This is a well-written book about a young boy in Ireland, but I'm about 137 pages into it and I'm struggling to finish. Doyle's quality prose isn't enough to keep you interested in Paddy Clarke's story, which is told from the first-person perspective of the boy himself. There's just never enough insight into the boy to really care. If you want to read a bunch of vignettes from a boy's point of view, knock yourself out, but know what you're getting.This is the fourth Roddy Doyle book I've read and frankly it is his least engaging. "The Van" is one of the funniest books I've encountered and I'm going to steer you towards that. Also, if you've got the stomach for it, you might want to check out Irvine Welsh's "Filth." It's not for the squeamish, though.