A Punk Drowning would have been more apt. A Monk Swimming. Malachy McCourt. (A Monk Swimming: A Memoir - Malachy McCourt)

Member Name: GillMN

Product:	A Monk Swimming: A Memoir - Malachy McCourt
Date:	22/06/09 (95 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some humour, Very good examples of how not to be a pleasant, responsible human being.

Disadvantages: Frank McCourt gets to steal your money but legally this time.

Malachy McCourt is the younger brother of Frank McCourt, the author of the poignant best seller 'Angela's Ashes' which is an account of their deprived upbringing in the slums of Limerick, Ireland.

I work in Ireland frequently and have long been an admirer of Frank McCourt and can relate to the places he talks about. I thought 'A Monk Swimming' by Malachy McCourt would be an interesting read. I was particularly interested to see how two brothers coping with the same environment would compare in their autobiographies.

The title is taken from Malachy's mistaken belief that "Blessed art thou amongst women." taken from the oft recited 'Hail Mary' of his youth, was actually 'Blessed art thou, a monk swimming'. This amused me because as a child I thought a bit in the Lord's Prayer said 'Deliver us from eagles.' It was to be one of the few parts of the book that did amuse me.

The book opens with Malachy recalling being pushed along in his pram with his brother Frank. The next 290 pages, to my mind, illustrate how he never really got out of that pram! He never grew up and took responsibility for his own direction and was content to be carried. (Usually in a drunken stupor!) He wrote the book firmly dragging on the coat tails of his deservedly famous brother. He starts by name dropping and not too subtly letting you know who his brother is, and carries on in that vein.

It is a sad read even though Malachy is undoubtedly a raconteur. The tale starts more or less where Angels's Ashes leaves off. Malachy heads for New York to escape the slums of Limerick and the abuse of his family.

We hear about his petty larceny, stealing from the docks or anywhere else he can manage it, gold smuggling, drinking, fighting, getting wed and abandoning his wife and child. In fact he becomes an abusive man and it is very obvious throughout that he has learned nothing from his horrendous upbringing.

Unsuprisingly he ends up in jail and we are spared no detail of his life there. There are also many accounts of his appearance on the Tonight Show where he is feted as a wit and a storyteller and a celebrity bartender! The accounts are not terribly entertaining but are laced through with namedropping.

My main disappointment with the book is the lack of any redeeming features in Malachy. There is no reflection on how or why he is behaving like he does. He has obviously never heard the saying "An unexamined life is not worth living." Because this is exactly what it is, an Unexamined Life. The narrative lurches from one drunken nasty episode to another, there is little coherence and less attraction in the pages.

I kept waiting for some redemption, something to show that he wasn't just an abusive drunk who thinks the world owes him a living. I was looking for some of the hope and poetry that Frank gave us in Angela's Ashes. It might seem unfair of me to compare the two but I firmly believe that the book was written to cash in on Frank's success and would never have made it past the publisher if he hadn't been Frank McCourts brother.

All of the horrible things that Malachy McCourt does are turned by him into amusing stories for the bar. The fact that he broke his wifes' door down in front of his little children is just related as an amusing anecdote with no thought about the effect on his wife or children. There is no reflection given to the effect that kind of behaviour had on him as a child and what he in turn was inflicting on his own kids. It was just another funny story, no regrets, no compassion for the people he damaged. Nothing.

Some of the scenes of life in New York were interesting. (I'm finding myself desperately casting around for something good to say about the book but it's difficult to do so!)

His hatred and abuse of anybody that was better off than him or that had not suffered a childhood of poverty, runs like a sickness throughout the pages. He seems to use his history as an excuse for all sorts of irresponsible behaviour. In fact the tale reads like the ramblings of a spiteful, alcoholic, self aggrandising child. There is nothing to be learned from it and thin humour at the expense of anyone who is not as willing as he is to be parasitic. (Or paralytic.)

The last couple of pages where he relates meeting his father are written well and I couldn't help thinking that he could have put that much effort and thought into the rest of the book. That would have made it something worth reading rather than an offering that leaves a taste in the mouth as though you had eaten something tainted. If I were an Irishman I would deeply resent the way that it reinforces the stereotype of them as feckless drunkards.

I would never have bought this book if it had not been written by Frank McCourts brother. As it is, I regret putting any money into this miserable braggarts' pockets. He and his publisher should be ashamed.

It is available for 1p on Amazon!

Description:
Genre: Autobiography
Author: Malachy McCourt
Paperback 290 Pages
Book is published 1998-06 by Hyperion Books

Summary: I don't recommend this book to you. Some of it is funny but nowhere near enough to redeem itself.