Customer Reviews

The Road to McCarthy: Around the World in Search of Ireland

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While it is old news, I just completed a google search to find out when Pete McCarthy might be releasing a new book. I was stunned and saddened to hear of his passing in October following an 8 month bout with cancer. I had no idea.

I loved this book as well as his previous offering - McCarthy's Bar. If you don't take yourself too seriously, nor are you one easily offended when someone takes the mickey out of the Irish, then you too will find yourself howling as you read Mr. McCarthy's observations. Look at the reviews. Obviously, Pete McCarthy was not for everyone. I however, thought he was the most hilarious travel writer out there. It is one of those books that I can pass along to someone and say, "If you don't think this is funny, then we have absolutely nothing in common."

Next time I'm in a pub, I'll steal a quiet moment, say a small prayer, drink one for Pete McCarthy and look for something completely absurd happening around me. Rest in peace Mr. McCarthy.

There's something about the Irish, isn't there? They seem able to poke fun at themselves as successfully as they are able to poke it at others. While Pete McCarthy is only half Irish, a percentage I'll bet he wishes he could change to at least ¾ Irish, you'd never know it by his writing. He sounds Irish to his ale and whiskey-drinking core. His style most reminds me of Bill Bryson; they both have a similar ability to stand aside and look at life and one's own place in it with an eye toward humor, compassion, and appreciation for the foibles of our human race.
In The Road to McCarthy, the author takes us with him on what amounts to a travelogue as he gallivants around the world in search of kinfolk and towns and villages that serendipitously share his name - and faith and begore, the lad does find himself in some oddball situations. In fact, I think his compass doesn't turn toward North as much as it turns toward Daffy.
Delightful addition to a shelf of whimsical, irreverent travel books.

A compulsive read and an ideal gift for your Irish friends living abroad. At times I found myself laughing out loud..........a real tonic.

Pete McCarthy has a wonderfully perverse view of the world with a keen eye for a locale and the ability to write it all down in a way that comes out delightfully funny. In this book he travels around the world looking for all things McCarthy and imbues an Irish hue to everything with a variety of brewed, distilled, and fermented beverages for flavoring.

While his style seems off-hand and even happenstance, it is clear he takes time to dig into the history of the places he visits and is able to use that history as a way to move his narrative along and to propel his adventures. If you like travel writing - especially humorous travel writing - you will likely enjoy this book. Particularly if you view the world with an Irish bent to things. I think you will find this a fund way to spend a few hours on a fun vacation with a witty travel companion.

Another McCarthy gem. He has an amazing gift for observation and the rare ability to serve it up in the most hilarious manner, rife with parallel stories and analogies. It's like watching a Craig Ferguson monologue. He's moving so fast you have to keep up with him, and it's well worth the effort. It's a tragedy we lost him before he could produce a third book. Not to be unkind, but I marvel at the negative reviews and assume the authors are missing the nuances of McCarthy's style, or are just more comfortable with a simple story line.

My favorite travel essayist - until now - has been Bill Bryson of Iowa (NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND, NEITHER HERE NOR THERE, IN A SUNBURNED COUNTRY, A WALK IN THE WOODS). Sorry, Bill. Stand aside for Pete McCarthy.

Author McCarthy was born in England of a Protestant English father and a Catholic Irish mother. This leads to a guilt-ridden, divided allegiance, especially when it's England vs. Ireland in football. However, in THE ROAD TO MCCARTHY, Pete's maternal side predominates as he takes us on an irreverent tour of Gibraltar, Tangiers, New York City, Tasmania, Montserrat, Montana and McCarthy, Alaska in search of far-flung evidence of Ireland and his clan's roots.

Why such disparate destinations you might ask? Well, Tangiers is home to the quasi-official chief of Clan McCarthy. And Gibraltar is just on the other side of the strait, so why not drop in? The Big Apple hosts the world's biggest St. Patrick's Day Parade. Tasmania, off Australia's southeast corner, was the brutal island prison to which Irish separatists were sent in the mid-nineteenth century, including one Thomas Francis Meagher, who subsequently escaped to become a Union general in the American Civil War and, briefly, Governor of Montana, the present day home of the head of the North American Clan McCarthy Association. The Caribbean island of Montserrat, the southern half of which is closed off because of active vulcanism, is the British colony to which destitute Irish men and women were once sent as slaves. And isolated McCarthy, AL (population 20) was named for a rugged copper miner who drowned in a local river in 1910.

Following the threads of Ireland and Clan McCarthy seems just an excuse as Pete regales the reader with observations about his immediate surroundings and the world in general. Like Bryson, his perspective filters through an offbeat sense of humor. But, while Bryson's is gentle and only slightly askew, McCarthy's is truly bent and with a sharper edge. For instance, when commenting on the current state of the British rail system:

"Most stations aren't manned these days because it isn't cost-effective, so there's no one to collect the tickets, or the sick (i.e. vomit). Official policy is to rely on gradual dispersal by rook or magpie, unless they strike lucky and someone slips and mops it up with the back of their overcoat."

He can also be charmingly self-deprecating, as when advised in Alaska as to the proper response if meeting an aggressive black bear (fight back) or a grizzly (play dead).

"... it would be foolish not to consider what you would do if confronted by one; but try as I may, I can't see myself coming up with much besides the weeping and the incontinence."

THE ROAD TO MCCARTHY is a compendium of laughs that I couldn't put down.

Finally, in all places except Alaska, Pete discovers that one can watch reruns of the American comedy "Cheers" on the telly. This is good to know should I ever wash up onto the doorstep of a seedy Tangiers hotel.

Fast-paced, often hilarious, this book is also gently thought-provoking. I was allowed to read a pre-publication copy while I was staying at Ma Johnson's Hotel in McCarthy Alaska. The author is astoundingly entertaining as the reader travels the globe in search of "all places McCarthy". Highly recommended.

Pete McCarthy was actually born Peter Charles McCarthy Robinson in Warrington, a town in the north-west of England. He was the eldest son of an Irish mother, who'd moved to England to work as a nurse. Naturally, there was an Irish influence on his upbringing : he was educated by the Christian Brothers and, in his childhood, spent his summer holidays with his mother's family in West Cork. Before moving into travel writing, Pete had worked on television, and adopted his mother's maiden name to avoid confusion with another actor. (It also spared him from sharing a name with a noted Northern Irish politician - who, unlike our author - has no great love for the Irish Republic). "The Road to McCarthy" was his second book, and - like "McCarthy's Bar" - takes a good look at the Irish. However, this time round, he's looking largely at the disapora and the majority of the book is spent away from Ireland. There's a trip to Tangier to meet the man who was once the McCarthy Mor - as opposed to Moor - followed by a trip to New York for St Patrick's Day. (Here, he was scared to death by a large gathering of unrepentent Celtic supporters). He takes a trip to Tasmania, formerly a penal colony known as Van Dieman's Land - among the former prisoners was Thomas Meagher, transported for his part in the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. Meagher later escaped to America, and went on to become Governor of Montana - with McCarthy going on to visit his statue in the state's capital. He visits Montserrat - another Emerald Isle, though an awful lot sunnier (and slightly more volcanic) than the one I'm used to. (I knew nothing of the island before I read this book : now, I'd love to visit - solely on the strength of what McCarthy has written). Pete does take things one step further than his previous book, though : instead of visiting McCarthy's Bar, this time he he tracks down a town called McCarthy. (It's in Alaska, and saw its population doubled when a new family moved in).

Like "McCarthy's Bar", this is a very readable, hugely enjoyable, genuinely funny and occasionally sad book - but it's also very informative, thanks to the odd history lesson. (His turkey stories - that's the bird, rather than the country - are among the finest I've ever stumbled across). Pete McCarthy sadly died in 2004, before he was able to tackle Northern Ireland in print.

I got this and the other Pete McCarthy book for my father on his way to Ireland for his dream trip. He loved it and still quotes it to this day. FINALLY a gift the old man likes.

Another hilarious outing by the late Pete McCarthy, whose McCarthy's Bar was a great find on our trip to Ireland. In this book, rather than making sure to enter every bar with his name on it in Ireland, McCarthy travels around the globe to visit locations with his name on them, including Tangier, New York City, Tasmania, Montserrat, Montana, and Alaska among others. McCarthy is a very funny writer and a charming travel companion who provides much interesting historical perspective and detail of the Irish diaspora on the trip.