McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery In Ireland

While most travel writers seek out opportunities to meet the famous--or the infamous--McCarthy has the charming knack of just bumping into them on his rambles, which is how he met Noel Redding, formerly of Jimi Hendrix's band, and the author Frank McCourt. Far more interesting, though, are the eccentric and talkative bachelors and landladies who turn up in pubs, B&Bs, and the middle of the road. McCarthy has mastered the art of getting creatively lost, wandering the back lanes of Ireland where the hype of tourism has yet to arrive, pursuing stone circles, impossibly romantic ruined abbeys, and, of course, pubs. What he discovers is that "In Ireland, the unexpected happens more than you expect," which makes for a hilarious tour through one of the most beautiful, friendly, and quirky places on earth with a comedian who has honed the art of telling a good story and of having fun. --Lesley Reed

Product Description
Despite the many exotic places Pete McCarthy has visited, he finds that nowhere else can match the particular magic of Ireland, his mother’s homeland. In McCarthy's Bar, his journey begins in Cork and continues along the west coast to Donegal in the north. Traveling through spectacular landscapes, but at all times obeying the rule, “never pass a bar that has your name on it,” he encounters McCarthy’s bars up and down the land, meeting fascinating people before pleading to be let out at four o’clock in the morning.

Written by someone who is at once an insider and an outside, McCarthy's Bar is a wonderfully funny and affectionate portrait of a rapidly changing country.

I opened it and read the first sentence on the bus...what a mistake! I roared with laughter, much to the chagrin of my fellow travellers who weren't sharing in my experience. For your information, the first sentence is: "The harp player had just fallen off the stage and cracked his head on the Italian tourist's pint." Another sentence, and this is only from the prologue, I haven't even reached the first chapter yet, is: "At one point, the harp player fell off again, only backwards."

This book is an amazing insight into the Irish way of life, and those who visit Ireland, by one who desperately wants to discover his Irish roots.

Pete McCarthy is an astute and accurate observer.

If you found the sentences I've quoted humorous, this book will have you in stitches.

I'm not one to roar out loud to a book, but this one creased me up time and time again.

For the craic, if nothing else, buy it!


McCarthy's Bar: A Journey of Discovery in the West of Irelan   June 18, 2001
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

As a native Irishwoman I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. Mr McCarthy definitely understands the Irish at their best and worst. He truly captures the Ireland and Irish of today and not the American version that includes scenes from The Quite Man or chapters from Angela's Ashes. I would recommend that anyone who is of Irish descent or plans to visit Ireland read this book it will give you a good understanding of the Irish people: were an irreverant, funny and unique bunch.


Gleeful misogyny with an Anglo-Irish accent   December 13, 2004
bensmomma (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful

Pete McCarthy and his aging Volvo, known as the Tank, spend a picaresque summer pottering around Ireland, flittering from pub to bed-and-breakfast to pub and back to another pub again. McCarthy's mother was Irish (although he himself was raised in England), and this fact has generated in him an Irish lilt to his prose, if not to his actual voice.

McCarthy's tone exactly captures an Irish skill for simultaneous disdain and affection for everyone he runs across. All tourists, including himself, are faintly (or more than faintly) ridiculous. McCarthy gets chased by cows while out looking for prehistoric Irish monoliths. He gets admonished by priests with spitshined brogans while on a barefoot 3-day fasting pilgrimage. He drinks a lot (a LOT), and for some odd reason, he seems to stop at every Chinese restaurant in Ireland.

If you can overlook McCarthy's paradoxically happy good-humored dislike of almost everything (and you should), you'll find the book funny, appealing, even charming. McCarthy would be a very entertaining fellow to run into at the pub. A perfect read in anticipation or in memory of your own vacation to Ireland.


Funny, acquired taste for an American reader   March 31, 2004
Peter Lorenzi (Maryland, USA)
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

Pete McCarthy's style quickly reminded me of America's P. J. O'Rourke, who has made a significant contribution to humorous travel writing. McCarthy is English-Irish and his affinity for his roots shows through his writing. He looks for and finds humor in the little things about travel - talk radio, second-hand cars, hitch hikers, tourist traps, off-the-beaten-path finds, bad food, good company, pleasant and unpleasant surprises, nosy hoteliers, apparent (to McCarthy and the reader, at least) ironies, rapid changes in the weather, obnoxious tourists, embedded cultural curiosities, and, well, you get the picture.

For an American reader, some of the history, terms, and geographic references are not unexpectedly foreign. Some humor and lessons are lost in the 'translation'. And McCarthy is pretty hard on American tourists in Ireland, although not noticeably harder on them than on other foreigners searching for quaint elements of Irish tradition or cheap land to buy. Hippies, yuppie Englishmen, rich Germans, and other demographic and ethnic groups earn his disbelief and, often, mild contempt. He catalogs the changes he has seen in Ireland in his lifetime, and many of them are not pretty. The Celtic Tiger has lost some of its charm and sold out some of its character to tourism and those eager to buy inexpensive land.

Consistently observant, funny and insightful, my one, major negative from the book is that it left me much less likely to visit Ireland. There may still be a chance to save the country from foreign invaders, so I'll do my part.


Rest in Peace Pete McCarthy   September 12, 2005
Big Sky dweller
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

While it is old news, I just completed a google search to find out when Pete McCarthy might be releasing a new book. I was stunned and saddened to hear of his passing in October following an 8 month bout with cancer. I had no idea.

I loved this book. If you don't take yourself too seriously, nor are you one easily offended when someone takes the mickey out of the Irish, then you too will find yourself howling as you read Mr. McCarthy's observations. Look at the reviews. Obviously, Pete McCarthy was not for everyone. I however, thought he was the most hilarious travel writer out there. It is one of those books that I can pass along to someone and say, "If you don't think this is funny, then we have absolutely nothing in common."

Next time I'm in a pub, I'll steal a quiet moment, say a small prayer, drink one for Pete McCarthy and look for something completely absurd happening around me. Rest in peace Mr. McCarthy.