Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Poor Mouth: Poor Mouth: A Bad Story about the Hard Life (Irish Literature)

Top positive review

Yer name is Jams O'Donnell!

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2016

In "The Poor Mouth," rather than take on a multitude of subjects as he handled so brilliantly in At Swim Two Birds," Flann O’Brien satirizes the Gaelic novels of the early 20th century that specialized in depicting Irish peasants in the depths of the most miserable, unhealthy, boggy, rural existence imaginable. His protagonist, the nobly named Bonaparte O’Coonassa, dwells among pigs and sheep in the worst poverty in the beautiful, but unlivable town of Corkodoragha. No misery is spared him, from the humiliation of being shamed in school and the town for only speaking Gaelic, to losing his wife and tiny, young son, carried off by disease on the same day, to being sent to prison for the rest of his life for a crime he didn’t commit. And if you just take the trouble to sit yourself down with a good pint of something with both your hooves shoved toward the fire, what a merry romp you’ll find the whole thing to be.

3 people found this helpful

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M. Child

Amusing, anecdotal account of life in Corkadoragha

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2013

A very humorous first person account of a young Gael's (Bonaparte O'Coonasa) life of squalor and misery in the village of Corkadoragha, Ireland. Originally written in Gaelic, translated to English in 1973, O'Brien masterfully uses satire to expose the lamentable existence and sorry conditions these people live in from their day of birth. It is a funny telling and very entertaining, though those of us not familiar with this particular life might find ourselves often shaking our heads in disbelief at the utter ignorance with which most situations are addressed. I've read some reviews by those that have had some connection to this land, and they all seem to find the events to ring outrageously true, albeit to the point of exaggeration. That being the case, and if they can laugh at it themselves, I encourage others to partake in the amusement.

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Mark Mellon

Yer name is Jams O'Donnell!

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2016

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3 people found this helpful

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Charles J. Marr

Not for Nationalists

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2003

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This book is an inside joke, and a classic at that. It is a grand send up of professional Irish (both at home and abroad). As example, consider a book written in Gaelic making sport of the Gaelic movement by means of a Gaelic festival. ( In ourland of the professional ethnic festival, this might serve as an effective antidote to "Irish" nights and "Scots weekends.") If you are inclined to romanticize villages of the old sod dominated by pigs, mud, rain and potatos, avoid this work. If you want a great classic of the jaundiced eye school of literature, read this book. By the way, some of the fun lies in the many parodies of Irish literary works in the assorted chapters; knowledge of the genre helps.

27 people found this helpful

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James R. Mccall

The Dampest Story I Ever Read

Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2001

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This story was written in Gaelic and published in 1941. Patrick Power brought it into English in 1973. In spite of what seems a stellar job of translating, this is still a very foreign work. It is a story of the Gaels of the west of Ireland in an imaginary place where it always seems to be raining. The characters are rural poor who could not be called peasants, as they seem to raise but potatoes to fatten their pigs and keep themselves lean. Ralph Steadman's crude pencil illustrations do justice to the characters and their miserable climate and squalid habits.
The outside world, in the form of city people whose first language is English, is just trouble. It might take the form of 'friends' of the Gaelic language who descend on them with puzzling and degrading demands, or of brutal schoolmasters with no Gaelic and no patience, or the law, which can pluck someone away and lock him up for years without justification, or even explanation.
And always, there are the rain and the potatoes.
The book has some funny scenes, I suppose, although the humor would be called black if the whole atmosphere were not so gray. From my distance and ignorance I can imagine that the effect of this book, once it was translated, was to embarrass all of Ireland about its Gaeltacht. The misery of the people seems unrelieved, and their reason for being but to preserve the Gaelic heritage in a kind of cultural zoo. I don't know the current status of that area, nor the effect the book had, but I am curious.
The book takes place in an area not far from the Yeats country. In the Mythologies and the fairy tale collection, the peasantry seem not so bad off as here. I think I prefer Yeats.

11 people found this helpful

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Raymond O'Halloran

The Poor Mouth

Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2013

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"The Poor Mouth" was a gift. I never saw this particular edition. However, the friend I sent it to, said it was in very nice condition. Thank you. I have read the book before. It's a very funny satire on other books that are always putting on "the poor mouth," i.e. always describing things in the bleakest, most poverty-struck, disease-ridden way ("Angela's Ashes," for instance). It's a good laugh. I recommend the book to anyone who likes Celtic humour.

One person found this helpful

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Joe Bones

Hard cover has map on both sides of cover.

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2021

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I'm a collector of Ralph Steadman books and was very happy with this book. This is pre Gonzo illustrations, but still really a head of his time. Book cover wasn't as faded as I was told it would be.

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J Wags

Disturbing, provocative, but excellent

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2015

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I wonder how close to the truth this satire is? The author's descriptions of poverty, hunger, alcohol consumption, and ignorance in Ireland are repeated in other literature. "Angela's ashes" comes to mind. This was a disturbing, provocative, excellent read.

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N. Baumer

A wonderful read

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2018

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A tongue in cheek telling of the tale of the rural West in Ireland. Read with a twinkle in your eye.

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Richard T. Rossiter

This is the funniest book I have ever read.

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2002

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I hurt myself laughing about Ambrose the foul smelling pig. An earlier reviewer noted that knowledge of gaelic liturature and Irish folklore is important in understanding the puns and satires and that is true BUT not prerequisite to enjoying this very funny story.

18 people found this helpful

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Adah Marie Guy

It is an easy read. I was able to read the whole ...

Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2016

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This book is translated to English from the Irish language. It is an easy read. I was able to read the whole thing in a day, and I enjoyed it immensely.

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J. Chatzkel

Delivered promptly and in excellent condition

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2013

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I am just starting the book. I am getting a better view of life in an isolated place 100 years after the trauma of the devastating potato famine. Very unpretentious writing.

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