...more

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Nov 06, 2013 Allan MacDonell rated it it was amazing

Irish people are great folks for making fun of humans not of their own ilk, but sensitive, sensitive souls when it comes to mockery being delivered by the other foot. The only reason the Hibernian Protection League allows The Poor Mouth: A Bad Story about the Hard Life to remain in print without raising a pointless clamor against it is that the bruising kicks and cutting pricks the book delivers to the Irish psyche and physicality are delivered by Flann O’Brien, an admitted descendent of the Eme ...more

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Jul 02, 2013 Aaron Arnold rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, read-in-2013

As the most insular and self-consciously Irish novel he ever wrote, this one won't ever gain the fame of his others, for understandable reasons, but it's very funny all the same. Originally published in Gaelic as An Béal Bocht, it's the story of Bonaparte O'Coonasa, a wretch of an Irishman who lives a life of uninterrupted poverty, misery, and filth in the remote village of Corkadoragha with his mother, an elderly companion named the Old-Grey-Fellow, and an assortment of pigs.

The humor in the bo As the most insular and self-consciously Irish novel he ever wrote, this one won't ever gain the fame of his others, for understandable reasons, but it's very funny all the same. Originally published in Gaelic as An Béal Bocht, it's the story of Bonaparte O'Coonasa, a wretch of an Irishman who lives a life of uninterrupted poverty, misery, and filth in the remote village of Corkadoragha with his mother, an elderly companion named the Old-Grey-Fellow, and an assortment of pigs.

The humor in the book comes from everywhere: the dialogue, which is a maximally overwrought rendering of "faith and begorrah!" stereotypes; the plot, which is an endless succession of pigs, potatoes, whiskey, rain, and mud, with an occasional adventure thrown in; and the broader theme of an absurdly obsessive focus on Irishness, its true nature, and how Irish it is to be constantly talking and thinking about Irishness:

"If we're truly Gaelic, we must constantly discuss the question of the Gaelic revival and the question of Gaelicism. There is no use in having Gaelic, if we converse in it on non-Gaelic topics. He who speaks Gaelic but fails to discuss the language question is not truly Gaelic in his heart; such conduct is of no benefit to Gaelicism because he only jeers at Gaelic and reviles the Gaels. There is nothing in this life so nice and so Gaelic as truly true Gaelic Gaels who speak in true Gaelic Gaelic about the truly Gaelic language."

O'Brien is parodying the navel-gazing tendency of the post-Independence Irish government to force its citizens to celebrate their Irishness by reading lots of material about how poor, rural, and uneducated they were (an American equivalent might be if everyone were required to read endless numbers of sub-Laura Ingalls Wilder-quality novels about starving farmers or something). O'Brien takes the sheer depressing awfulness of this peasant existence to the extreme, bringing out the inherent hilarity of this kind of national glorification:

"Eight more died on that same day from excess of dancing and scarcity of food. The Dublin gentlemen said that no Gaelic dance was as Gaelic as the Long Dance, that it was Gaelic according to its length and truly Gaelic whenever it was truly long. Whatever the length of time needed for the longest Long Dance, it is certain that it was trivial in comparison with the task we had in Corkadoragha on that day. The dance continued until the dancers drove their lives out through the soles of their feet and eight died during the course of the feis. Due to both the fatigue caused by the revels and the truly Gaelic famine that was ours always, they could not be succoured when they fell on the rocky dancing floor and, upon my soul, short was their tarrying on this particular area because they wended their way to eternity without more ado."

If you don't think books about starving peasants can be funny then you won't like this one, but I personally couldn't put it down. The Irish author Mark O'Connell wrote a good review of this book for The Millions that adds a bit more context, but it's funny enough even if you don't know much about the quirks of Irish culture that prompted this hilarious satire. ...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Mandy Jo rated it liked it

Shelves: litríocht-na-hÉireann

This week’s headline? An Béal Bocht

Why this book? only O'Brien available

Which book format? US print, HPB

Primary reading environment? one Saturday afternoon

Any preconceived notions? lesser known title

Identify most with? Sitric O'Sanassa's fate

Three little words? "Paradise of Ireland”

Goes well with? Po Tay Toes

Recommend this to? patient Gaelic translator

I picked up The Poor Mouth during my Half Price Books Irish fiction shopping spree late last year. I really, really, really want to read At Swim- ...more

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Dec 10, 2012 Holly rated it really liked it

Shelves: classic-lit

This book is often described as funny...well, Flann O'Brien is often described as a writer of the hilarious and I often find his humor eludes me (I am ready to take full blame on that count though as I strongly suspect his humor is outside of my knowledge to appreciate it). This book was different and after thinking about it for several days I concluded the reason I actually laughed outloud was because, well, I got it. I picked this up after reading a few books about the Irish famine of 1847ish ...more

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Oct 29, 2011 Mysterium rated it really liked it

Shelves: celtic-reads, humour, hard-to-put-down, controversial, well-illustrated, linguistics, race-relations, consistantly-great-author, quick-read, cultural-studies, subject-for-debate, twisted-humour, strength-from-struggle, personable-author, little-known-history, counter-culture, against-the-grain, irish-ways-of-olde, gaelic-gaeilge, translated

To fully understand this wonderfully twisted book, it helps to be from Ireland. It really, really helps to be from the Irish Republic. It really, really, really helps to be from Western Ireland Coastal region. It really, really, really, really helps to know the tension between the Irish and the english. (Yes, I purposely left it in the lower case). I fit all of these categories.

The Poor Mouth is a funny story about the Irish who inhabit one of the areas of Ireland that time seems to forget. It w ...more

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Oct 08, 2010 Braden rated it it was amazing

Stumbled on Flann O'Brien's The Poor Mouth just when I was starting to feeling sorry for my underemployed self. Satire at its best! Typical chapter beginning: “In one way or another, life was passing us by & we were suffering misery, sometimes having a potato & at other times having nothing in our mouths but sweet words of Gaelic. As far as the weather in itself was concerned, things were becoming worse.”

If I read this at another time in my life, I might give this four stars rather than ...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Evan rated it liked it

I realize that saying a translated work of literature had to have read better in the original language is a cliche, but in this case I really do think it's pivotal (with the caveat that I can't read Irish Gaelic). A lot of the humor in this, especially in the earlier chapters, seemed to depend on the reader understanding the style and structure of the Gaelic language, and the callbacks to specific earlier works in the style O'Brien was parodying, and despite a valiant effort on the translator's ...more

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Jun 10, 2013 Tim rated it it was amazing

The internet led me to Flann O'Brien's darkly humorous The Poor Mouth, a series of bleak tales about rural Irish life, told to mimic the way suffering and Irish culture was recounted in earlier Irish writing. Translated from the Gaelic with a lovely sing-song feel. Be ready for the bleakest tragedy and to laugh out loud repeatedly. "I do not think that the like will ever be there again." Illustrations by Ralph Steadman in my edition only made it bleaker.

"If the bare truth be told, I did not pro ...more

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About Flann O'Brien

Pseudonym of Brian Ó Nualláin, also known as Brian O'Nolan.

His English novels appeared under the name of Flann O’Brien, while his great Irish novel and his newspaper column (which appeared from 1940 to 1966) were signed Myles na gCopaleen or Myles na Gopaleen – the second being a phonetic rendering of the first. One of twelve brothers and sisters, he was born in 1911 in Strabane, County Tyrone, in ...more

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“An té a bhíonn i bhfad gan práta ní bhíonn sé folláin” — 1 likes

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title link	preview: Poor Mouth: A Bad Story about the Hard Life
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Poor Mouth: A Bad Story about the Hard Life

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