Knick Knack Paddy Whack

by Ardal O'Hanlon

Not since Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye has literature seen a young man with as much contempt for hypocrisy and phoniness as Patrick Scully, the narrator of this brilliantly observed tale of a nineteen-year-old's frustrations and dreams. Stuck in a dead-end job in Dublin, while his friends pursue useless degrees at the university, Patrick escapes for a weekend to his hometown of Killeeny, a few hours' bus ride from Dublin. There he hooks up with his childhood chum, Balls O'Reilly, and his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Francesca, who, as we learn in chapters from her diary, is more interested in Balls than she'd want anyone, especially Patrick, to know. What follows is a rollicking weekend of carousing, drinking, and depravity, all seen through Patrick's searing and unforgiving eyes. Laced with hilarious small-town insight, this gripping first novel builds to a shocking climax as Patrick's insight into the duplicity of his so-called friends becomes more than he can bear.

Genres: Fiction, Ireland, Humor, Irish Literature, Novels, Classics, 20th Century

244 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Ardal O'Hanlon is an Irish comedian, actor, and author. He played Father Dougal McGuire in Father Ted (1995–1998), George Sunday/Thermoman in My Hero (2000–2006), and DI Jack Mooney in Death in Paradise (2017–2020). His novel, The Talk of the Town (renamed Knick Knack Paddy Whack in the USA) was published in 1998.

Reviews

[Shovelmonkey1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

So young Dougal from Father Ted has gone and written a book now has he? Well lets see, what's it all about then?

Patrick Scully, the wee bollox, is living life at large up above in Dublin and is trying to make his own way in the world. A typical story you might think a young man finding his feet, making new friends and trying to shrug off the mantle of a small town boy by moving to the big city. People left behind in small town Castlecock include young Joe, sister Val, the mentally unstable and infinitely suspicious Mammy and that pointy eared bollox Plunkett McKenna, all of whom don't really have that much to do with the story when alls said and done. Patrick was a promising youth - football star, spelling bee genius - but the demise of his Da, the local Guarda Patrick Scully Senior has sent him cantering off down the wrong path and there is no turning back now.

This book rang a lot of bells for me - from both Catholic and Prody bell towers in fact. A long time ago I moved to Ireland to work. I won't mention the town which was to be my home for a while but it bears some uncanny similarities to Castlecock, home of Patrick Scully, and it was characterised by a rocky outcrop topped by a historic monastery to which hoards of Americans flocked seeking a little bit of heritage. Located about half way between Dublin and Cork, both cities were regarded as hubs of the modern civilisation and also brightly illuminated devils traps, established not as centres of trade, commerce or learning but rather as places where the local youth were lead astray... straight on a path to the devil. If you wanted to make a break for freedom and get either above to Dublin or below to Cork then you'd have to get on the bus which ran erratically about once every three days. Apart from that if you didn't have a car or a tractor then you were fucked. And trapped.

The town had one high street which was populated by a small supermarket, a tourist information office (selling the kind of celtic themed nonsense that Patrick Scully steals in the book), a butcher, two turf accountants, an ill-founded Indian restaurant and about 28 pubs. My local was both the main pub in the town and also the undertakers. If you approached the building heading south, the sign on the gable said "Feeghan's Public House". The gable on the north bound approach said "Feeghan's the Undertakers". Sometimes people dropped down dead at the bar and were carried straight upstairs to be laid out. My neighbours were a local farmer who had a "special crop" and fancied himself as a Druid. Occasionally he'd turn up in his robes and get blind drunk in a corner. Other locals included a man who lived in a horse box and a man who'd fallen off the cliffs of Moher while inebriated and miraculously survived.

Based on my own personal experiences of the Emerald Isle I'd say that this book is the most truthful representation of small town Ireland I've ever read. It is also well written, vibrant, acute, accurate and will have you quietly grinning to yourself from the turn of the first page. I wonder how many Hail Marys Ardal O'Hanlon had to do after this was published?

[Paul Bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this from the famous 1001 Books you must Read or we will Barbecue your Household Pets One By One and Send You Bits of Them. Well, I didn’t care for it so much. Reminded me of a very watery small-town Irish version of Trainspotting without the drugs. It was okay if you like gross vernacular descriptions of what teenage boys do on Saturday night. You may guess that pints of bodily fluids are involved, and much in the way of physical discomfort and psychological humiliation. Usual stuff. I already have my memories, I don’t need Ardal O’Hanlon’s recalibration of them. I could tell where I was supposed to smile and guffaw in recognition but I did neither.

So my mind idly wandering I took to wondering how I currently stood with the mighty 1001 Books. Here’s the current score:

Got but not read yet : 28
Read and liked : 178
Read and disliked : 43
Gave up : 35

Total 284

That’s a fairly low number. But perhaps I should throw in another category:

Books I have not even the faintest desire to read : 429

That’s a guess, but I really don’t want to ever have to think about Euphues : The Anatomy of Wit by John Lyly or Reveries of a Solitary Walker by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. And those 900 page Victorian monstrosities are looking less attractive by the day. Call me a lightweight. I admit it.

But I still like this guide. Every time I look through it I find loads of really obscure stuff which I would never have heard of otherwise – City Sister Silver by Jachym Topol, Land by Park Kyong-ni, The Clay Machine Gun by Victor Pelevin – and in each case there’s a fan of the said obscurity telling me why I should read it. I like that. It’s better that being herded around by big bucks marketing campaigns and dashing from one Jonathan Franzen to the next. I know the first edition of 1001 Books had its drawbacks – I mean to say, 20 novels each by J bloody M Coetzee and Ian Mc bloody Ewan, utterly ridiculous.

Never mind. I should mention here that this is still the go-to guide to go to if you’re ever confronted by a horrid spider, ugh. Drop this considerable tome upon the hideous arachnid and problem solved.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Patrick Scully is not a likeable character. From the onset we are slapped around with cuss words and awful language, that somehow settles down as the book goes on. It’s the first year out of school and his friends have all gone to university while Patrick is feeling left behind, despite that they all share a flat in Dublin. His girlfriend Francesa doesn’t really like him too much, but he doesn’t know this, only she won’t go all the way, so he’s still a virgin. On the weekends he takes the bus back home to his village and spends the weekend with friends getting drunk at the pub or club, and maybe getting into a fight.

It's not a pretty book by any means. Interspersed with Patrick’s POV we get entries from Francesca’s diary that is detailed and erudite. This is how we learn she tolerates Patrick, maybe feels sorry for him, and has affection for his roommate Xavier whom they call Balls.

The timeline isn’t linear and we even have Patrick making up something that could have happened so the story is not clear. As the book goes on, it’s hard not to feel some sympathy for the lonely Scully. Still, I did not enjoy the journey.

[Joey · Rating 2 out of 5]

There he is, my neighbor, a waste of boy, fashioned himself into an innocent look, an obvious look of teenage: lankily immature but cute and good-looking, his flawless fair complexion is no longer indelible, but still he takes after his father’s charisma. Poor boy! His father abandoned them. There he is playing an arachnofight with another waste of boy bending over his shoulder.

It was a scene of gross negligence.

Just finished this book did I notice the boy across from my house. He could resemble the man of this book. His name is Patrick,a teen-ager,in a blue funk,lost his father and dreams of taking after his father’s job as a security guard. Alas, when his father kicked the bucket, he started to get criss-crossed which path of his life he should keep up with. He eventually learned the rocks of life. He got into drugs, sex, riot, and immature love which caused him to commit a sin he had never thought of.

I did not like it at first; its writing style is not my cup of tea. I could not get the settings of the story. Every prose is even confusing. Eventually, there is the method to the narrator’s, probably the author himself, madness after all: It could be a teenager’s testimony- he probably wants to vent his spleen. As I reached its climax, I got choked up, rendered speechless. In fact, its ending helped me clear all the clouds overcast my mind since the beginning. Poor Patrick!

I realized then that sticking to traditional writing styles has nothing to do with what the meanings writers want to imply. Sometimes the good intentions of writers qualify their books to be worth reading.
Alas, I can not bring myself to give it more than two stars. I may be used to my standards, or still overwhelmed by its aftereffects.

It is Ardal O’Hanlon’s first novel. He is lucky that this is included on the list of 1001 Best Novels in the World You Must Read Before You Die.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the beginning, I kind of liked Patrick, the main character. He was a regular "fall-betwixt-the-cracks sort of bloke. As the story progressed, I liked him less and less. He just didn't go ahead in life. He had such promise, and he fell further and further behind his brother, his friends, everyone he ever knew. But at the end, he knew this. He didn't much care for himself either. And, without telling anything, it is pretty obvious that he should think this. I liked this story because it does evoke small town life. Everyone is the talk of the town, if you do something small, or something big. Hopefully O'Hanlon will have another book in the works, as I think he is a talented writer.

[Alec Downie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dougal gets dark as fuck, and the idea that this is being touted as a funny book is disconcerting, yes there are some funny observations but the subtext is brutal to the point of sickening.

[Jade · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let's start with the good point; the main character kills himself at the end of the book. No, I'm not heartless; this guy is a complete jerk. He pisses himself in one part of the book because he doesn't want to alert anyone to the fact that he needs the toilet. O'Hanlon does write with some intelligence and I like the style in which this story was put together, but basically reading this story was like sitting next to a man in a pub moaning about his lack of money and love life, whilst thinking that boring you stupid and knocking back cheap liquer will get him somewhere. By the last chapter the suicide was actually a relief to me. Instead of feeling sorry for the guy all I could think was 'thank God, now I no longer have to listen to this shite, depressing monologue anymore'. The only way I could recommend that you read this is if you need reminding about how good life is, and that if you want to achieve something in life, get off your arse and achieve it, don't blame others for your mistakes!

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was basically the story of a young Irish youth who after leaving school was in a dead-end job and wandered aimlessly with friends getting drunk and causing trouble. It related his concerns and feelings of leaving school with a bleak future: "As soon as you leave school and leave your home town and leave your friends, everything changes. You're suddenly stripped of your certainties. You begin to think that your personality was never anything more than a Hoover bag full of fluff. Your brain is just one big hard mass of overchewed Wrigley's gum. And that's all there is to it." The story began with a comedic episode but it soon changed into a very dark story expressing how people react to situations in life. It included the problems of fitting in, having a relationship with someone you're not really in love with, and the jealousies that can result. This all leads to a surprising and tragic conclusion. Overall I would recommend this one.

[Kingfan30 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have only been to Ireland once and that was to Dublin, so my knowledge of small town Irish life is limited to what I have read in the past, and to be fair it does not appear too different to living in a small English village where everyone knows everyone and even the smallest scandal is spread like wild fire!

Patrick is not a likeable character by any means and I was thinking throughout this, just grow up and get a life! The way he was with Francesca was despicable, he seemed to forget he did the cheating first and as for stalking and reading her diary! I did like the fact we got to see her point of view though.

I knew from the beginning that this would not end well, but it kept my interest and I would be happy to read more by Ardal, although to be fair anything would have been better than the last read -Tristram Shandy!

[ParisianIrish · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Talk of the Town by Ardal O’Hanlon is a witty, sharp, and surprisingly poignant novel that captures the essence of small-town life with humor and depth. Known for his comedic talent, O’Hanlon brings a unique voice to this coming-of-age story set in 1980s Ireland, balancing moments of hilarity with a keen observation of the frustrations and contradictions of provincial existence.

The novel follows Patrick Scully, a young man stuck in the monotony of small-town life, navigating the transition from adolescence to adulthood. What makes this book so engaging is O’Hanlon’s ability to capture the absurdity of everyday life through Patrick’s dry, often self-deprecating humor. The internal monologue is sharp, and Patrick’s cynical yet oddly endearing perspective on everything from relationships to religion provides a constant stream of laughs.

However, beneath the humor lies a layer of emotional depth. O’Hanlon explores themes of identity, existential angst, and the desire to escape a world that feels too small. Patrick's sense of being trapped in his hometown, longing for something bigger yet unsure of what that might be, resonates deeply. The novel paints a vivid picture of rural Ireland in the 1980s, with its rigid social structures, cultural conservatism, and the challenges of youth growing up in such an environment.

O’Hanlon also excels at creating colorful characters. From Patrick’s unpredictable group of friends to the often ridiculous, yet strangely familiar, local townsfolk, every character feels real and distinctive. The dialogue is lively and true to life, making even the most mundane encounters memorable and entertaining.

Though some readers might find the plot more episodic than tightly structured, the novel's charm lies in its vivid moments and humorous observations rather than in any grand narrative arc. The book is more about capturing the experience of small-town youth—its boredom, its humor, and its longing—than about delivering a traditional, linear storyline.

Overall, The Talk of the Town is an enjoyable and insightful read. Ardal O’Hanlon’s trademark humor shines throughout the novel, but it's the moments of genuine reflection and emotional depth that elevate it beyond a simple comic tale. For anyone who enjoys a blend of wit and heart, with a strong sense of place and character, this book is a delight.

The novel ends with horrific episode, which may shock some readers.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book tells the story of Patrick Sculley, an Irish lad moving from a small village where he knew everyone and everyone knew him to the city of Dublin where he was anonymous like so many others stuggling to make a mark in life.
Initially I liked Patrick, his was a character I could well imagine. He was stuck in a dead end job while many of his contemparies had gone onto college and unlike his best friend 'Balls' was not the most eloquent around strangers and with members of the opposite sex in particular, he was the sort of bloke that rather slipped through the cracks of society. I could relate with some of his experiences when he returned home to his family and village chiefly because of the similarities in my own life when I left home at 16.However, as the story progressed he became more and more dislikeable self-obsessed, homophobic, sexist, violent drunkard and ultimately self-pitying. He somehow believed that life owed him something rather than going out and grabbing it for himself. In truth the sort of person I dislike the most.
That said the story, for me, was always compelling and I certainly did not expect the way it ended. It is not a book that will live that long in the memory but as a comedian/celebrity's book it is one of the better ones that I have read.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was enjoying the story, the dialect and the crack, but it just petered out at the end and while Patrick was the main narrator, Francesca's story was much more fascinating.

[Spiros · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have spent the past few weeks suffering the acute pangs of withdrawal from two things which had obsessed me through the early parts of this summer: the Golden State Warriors' improbable run through the 2022 NBA Playoffs, and the sheer, anarchic glory that was Series 13 of Taskmaster.
I have been consuming podcasts to help scratch my Warriors itch: I happened upon this book, which helped bridge the massive gap that the ending of Series 13 of Taskmaster left in my life.
All 65 contestants on Taskmaster have brought their own unique brands of zaniness to the show; Ardal O'Hanlon stood out for his unprecedented combination of utter incompetence in essaying the tasks, and his ineffectual backstabbing of the efforts of his fellow contestants. It was, as Patrick Scully, the self-deluded and humorless protagonist of this novel would say, "great crack".

I found foreshadowing of three of Ardal's Taskmaster tropes in this 1998 novel: his fetishization of wooden spoons on the show appears here, in a description of Scully's mother's reaction to him trying to skive off school: "I'd cough feebly and she'd suddenly lose her patience and fly into a rage. She'd chase me out the door with the wooden spoon, me trying desperately to protect my bare legs from her thrusts."

Tasked with "Showing Off", Ardal spent 14 minutes in the Taskmaster kitchen, emerging with what would appear to be dried dough and flour in his hair, before feebly attempting to balance a wooden spoon on his chin. When challenged, he replied that he is "constitutionally incapable of showing off", that "where I come from, people won't wear High-Vis jackets!" And here is Patrick Scully: "Anything above and beyond booting the ball down the field as far as possible after preferably decapitating a member of the opposition was known as 'showing off', a crime punishable by immediate substitution and possibly a three-match ban."

A third foreshadowing of the glory that was Ardal's run on Taskmaster is this throwaway line: "And I'll tell you one thing for nothing, no woman is going to make a fool out of me." Which evoked that glorious moment when Ardal insisted that Bridget Christie say the "full word" for "DNA", upon which she rattles off "What, you mean 'Deoxyribonucleic acid'?", and takes a bow while aggressively and emphatically flipping him off.

Other than that, the book was OK.

[Gerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was well into this book when I realised I'd read it before and I imagine that could happen again because it's not very memorable.

That said, it is an easy read and full of good Irish wit and dialogue. The story is one of a slightly disfunctional and misguided young man who is unable to really understand what is going on around him and how others see him (which is not how he sees himself). As the story moves on, those around him mature and move on following their life goals whereas he is left stagnating in his mundane life and job, yet he continues to pass judgement on those fairing better while falling in with a those, like him, that have somehow been marginalised by immaturity or character defects (mainly violence and alcohol).

Readable in a disposable way.

[Maryann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patrick is an Irish lad from a small town and his father died when he was 9. Told from both his perspective and entries in his girlfriend's journal, we get an inside glimpse at what at first appears to be an average young adult's life, going out with his friends and trying to meet girls.

The story gains depth and momentum as it moves forward, making the last few chapters hard to step away from. There are moments of humor, despair, and deeply moving emotion. The slow reveal is effective and compelling.

Food: a plate of greasy bar food after a full night of drinking. Hits the spot at first, but then combined with all the rest, makes for a bit of queasiness.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sad, character based novel about the disillusionment of nineteen year old Patrick Scully. Narrated in the first person by Patrick with short paragraphs from Patrick’s girlfriend, Francesca’s diary.

The novel begins with Patrick seeming to be a likable ordinary guy with friends. Patrick was a sports star at Gaelic football when he was a schoolboy. Patrick’s drinking finds himself in fights and acting violently.

By the end of this novel, things haven’t gone well for Patrick. He has become a most unlikable character.

A well told, short, memorable powerful novel.

This book was first published in 1998.

[Tarah Luke · Rating 2 out of 5]

#1001books #632left

This had a lot of potential, but Patrick ultimately really angered me. I agree entirely with Francesca that he never took responsibility for himself or his actions, and I also thought he kept expecting things to get better for himself with absolutely no effort on his part. Perhaps this was something more to do with me, but the more I read the more I was reminded of several former friends who sounded so much like Patrick.

Two stars because I enjoyed the first part of the book, but after he gets in the big fight I really started to hate the character.

[Peter Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up from the office book swap book as it’s by Ardal O’Hanlon and I thought it might be amusing. That idea didn’t go quite to plan. There are a few humorous touches but that’s not O’Hanlon’s intention with this book. There’s one mildly amusing almost clichéd Irish character but it’s not the protagonist, who is not at all amusing, and to say any more than that would be a spoiler. A good read but definitely not one if you were looking for a laugh….
Not quite four stars but probably 3 and a half stars.

[adela🕯️🌙 · Rating 4 out of 5]

📚 Wow. Okay. I dove into this book thinking it would have Irish small town humour and be full of lighthearted craic.
How wrong I was. This was extremely dark. I did not expect the ending by any means. O’Hanlon excellently portrayed Irish small town life by all means as well as a lost young man with deteriorating mental health.

I felt sorry for Scully at first, but that pity soon turned to dislike, especially when I got an insight into Francesca and the intelligent woman that she was. This was a brilliant read and I couldn’t have expected where it would go.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

O’Hanlon has such a great ear for dialogue and is such a natural storyteller. The prose throughout is excellent, though some of the diary entries seem too literary to be believable. The characters are trickier - the narrator seems sympathetic at first, then less so, then proves himself to be unreliable and unlikeable, and ultimately, is gut-wrenchingly tragic, and most certainly the “talk of the town.”

[Wendy Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ardal O'Hanlon is a superlative writer. So why only one star? Because generally, I read for pleasure and Patrick Scully has to be the most damaged and immoral protagonist since Jake the Muss (Once Were Warriors). It is a testament to O'Hanlon's writing that he aroused such disgust but in the end, it is not an experience I would like to repeat.

[Moirad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some very dark humour, but mainly a sorry tale of a young man realizing that he is failing to succeed in work, love, family relationships or friendship, which all leads to a tragic end. How many more Irish novels/memoirs like this will be written, and can any of them come up with originality?

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

A star docked for some dated language. I feel like it lost its way in the second half and I really wanted some more resolution to the outcome. For such a short book there was so much more that could be done.

[Rory McAvinney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book!

I realised that Patrick Scully is not a likeable character fairly early on. But the story line is good and very dark. A short book that doesn't take very long to read but it lived up to it's title and sums up rural Ireland in many ways.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty decent read. I wish I could give it a 3.5. Poor Paddy. How much of his issues are inside of his own head? I like that we get points of view from both Paddy and his on-again off-again girlfriend, Francesca. Considering this was the author's first novel, he did a heck of a job.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminded me a lot of Irvine Welsh's "Trainspotting". Decent read, seemed to wind its way through the story, liked the techniques, but the story didn't really grab me.

[Emily Gros · Rating 1 out of 5]

To be honest - I was so bored with this I couldn’t finish it.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

[Adela63 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! Brilliant language, brilliant characters, brilliant descriptions!