Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

Doyle, Roddy

ISBN 10: 0749397969 / ISBN 13: 9780749397968

Published by Minerva (an Imprint of the Octopus Publishing Group), 1993

About this Item

Paperback in very good condition. Signed by the author on the title page. Minor shelfwear to the cover. Small closed tear on the abstract page. Embossed stamps on one or two pages. The binding is sound with clear text. CM.

Seller Inventory # 485890

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
• Publisher: Minerva (an Imprint of the Octopus Publishing Group)
• Publication Date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0749397969
• ISBN 13: 9780749397968
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Signed by Author
• Book Type: Used
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature

About this title

Synopsis

In this national bestseller and winner of the Booker Prize, Roddy Doyle, author of the "Barrytown Trilogy," takes us to a new level of emotional richness with the story of ten-year-old Padraic Clarke. Witty and poignant--and adored by critics and readers alike--Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha charts the trumphs, indignities, and bewilderment of Paddy as he tries to make sense of his changing world.

Review

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--anything--to happen.

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. --Jill Marquis