The Great Pint-Pulling Olympiad: A Mostly Irish Farce

by Roger Boylan

Roger Boylan's first novel, Killoyle, established him as a brilliant successor to such Irish masters as Joyce, Beckett, and J. P. Donleavy. Now his new farce follows the hapless inhabitants of Killoyle, Ireland, through the frenetic week of the Pint-Pulling Olympiad. After local lush Mick McCreek gets into a car crash with a cross-dressing church sexton, he enlists a lawyer, Tom O'Mallet. As it turns out, the lawyer's real gig is selling missiles to the IRA, and he plans to use his clueless client as a patsy. O'Mallet also hoodwinks Anil, an Indian waiter who has found himself the unlikely target of a manhunt. What Tom doesn't know is that his lucrative weapons are destined for a massive terrorist attack on the Pint-Pulling Olympiad, and that Anil's sexy cousin Rashmi — a sweatshop worker turned intelligence operative — is hot on the bombers' trail. With a wink and a nudge, Boylan's pyrotechnic prose brings to life Ireland at its manic extremes, proving the author a dazzling and distinctive talent in American fiction.

Genres: Fiction, Irish Literature

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2003

Reviews

[Brady McLaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just not particularly satisfying

[Alice Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roger Boylan delivers a brilliantly absurd and uproarious satire in The Great Pint-Pulling Olympiad. With sharp wit and a cast of delightfully eccentric characters, this "mostly Irish farce" takes readers on a madcap journey through small town pub culture.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sounds like it should have been a real hoot, but I had a hard time getting into it.