Customer Reviews

Jaywalking with the Irish

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My husband and I did a similar thing to David's family--we skipped out on our "happy perfect" lives in a quaint New England town, to give rough and tumble Dublin a go. We've never looked back and David's book is the one we'd write, if we had his eye for a story and his talent for telling it. This man knows of what he speaks, when it comes to capturing the expat life in an accurate and compelling fashion. I am amused to see the American reviews focus, I think, somewhat overly much on the negative sides of the Monagan adventure. If they didn't have mistakes and dark encounters, what stories would they have to tell? Living in Ireland, I read those stores with both recognition but awareness of the hugely compensating postive sides of what the Monagans did. If you have any interest in what it is like for an American family to live in a foreign country, and you want to hear it "told straight", run to buy this book. I read loads of this genre and this is definitely one of the better selections (along with Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik).

Monagan offers a sobering take on how Ireland accepts and rejects his attempts to relocate there in the early 00's. His observations on petty theft, killer (literally) traffic, suburban blight, environmental destruction, binge drinking, relocated romantics, and boorish behavior certainly should correct the sentimentality of many visitors to his adopted city of Cork and its environs. It's rare, it still seems, to find a book outside of the Irish presses that interrogates today's gritty attitudes amidst an unsettlingly glitzy urban Ireland outside of Belfast or Dublin. The book works best when tackling the changes Ireland finds itself in over especially the last ten or fifteen years. Monagan's very good on how Irish conversation draws out the naive outsider to reveal a weakness while the native conversant remains protected, watching but not revealing. He also plumbs the puzzling indifference shown by many Irish today to the loss of their heritage as foreign capital invades and conquers in the name of profit once again.

What hobbles this account are a variety of structural and factual stumbles as he recounts his move. First, how he and his family survive, after renting out their Connecticut house and relocating, remains too unclear, given that David has only free-lance writing to pay the exorbitant food, tuition, tax, and housing bills that anyone living in Ireland is sadly familiar with. How his wife fares with her work is also left too vague. Secondly, parts of this book read as if he inserted his free-lance work (on the Kinsale Old Head golf course monstrosity and on the volunteer rescue brigades) as chapters here rather jarringly. Third, the facts behind the reason for the various pieces sculpture garden at Sneem, the confusion of Knock with Croagh Patrick, and the ignorance that he shows towards not bothering to find out the simple reason the local GAA field is called "Pairc Ui Choamh" show a superficial attention to telling details that a more thorough chronicler would have investigated.

To be fair, the author has corresponded with me since I originally posted this review, and noted, correctly, that to delve too "academically" into the pedantry behind the offhand Pairc remark, uttered by not the author but another man at the match, would take away from the anecdote and interfere with the telling of the whole incident. I agree, and stand corrected. By the way, the author has gone on to stay in Ireland, appear on talk shows, and to pursue his writing career, more power to him.

However, I respectfully wish that he'd have gone further into what could have been intriguing stories. For instance, he raises in one sentence a potentially illuminating example of rural Irish culture on Valentia Island but neglects to develop this further, leaving the reader deflated at the hasty end to a chapter and wondering why he bothered to bring it up, since his time spent exploring there remains enigmatic. Finally, the end of the book stutters and hesitates as he vacillates whether to return to the US for good in the wake of the 2001 attacks. The last portion rushes while the first part had taken its time exploring the first year there. The book ends less than neatly, not knowing when to stop the story. This may be appropriate in reflecting Monagan's divided loyalties, but it does not culminate in a well-crafted conclusion on the page.

I still recommend this as an antidote to the "I bought a B&B/farm and here are tales from the lovable locals I met" genre for its portrayal of anti-American sentiment, threatened cultural and ecological conditions, and intriguing if too brief scenes from rural Co Cork that add to the book's relevance. It's worth comparing to the nearly contemporaneously composed travelogue by British writer Pete McCarthy, "McCarthy's Bar," in its overlapping and concurrent Cork focus. And it recalls in its considerations of Northeast US-Irish upbringing that of another contemporary, Steve Fallon, whose Boston-meets-Connemara journey frames his book "Home with Alice." Like these, "Jaywalking" examines the attempt of Irish Americans to settle in reverse of the usual historical direction, and in its reminders of how delicate the values of Irish life become in an relentlessly consumer-driven and globalized existence into which Ireland has now plunged itself (nearly?) wholeheartedly.

Written from the perspective of an Irish-American who lived a while in Ireland in the early 70's and then goes back for a longer stay (maybe for life?) in 2000, David Monagan's book walks us through a coming to terms with abrupt cultural changes that have accompanied the economic transformation from nearly third world to top of the heap in a sigle generation. David doesn't hide the pain and the humor of it all as he portrays his process of assimilation and engagement. This is not only a portrayal that some of us fellow Irish-Americans with "Ireland then and Ireland now" knowledege will gain insight from (while enjoying some laughs in the process), but will also help older Irishmen make some "sense" of their socioeconomic revolution.

David Monagan's story of his family's exploration of their Irish roots is both riveting and revealing. His adventurous pilgrimage to the land of his forebears is at once humorous, occasionally heartbreaking and is extremely well-written to boot. Monagan's fascination with the Emerald Isle began when he studied at Trinity College in Dublin, and was heightened over the intervening years by trips back with his wife, Jamie (including their honeymoon) and later with their 3 kids. Finally, in 2000, the Monagan family left rural Connecticut and embarked upon their "Great Irish Escape", landing in Cork City. Monagan's graceful, vivid prose carries us though the mysteries, wonders and hardships of settling in a country that is both familiar to him and unwelcoming to "Yanks." His insightful and dead-on descriptions help us get to know the colorful characters he encounters along the way. We are at his elbow as he hoists a pint at his favorite local pub, the Hi-B, when his children discover first-hand the vagaries of the Irish educational system, and when the family explores the verdant Irish countryside. Monagan writes with honesty, wit and compassion. This is an Ireland that I must visit! This book is one great read!!

I'd have to agree with Frank McCourt's statement that you won't find a better or truer depiction of Ireland than Jaywalking with the Irish. I've been to Ireland numerous times, but have not been there very recently. It made me laugh to read of the complexities of "today's" Ireland. I came away from Monagan's book relieved that the warmth, charm and humor that make Ireland so delightful are still soundly in place. The book makes me want to get back there soon.

For those who treasure their Irish heritage, Jaywalking with the Irish is a dream come true. David Monagan describes his families life in Ireland and their first hand experiences with the changes in the Irish standard of living, and the "Celtic Tiger". However, as much as things have changed, Monagan story demonstrates how the Irish personalities,their character, their superstitions, their humor and warmth are still the same. Great book!

I loved it. The language is so beautiful, the characterizations magnificent (I fell in love with so many of the people described), the evocation of the soul of Ireland so clear and compelling (even though I've never been there), and the adventures described so exciting. Anyone who would like to get the next best thing to personal engagement with the people of Ireland should read this treasure.

Jaywalking with the Irish (2004) is very much aimed at the American, or `Irish-American' market. In 2000 David Monagan an American journalist decided to uproot his family from Connecticut to Ireland. Highly enamoured of Ireland, having spent a college semester in Dublin in the 70's, the middle-aged Monagan wanted to recapture some of that freedom he had experienced as a youth. (In so many ways I am reminded of the writer Bill Bryson - his style, his story...) This book then, is a somewhat dizzying account of his family's first few years living in the small southern city of Cork.

The first chapters deal with the move to a rented house, the search for work, (now that Monagan's American contract has been terminated) and the concerns around introducing their young children into a very different school system. He records his funk when the bank refuses to issue him with a checking account immediately on the day after he arrives, and gives a graphic illustration of a visit to a supermarket, as if he's never been in one before! He has pipe dreams of starting a magazine about Cork, but it never actually materialises. This is due in part I suspect, to the fact that he is still an 'unknown', a stranger, a 'blow in' who's not always as tactful, or insightful as he would like to have us think. And when businesses (anywhere) are going to part with money - they're obviously going to be extremely careful and exacting about where that money's going.

There are some nice and very colorful details - of family trips around the rural expanses of the county, looking at ancient sites, old towns, and coastal scenery. Closer to home, while his family immerse themselves in coming to terms with a new culture in their neighbourhood, Monagan finds a whole new culture, and almost a `second home' in a rather seedy sounding little downtown bar - with a small family of local `characters' and an idiosyncratic and petulant `landlord'. `Cheers' it isn't!

Monagan makes much of the changes in Ireland, but it's not always clear what he wants or expects `his Ireland' to be...

Of course Ireland has changed over the past couple of decades - with unrestricted mass immigration (1 in 7 - the highest in the EU), `anglicisation' (yes folks - they're back!) of the whole media, of `the High Street', `teen binge drinking', numerous government initiatives such as `softly softly' policing policy etcetera. However - your average person isn't suffering a 'tragic' Celtic crisis - most are carrying on pretty much as before. (And believe it or not - `poverty' was not `the norm' before the Celtic Tiger, and nobody went around on donkeys - except at the seaside!)

After some months his wife (who seems a rather more down to earth, yet dynamic person than her husband) finally lands her dream job at Cork Opera House. Here she has opened up `access', to various groups - and especially the youth, and has become a vibrant community asset. It's notable that despite his very frequent (and very American!) insistence on their `Irishness' (his wife had an Irish grandfather) he's not a little in love with the idea of hobnobbing with the `Ascendancy' in the `Big House' or what's left of it. (He duly sent all of his children to board in prestigious if somewhat moth eaten old grammar schools in the country. Much of this is covered in his `follow on' book - Ireland Unhinged (2011).)

In the main, it's actually an extremely readable and enjoyable book, with some lovely descriptive prose, interesting historical insights, and some successful attempts at humor, but it can be repetitive - and it has to be said - in ways not always obvious - quite disrespectful to the Irish people. Every minor transaction, or observation is punctuated with tiresome and tedious comments on the 'oddness' and 'strangeness' of Irish life. He definitely writes for comic effect to amuse his largely uncritical American audience, but seems to have little self-awareness, or awareness generally, about how so much of his 'blather' can really grate. So many of the people he talks about are presented as `characters' straight out of a febrile `Irish American' dreamscape. Mock Irish dialects are thrown in for effect, he misuses the Irish (colloquial) word `ye', which is the plural of `you', though he must hear it everyday. He casually dismisses the use of Gaelic names, Gaeilge the native language, and the Gaelscoil movement out of hand. People are described as `souls', who are so often `wistful', or `tragic'. The land is 'mystical' and 'timeless' without end! Frequent, irrelevant, and inappropriate references are made to `..the ancestral Famine memories..'.

Most annoying of all - there is more than a hint of a contrived and affected sentimentality, and rather self-indulgent melodramatics, at all too frequent intervals - 'alas'! (one of Monagan's very favorite words..)

However I would recommend it as a worthwhile and relaxing read, for the more discerning reader - not to be taken too seriously!!!

I give the man credit: he uproots his family from his wealthy East Coast job to move to Cork, Ireland. He describes the scenery and the Irish in straight-forward objectivity, yet I got the feeling half-way through the book (by then the family had been in Cork three months) that they were a little sad about Ireland. Were they truly happy being foreigners in such a cold and reclusive country?

He doesn't hold back. If the local teens were thugs toward their three kids, he wrote about it. If the locals were a bit leery of the new American neighbors, he didn't hold back, either. But what kept bothering me during this read was wondering if the three kids were happy in their new country? The boys seemed a little homesick and troubled.

The descriptions of the terrain and towns in this book are very good. I could feel the fog, rain and sadness in every page. I could envision the mountains and the craggy cliffs when he wrote about the ocean. He gave Ireland the mystical image we have heard and read the world over.

This book is somehow sad, but a very worthy read. I can see why the Irish drink as much as they are known to drink. I can also see why so many immigrated to the US for a better life. It's good to see the country of one's parents but one must also understand why our parents left their country to start anew.

It is not your typical - this is what to expect when you live abroad - book. It describes the personal experiences of one family in a very captivating way. The books deals with the emotions, the differences in mentality, and not so much with detailed technical aspects of moving to a different continent. Food for thought and fun to read.