Books : Round Ireland with a Fridge

Rating: - A Man, a Mission, a Major Appliance
Hawks captures the lunacy of his Guinness-induced bet to circumnavigate Ireland with a refrigerator in tow with great precision and hilarity. He also, perhaps unintentionally, provides tantalizing insight into celebrities as normal people; the scene featuring Hawks--someone having appeared at the Royal Gala--floundering on stage at the Low's Bar Bachelor Festival was priceless.

While the trip itself consisted of a rambling sequence of disconnected adventures, Hawks manages to provide a narrative arc for the overall journey, complete with moral and a bit of poignancy. And throughout the book, his unique view of life, Ireland and whatever else pops into his mind will keep you well-entertained. My favorite line in the book (and perhaps in any book) is his description of a generation whose "principle talent is waving at planes," which succinctly and comically encapsulated what could have been merely another banal observation about in-breeding in rural areas. Hawks has a gift for humor and you could do worse than taking a short, or long, ride with him and his `fridge.

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Rating: - Patronising rubbish of the highest order
A travelogue with a difference, or at least a fridge.

Or 'My self absorbed travels around various pubs in Ireland whilst trying to get my leg over'.

Hawks shows virtually no interest in the country he is visiting (he leaves the 'deeply spiritual' place he feels 'honoured' to be visiting to go to the pub (surprise) to watch a football match. (The photo's included in the book are of the fridge, cars and pubs, there is 1 - yes one, photo of some scenery)

His attitude is 'me, me, me' all the the way throuh, which to be honest might not be so bad if Hawks were a pleasant companion but unfortuantley he comes accross as an uninformed, patronising, buffoon. His 'jokes' are painfull (especially towards the end of the book where things get really stretched).

The ending is one of the worst anti-climaxes I have ever come accross (even admitted by the author himself!). His friends at the radio station bigging the final event up when there are actually only a couple of people there sums the book up.

You get the impression that the only person who really enjoyed this trip was Hawks himself (well, he got a shag out of it), it's certainly no fun to read about (which I think it could have been in the hands of a more sympathetic author).

A overlong and unfulfilling book.

By the way this review should be 1* not 3 but it wont let me edit it!!!

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Rating: - Genius look into the inner workings of a modern bloke
I don't read usually, then my sister bought me this book for my birthday and one day when the internet was down and the tv wasn't any good I picked it up... it was a revelation, reading can be a real laugh! Via the thought processes of Tony Hawks he describes moments that we'll all know - unrequited love - and moments that we don't - standing in the rain on the side of an Irish road with a fridge - all with the sort of language usually heard in British pubs amongst mates. It's pure genius. Read it and weap.

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Rating: - Fridge Craic
This book does live up to expectations: it's funny, quirky and most of all, totally readable and I loved it. The storyline is that Hawks has a bet with a friend that he will be able to hitchhike around Ireland with a fridge within a calendar month because Ireland's a magical place and strange things happen there. The characters he meets along the way are priceless and the scene in the dog house made me laugh out loud.

A brilliant and funny travelogue, it's a stonking good read!

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Rating: - Lives up to your expectations
I didn't know much about Tony Hawks apart from seeing him on TV occasionally but he's not my kind of comedian generally. While reading this book, I initially had to come to terms with his very wordy and educated form of language; he is unlikely to find the Times crossword a challenge! However, both the trip and the comedy began together in earnest and everything just got better. His subtle descriptions of the hillarity of people and circumstance is wonderful and frequently leads to outbursts of laughter... or should I use that awful LOL expression? My opinion of Mr Hawks will lead me to pay much more attention to him in the future... wonderful book.