Customer Reviews

The Plastic Tomato Cutter

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While spinning two separate tales that meet at the end, Curtain manages to deal with the Big Issues of love, redemption, aging, belonging, and more with compassion and humor. His two main characters represent two generations in a changing Ireland and a changing world. Intially it seems all his empathy goes out to the young, but he is equally deft at bringing our sympathy and understading to a rigid man having trouble letting go of the old ways of class distinction and bottled-up emotions. The writing is terrific, and so is the story. A very human and universal story that is not for lovers of Irish culture only.

Curtin is a wonderful and charming wordsmith who manages to nicely share his warm and inviting, albeit sometimes, quirky, city and its equally colorful characters with those seeking an alternative to the overly processed slough typically served up as Irish wit. Despite the common setting, don't expect another Angela's Ashes or anything like it; Curtin in no way attempts to imitate Limerick's most famous son and certainly doesn't have to. His talents, characters and themes can well stand on their own. Limerick is a city that has been given a black eye in recent years but allow this book to take you beyond the press and introduce you to some believable and even memorable people in a very real world of sometimes hilarious, sometimes desperate situations.