Round Ireland with a Fridge

Out of this stupid premise, a ridiculously amusing book was born. Quickly discovered by the Irish media, the thumbing Englishman finds that he and his box fridge are elevated to celebrity status, and there's no dearth of rides, places to stay, or goofy people to meet, from kings to spoons players to locals who take his fridge surfing. As insightful about the strange inner workings of Hawk's mind as it is about charming peculiarities of Irishmen--it's doubtful that Hawks would have been similarly embraced by Germans, Italians, or the French--Round Ireland with a Fridge is an entirely silly, heartwarming tale told in a rollicking funny and refreshing style. --Melissa Rossi

Product Description

The premise is so absurd it has to be real: the author makes a bet with a mate in the midst of a party... that he attempt to take a fridge all the way around the country of Ireland - and do it in 30 days or less. Hawks, not being of right mind, agrees. Then he gets sober and realizes the enormity of this 100 bet. The first hilarious mis-step in the adventure is that the fridge he bought for the trek cost him roughly what the bet was for.

From there things get better (or worse, if you're Hawks) and a great time begins. The book doesn't just reflect Hawks' strange experiences whilst hitching with a compact fridge - it also shows the generous and good-natured heart of the Irish.

I bought this book for my trans-atlantic flight home and it keep me fully entertained for the entire 8 hours. This isn't a challenging read, but it's darn good fun all the same. I give it a recommend.


Drunken "walk in the woods"   March 21, 2000
Erik (Fishers, IN)
25 out of 28 found this review helpful

I picked up this book on a trip to London based soley on its cover, putting down a copy of another travel book by Bill Bryson. It seemed kind of dumb, but potentially funny. I was very pleased to find that this book was well-written with sharp humour, insight, and rich descriptions of the author's travels around Ireland with a small dormitory-style refrigerator. It did turn out to be quite a stupid idea, but that's what makes the book an enjoyable read; there's really nowhere to go but up from that point. The fridge goes surfing, gets blessed by a nun, and travels with a horse while Tony makes numerous friends along the way.

If you like the British flair in the novels of Nick Horby and Helen Fielding and enjoy travel writing, you should enjoy this book as well.


Hilarious tales of drunken and very silly behaviour!   February 28, 2000
Claire (England)
20 out of 24 found this review helpful

This is a book that will have you laughing out loud, as you read of Tony's varied stories of his travels around Ireland.

It is a purely light-hearted and entertaining read, yet it shows the generosity and love of life that the Irish have.

Written in a chatty way, you find yourself cringeing at some of the antics that he gets up to, such as surfing with the fridge, or sleeping in a dog kennel.

This is a book you will definitely not want to put down, but at the same time, you don't want it to finish!


Laugh Out Loud   October 7, 2002
Annette Gisby (London, UK)
19 out of 21 found this review helpful

I don't normally read travel books, but my husband is an avid devourer of same, and so when I gave him this as a gift, I was curious. He would read a few pages and then laugh. A lot. Out loud. I wondered what on earth could be so funny in a travel book. I had never read a book which made me laugh out loud. So after he had finished, I began reading the book.

I just couldn't put it down. It was hilarious, right from the ridiculous premise where the author agreed to a drunken bet to hitch-hike round Ireland with a fridge as a travelling companion. He meets a quite a few eccentric characters along the way, none of whom I knew (at least I don't think so, but you can never be quite sure. Nearly everyone in Ireland knows someone who's a cousin of someone else's cousin or brother, or aunt... you get the idea.)

My favourite line has got to be when asking for directions, the author got the reply, "You can't get there from here."

It's so funny because it's true, people do say that, I'm a culprit myself.

How did he manage it? Did people really let the madman with a fridge get into their cars and their lives? Read the book and find out, you won't be disappointed.

You'll be laughing out loud too.

Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of Silent Screams and Shadows of the Rose.


Very highly entertaining...but Bryson it is not   September 9, 2000
M. D. Lewis (Ravenstown, Maryland)
16 out of 26 found this review helpful

I picked this up on a whim from an Amazon UK travel e-mailing and I am quite glad that I did. Hawks' tale is quite amusing - how could a tale about carting a fridge around a country not be? - and is a progressively better read as it goes along. Yet after reading the likes of Bill Bryson's _Notes From A Small Island_, I couldn't help but be slightly disappointed. It is perhaps an unfair comparison, because travel writing has not seen any better than Bryson's work in that volume - where the humor and insight on the culture being examined (that of the UK) was simply impeccable. Bryson knew his subject very well, and his past experience with the native culture made the book so effective. Hawks essentially went into the fridge experience knowing nothing about the culture, and thus the treatment of Irish life is somewhat superficial.

Invariably, any book taking the same sort of approach of Bryson's book (itself the Dave Barry version of Paul Theroux) will seem somewhat weak in comparison. Yet, all the same, of its own merits, _Round Ireland..._ is a quite enjoyable read - laugh-out loud funny enough to justify the cover price, and will be of particular interest to Eirephiles.