Krishna
It takes some chutzpah to name the title of a book like this, I think!
If you want to know what growing up as a boy in a working class Dublin suburb in Ireland was like, this is one book for you! I
The casual cruelty and the childish beliefs hold your interest and are recognizably real. The humour is not as strong as in Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, nor the contrasting pathos as heart wrenching, but the impression of having a glimpse into the life of a real boy living in Ireland is strong.
The widening distance between ‘ma’ and ‘da’ is told almost in passing but is potent nevertheless. His attempts to stay up all night ‘just to keep his parents from fighting’ is touching, as are the pretenses of Sinbad to appear asleep in the next bed, to shut out the sound of arguments.
I got the impression that the story kind of ended abruptly, but that could have been just me!
I think for the realistic peek it allows into the ordinary life of a 9 year old boy, I could give it a 7/10
— Krishna