A Monk Swimming - Malachy McCourt > Reviews > Swim, Malachy, Swim

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Advantages:	Well written a dry humor
Disadvantages:	a tale not finished

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Having just put the book down after a frantic two days trying to find time to read, I felt I had to rush to the aid of Malachy and defend an excellently written book which has been slammed by the critics.

Malachy by his own admission is a bit of a charmer, a bit of a ladies man and more than partial to the odd drink – Hence the title. Malachy’s story begins as with his brother’s sequel to Angela’s Ashes (Ti's) with Malachy’s arrival in New York. This however is where the similarities with his brother Frank end. Malachy is his own man and struggling to find his way in the world. Armed only with a sharp wit and the Irish charm Malachy manages to charm his way in to jobs, and then drink his way back on to the dole.

Fans of brother Franks books will recall some of the events told in this book, yet Malachy has a way of telling them so that you always end up seeing things from his point of view. As he finds his way in America Malachy has more ups and downs than Reginald Perrin but always seems to come up smelling of roses.

In my opinion, the book is excellently and honestly written, it is not bogged down with every detail of life as Franks Tis had a tendency to do. If I have to have a gripe its that you don’t feel that all of Malachy’s tale is told at the end. This is probably deliberate as he has a sequel in mind. If he does, I for one will be all too happy to part with some more cash and support Malachys alcohol fund.