Books written in the voice of a child had best use that technique for a reason...the child's perspective becomes wearing unless there is some very, very compelling narrative reason to make us follow a kid around without wanting to scream blue murder after a while. The novel, chronicling Paddy's internal journey towards maturity, is a bildungsroman, as it centres upon the main character's development. Paddy's growing up is painfully bitter. While the beginning of the book is filled with playful antics, the growing antagonism between his parents and the breaking up of their marriage are evident as the novel moves on. Paddy does not choose his "journey of enlightenment and maturity" [ citation needed]; rather, he is robbed of it when his parents become estranged from one another.

Says 10 year old Paddy Clarke about his friends from whom he has decided to move on. He stays awake all night to make sure his Ma and Da are not fighting. He stares at complete darkness (of the iron table) to get over his fear and be grown up. And the change is unhurried, uncomplicated and totally believable from the Point of view of a 10 year old. I laughed out loud many times, especially at the workings of Paddy's mind, where while going about his school, play and home life, he simultaneously imagined himself as Geronimo, their bikes as horses, himself as George Best the Manchester United super-star, etc. I also got teary at times because, this being Roddy Doyle, we see life in all its complexity. Paddy's ma and da aren't getting along and we see the burden this represents for Paddy and the responsibility he takes on for making things ok for them. I wanted to read this after reading my friend Julie’s review for this. As she says about this book “there isn't one out there that captures a childhood, or the perspective from a 10-year-old child, better than this one.” There was no plot yet, but that didn't worry me. I thought of Fellini's Amacord, and how it meanders through a year, spring to the following spring. The year is the plot; anything stricter would destroy that film - and it's my favourite film. So I just kept writing. I love Paddy Clarke. He is so sympathetic. For me that says everything. He just makes me love him. Want to hug him almost. (Expect he wouldn't want me to do it (even if we would exist in the same world). Cause life is so hard. Even for a 10-year-old boy. The boys that play together in the Irish suburbs of the 60s are so hard on each other. But kids are, whether they're boys or girls, whenever and wherever they live. Good I haven't had to endure that. The kids cruelty. Not much at least. You can't get to me, not really. "Paddy Clarke, Paddy Clarke, has no da, ha ha ha!" Paddy Clarke discovering the world. That's what it's about. Everything in the book.Roddy Doyle is perhaps the novelist most closely identified with the emergence of Ireland as a modern European nation. The Independent praised it as "one of the truest and funniest presentations of juvenile experience in any recent literature". [2] In his home, Paddy stays awake all night, listening at his parent's bedroom door, hoping that the fighting ends. But one night, he realized that it was not worth it, when he witnessed his father hitting his mother. Update this section!

Not just any childhood, and certainly not any in 2014 in a middle-class or affluent neighborhood, where the children can now be found indoors, and in silence, save the hum of their tv or computer.Somehow, Doyle brings all these sides of childhood to life, the pain, the joy, the dreams of childhood years looking to those years of adulthood where we believe we can choose our own destiny with the limitations of childhood removed, and leave behind the memories that haunt us. This aside, this is a rather wonderful book. It's told from the point of view of the titular Paddy Clark, a young lad whose parents are in the process of splitting up. In an attempt to capture the way a young boy's mind works, the author has written this in a kind of stream-of-consciousness monologue (picture 'On the Road' if Kerouac had been seven years old and Irish) which mostly works very well, although I can see how it might put people off who are used to a more traditional narrative style.

Born in Dublin in 1958, Roddy Doyle was educated by the Christian Brothers and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he read English and Geography.

Doyle töredezett prózája pazarul adja vissza a gyermekkor elemi bizonytalanságát, azt az érzést, hogy érthetetlen erők hajigálnak minket jobbra-balra, mi meg félünk, és mivel félünk, odacsapunk. Keresünk valakit, aki nálunk gyengébb - annak. Aztán van, hogy mi vagyunk a gyengék (hisz gyerekek vagyunk), akkor nekünk csapnak oda. Mást se szeretnénk, csak felnőni, mert a felnőttek nagyok és erősek, ők a pillanat urai. Paddy is right beside Kevin in harassing the other boys until he realizes strange things are going on between his parents. He notices them arguing, and his first reaction is to fix it himself and make his parents happy. He works extra long and hard on his spelling so that he can remain in the kitchen between his parents. He believes his presence will end the fighting. If he can make them laugh right before he departs for bed, he believes the night will end happily. But childhood isn’t always filled with magic, dreams don’t always come true, and life isn’t always fair. Parents sometimes fight, and children aren’t shielded from the worries of life. When the fighting between his parents does not stop, Paddy pulls into himself. His pranks become fewer and farther between. He seeks out the comfort and emotional support of Sinbad. Sinbad has also heard the fighting at night, and has pulled into himself and won't let Paddy in. Sinbad chooses to try and dismiss the fighting as anything other than what it really is. Paddy resents his ability to dismiss it. One day, Kevin is harassing some boys, when Paddy notices his parents arguing, and at first, he thought he could fix their problems. So, Paddy began applying himself in school work so that he could stay in the kitchen, studying with his parents. He thought that his presence between his parents would end fighting.