Larking About in Ireland

Larkin About in Ireland
by John Larkin
reviewed by Adelynn

"Home is where the harp is..."

The Ireland-born, Australia-residing author sets off in search of his spiritual home but finds that it has changed greatly since his father's time in the 50s.

I opened the book to its first page a few months ago but did not manage to read past the first few pages. However, when I took it up again last week, I fell under its spell quickly and wondered why I could even stop the previous time.

What sets John Larkin's writing apart from Bill Bryson or Peter Moore is that he frequently inserts hilarious imaginary conversations (between the people he encounters on the road) in the middle of his prose. The first few times I came across them, I was taken aback. I was even sure that there were "???" above my head.

I gradually got used to this quirkingly quirky quirkish quirk of his and was soon sniggering to myself on the bus, on the train, and wherever I was reading this book.

Towards the end, there was even a highly "polished" parable from the Brothers Grimm, which ending got removed by the Publisher who commented "Due to the graphic and frankly tasteless nature of the remainder of this paragraph, we have been left with very little choice than to remove it in its entirety and refer Mr Larkin to the appropriate counselling body."

Curious? Read the book to find out!