I waa given this b a friend in work, and honestly, when I first read the blurb, I wasn't totally enthused but decided to go along with it and I'm really glad I did. This book is short and easy to read (if you're Irish of course) and is full of love, loss, despair, loneliness, hope...everything you could think of. It's filled with all the kinds of characters you'd expect in a little village - the ould grumpy fart, the golden boy, the rat, the village bike, the floozy...

What I found lovely is how with one small chapter, Ryan's writing managed to capture the essence of these characters. We had one chapter to either root for the characters (which I did for most) or hope it all fell down for them, (cough Trevor cough).

I doubt anyone outside of Irish culture would be able to read this book and understand it. The style of writing is a bit like an Irish person's brain vomited up their thoughts onto the page but it worked really, really, well. Definitely worth the read.