Customer Reviews

THE PIG COMES TO DINNER

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I couldn't have been more disappointed in this second in a planned trilogy. Where did the author of the first book go?! The plot is ridiculous and the characters barely resemble themselves from the first book. I kept reading to the end because I just couldn't believe that as delighted as I was with "The Pig Did It", I was equally as distraught with the lack of anything noteworthy in this book.

It was four start at the beginning, but as the pages were read, turned, and wallowed in with snorting glee, it soon became a full 5-star book. True, I'm an Irish descendant, but County Donegal, not County Kerry. True I grew up on a farm and we only owned one pig. Ghosts I seldom go looking for, but in this book, they became as real and acceptable to the reader as they did to Kitty McCloud and Kieran Sweeney, who now shares their castle haunt.

True again, I'm a male, but this is not a sappy, emotional, bedroom-scene juicy romance. It's an honest, couple-in-love, story that happens to take place in an old castle, haunted a bit by another romantically inclined couple that were hung by the rope until dead, many years before. He's a harpist, she's a weaver, so all of the romantic arts and crafts are included in this country setting of one of the most beautiful locations in all the world, County Kerry, Ireland. I've been there.

I've also been to Dingle Town, a location yet rich in the Gaelic language common use, including all traffic signs.

OK, so in "THE PIG COMES TO DINNER" we have a common but sweet couple newly married and moving into a very old castle. Of course the appearance of Taddy and Brid (the ghostly pair you'll learn to love) create the need to discover the secrets behind the castle, behind the family feud, and behind the deaths of the young pair that now haunt the abode.

What about the PIG? Well in Ireland, pigs are seldom seen, a true reason for which I never understood while visiting, nor is it disclosed in this romantic comedy by Caldwell. Maybe I'd know more if I'd read the first of the trilogy first, a task I now have before me. It didn't make any difference in my enjoying this book, being out of order. I did notice in this book, and references to the pig's past, that this particular pig fails to remain secluded. It was noted that the pig was gifted because the pig behavior included it occasionally flirtatiously accommodated other she-pigs.

One of the best ways to recommend a book is to quote favorite lines such as:
"Kitty's jealous belief that Kieran is romantically involved with the executed girl, Brid."
"'There's a pig standing in my way staring at me.' Lord Shaftoe paused, then, with offended astonishment, added, 'Oh, and now it's--well, really!'"
"The musicians' instruments were already in place at the far side of the wooden platform, the boards raised so that the slap and stomp of the dancer's feet would resonate and thrum beyond the percussive sounds that characterized the Kerry dances. Guinness in kegs was at the ready..."

Joseph Caldwell, author, is quite the Irish seanchai (storyteller).
Next is "THE PIG ENTERS HOG HEAVEN".

This second enstallment of the Pig saga is better than the first (The Pig Did It).
The personalities of the main characters are already established and very understandable in their actions. Being of Irish decent I recognized everyone in this book, including the pig.

I wasn't too fond of the end of this book, but the author shows great creativity in his storyline. Who would think a pig could hold so much sway over people? LOL. I'm looking forward to the third book in the series and any book that makes you anxious for more is a good book, indeed.

This book is a love song to Ireland: its West coast, stories, people and the quirks of those people. The book is subtle and should be savored. Not your typical fast-paced thrill a minute, but much better. It includes the author's reflections on the life of a writer. I read this before the original in the trilogy. I'm on my way to Barnes & Noble to pick up "The Pig Did It."

This book is the second part of a trilogy. The first book "The Pig Did It" was so good that I just had to buy this one.I was very disappointed;there was too much talking, the pig was hardly in the story at all,and it was not nearly as funny; even the ending was the biggest disappointment of all. Save your money don't buy it.

Here's the thing about this slender volume. The beginning seems irritating. You understand, as you read, that it's supposed to be satire, but it is irritating anyway. This was the viewpoint of all 4 of my family members that read this book.

It's totally worth it. The last half of the book, in particular, works its way from wry to pretty funny to oh-my-stars hilarious. Everyone needs a good belly laugh now and then. And this is strong writing as opposed to pratfall humor. Highly recommended.

This is not an everyday lesbian pig chronicle set in County Kerry amid the Emerald Isle's green gorse in seventeenth century Castle Kissane whose ownership is questionable and contested between an heir whose Cromwell-ian ancestors previously abdicated to Australia following a veiled threat boasting that a charge of gunpowder was set to pulverize their castle and all within had subsequently forced them to flee, but not before hanging a couple of young Irish lovers for spite, and a successful modern-day journalist of Kerry lineage who assumes ownership of said castle after paying taxes due and after marrying a Kerry man whose Sweeney forebears feuded with her McCloud forebears, only to see the hanged Irish lovers return to the castle as sorrowful ghosts, only to see a Cromwell-era descendent--Lord Shaftoe--return with court order in hand to reclaim his family's castle, all of which was foreseen by the local Hag, Maude McCloskey, who along with son Peter is able to read the thoughts of our protagonist, Kitty McCloud, but remains unable--and thus filled with envy--to see the spectral lovers Taddy and Brid playing a harp bearing no strings, working a loom treadle holding no yarn.

Nosiree. Amid all the `seeing,' much more courses through the porcine veins of, The Pig Comes to Dinner, including Caitlin McCloud's American nephew, Aaron, who arrives at Castle Kissane with new bride and would-be writer Lolly in tow to gift Kitty and husband Kieran--who not surprisingly is also able to see the ghosted lovers--with the aforementioned lesbian pig boasting amorous intentions for other female pigs--no less a pig whose talents run to sniffing out the location of gunpowder, heretofore existing in legend only--no less a porcine seer herself.

Readers won't be surprised by the natural progression finding Kitty falling for Taddy, the male ghost, while husband Kieran becomes smitten with Brid, unsightly rope-burns and all encircling what was probably a perky seventeen year-old neck a few hundred years ago. An exorcism ridding Castle Kissane of her envisioned rival Brid seems a logical solution to Kitty, but Father Colavin, the priest who married Kitty and Kieran, is having none of it, granting only a castle mass for the departed souls, which failed to release the lovers from their mournful purgatory on Earth.

When the metaphoric pig, George Noel Gordon Lord Shaftoe, arrives for dinner in howling rainstorm from Australia to claim Castle Kissane tenancy, further assuming the haughty airs of an exiled Ascendancy snob, the Sweeney-McCloud union has already hatched a plan to deny him their beloved castle, while releasing Taddy and Brid from their sorrowful plight in the offing.

Not surprisingly the plan involves uncovering the gunpowder, roasting a pig on open spit at a hoedown thrown for locals fueled by Tullamore Dew and Guinness, and then blowing the castle to smithereens, maybe even Skibbereen, a jeweled village glistening down the twisting road a piece. The saying holds that the best-laid plans of mice, men and Irish patriots go awry, even among those who would destroy their beloved home to free a haunted duo while denying an unworthy absentee snob to reclaim that which he abandoned.

So, how to find the alleged gunpowder, if indeed it truly exists? And what's this nonsense about Kitty and Kieran's own forebears being responsible for the hangings of the two lovers, Taddy and Brid, hundreds of years ago? If true, what effect does that have on Kitty's own Castle Kissane legitimacy?

It all gets answered in Joseph Caldwell's Irish puzzler. Occasionally the text in The Pig Comes to Dinner seems a little formal, a tad stiff for a colloquial Irish tale, but the plot loses nothing in cleverness, for its serpentine twists and turns keep us guessing. Readers will enjoy the ride and be hard-pressed to predict the final destination for the characters, making for an interesting read. This is Caldwell's second of a projected literary `pig' trilogy, the initial effort being, A Pig Did It. What's next for our intrepid pig, The Pig Who Comes In From the Cold?

Caldwell has authored six books and currently teaches writing at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. You'll find his works readily available on Amazon.com.

The Pig Comes to Dinner is the delightful sequel to The Pig Did It, Joseph Caldwell's hilarious farce about love, Ireland and pigs.

The story begins a short time after the first book's dramatic climax. Kitty and Kieran have married and moved into Castle Kissane, an ancient structure (something between a fortress and a barn) with a horrifying past. While the turret might seem a perfect place for Kitty to write her "corrections" of famous novels (in which the original writers have somehow gotten their plots wrong), she soon discovers that her new home is haunted. As if ghosts weren't enough to disturb her concentration, the castle is due to blow itself up--at any moment.

While The Pig Comes to Dinner features an engaging cast of characters, it is not quite as funny as The Pig Did It. For all her quirkiness, Kitty is not a strong enough central character to hold the plot together. Aaron, the lovelorn writer (now turned swineherd), was sorely missed in this book, not only for his truly over-the-top self pity, but for the contrast that his uniquely American perspective provided in The Pig Did It. In spite of its flaws, this is a book well worth reading. Caldwell is a gifted writer, and his dry, ironic wit is without compare. I look forward to reading the last book in the trilogy.

Sweet (but not too), funny (very) and lovely quick read that transmits Irish history, lore and quirks. Delightful.