Rating: 
Summary: The rare gem that puts you in another's shoes
Review: I can't relate to reviewers who say the book isn't emotional. On the contrary, it packs a wallop, but you have to see it through. The whole book is made up of little pieces, fragments, seeing the world as a boy does, including the often humorous (mis)understandings--old wives tales & presumptions filling in as knowlegde. I'd forgotten what it was like to lose yourself in time, the way you do in childhood, and the kind of thoughts you have in that state. This is what makes the book a valuable work of art (though never in a stuffy or pretentious way). It's a simple story & doesn't much kick in until the end (when it knocks you flat). Read the first several pages and you'll have a feel for the whole book. I had to push through the middle a bit but was well rewarded at the end.The book is filled with psychological understanding that runs very deep--especially the dynamics of boys' cruelty to and friendship with one another (read to the end for the full benefit). The narration jumps back and forth a bit, but it's pretty easy to follow. Some of the slang challenged me at first (I'm not Irish), but I figured it all out by the end. (Here's a head start: eccer is homework, mitching is skipping school.) Some may want more plot, but I'd call this a masterpiece. If you like Virginia Woolf, you must read this. You'll get inside character more accessibly and just as deeply. The prose has just as much graceful style and far more humor.
Rating: 
Summary: Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Review: This was an excellent book. I believe that it is one of the few that I have actually enjoyed reading front to back in an English class. Although the different stories were quite random, I enjoyed that aspect of the book the most of all because staying with one topic for too long can become rather dull. Roddy Doyle shares the thoughts of a 10 year old with the reader and there were many times in the story when I could definately relate with Paddy when I was 10. The ending is superb because you can really see how Paddy grows and changes with the book. The only thing that didn't seem realistic to me was the fact that Paddy had no friends in the end. His friends made fun of him, and although 10 year olds make fun of other kids all the time, they get over it fast, whereas in Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha, Doyle makes it seem like his friends will hate him forever. All in all, I recommend this work of art to high school students and above.
Rating: 
Summary: A+ for style, C- minus for subject
Review: One can't but help admiring Roddy Doyle's use of dialog and his tight control over the lengths of his passages to control the pace of the story. Doyle also uses no chapter divisions, jumps from anecdote to anecdote without strict regard to chronology, and stays tightly confined to the Dublin neighborhood of the protagonist. The effect is that beneath the childish and what seem to be trivial accounts of Paddy, there is an incredibly dense story with a colossal amount of detail. However, for a country with as troubled a history and exciting a future as Ireland, I am truly puzzled why so many contemporary Irish writers tend to pick from a set list of, in my mind, soft topics. On the list of safe themes are progress coming to rural towns, the blue collar side of Dublin, changes to the blue collar side of Dublin, coming of age (marital problems are a must for exploiting this subject), or innocence lost. Paddy Clarke has the middle three. Unfortunately, none of these are uniquely Irish themes, and I for one get a little tired of rereading the same stories by different authors set in different places. You can find them even well outside the Anglophone world. But I have to give Roddy Doyle some credit. These topics seem safe and seem to have an insatiable audience. He definitely won't have to worry about financial security. Bottom line: This book is worth a read if you like to study what I like to call the architecture of a story. But I was so tired and bored with the subject matter that I found this easy read quite onerous. It's not a stretch to say that even with all the jumping around, the underlying story is pretty predictable. My rating would have been three stars, but I penalized Doyle one for squandering his stylistic originality.
Rating:
Summary: The world as observed by a nine year old
Review: Before you read this book, realize what Mr. Doyle is doing here. He writes as a nine-year-old first person narrator. The narrator not only tells his story from a child's vantage point, but proceeds as a child as well. He has a short attention span, he goes off on tangents, he changes his mind without explanation. Paddy Clarke is a pretty normal kid, which means, of course, that he is quite different from adults in profound ways. It's certainly a challenge to wade through his misperceptions, and his random eruptions, but it is well worth it. It is also a very funny story. I rarely laugh out loud while reading, but I laughed a number of times in this slender tome.
Rating:
Summary: Amusingly believable tale of childhood
Review: Roddy Doyle's book, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha has all the factual and understandable trappings of youth. Doyle's youthful voice flows through the pages as a young boy's thoughts flow through his mind. The set up and flow of this books appears to be skittish and and unstructured, but that is the very sense of youth that Doyle tried to capture. Following a boy and his friends through the awkward time of youth is no easy task for an adult, with only memory as a guide, but Doyle elegantly recaptures the spirit of boyhood pleasures and pains. From fighting parents and friendship stand off's, Doyle emerges his young hero as a dynamic character. Paddy grows and changes in this book, from a mere boy to a understanding, effective male figure.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Authentic Voice
Review: Great memoir-type book. Fantastic kids' voice this author captures. It's almost up there with Angela's Ashes and The Speckled People. This is fine writing. Very meaningful. Sewed up quite powerfully at the end too!
Rating:
Summary: Disapointing!!
Review: I found this book very disapointing after reading the barrytown trilogy.
I have read and re read the trilogy seen the movies and totaly enjoyed them but could not seem to get into this one.
I am a fan of Roddy doyle and hope that the next book is beter i am about to read a star called henry and hope that i find myself liking it.
Rating:
Summary: exxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxccccellent!!
Review: I just loved this book....it gave me a good time and it is just hilarious.....
Rating:
Summary: This book was written by who?
Review: This book is an easy read. No complicated words, no scientific/historical facts that will make you go looking for an encyclopedia to check up on just to get it. Why? Because it was written from the view of a child. It is not childish in anyway, yet the ideas are presented are simple, yet not easy; i.e. themes of handling crises in the home. How a boy handles his life. It was superbly written, and I got so lost in it I forgot it was not written by a child but by Doyle. Take a peak into the book and you will see what I mean. The book is perfect for a nice weekend read, as a short vacation from home.
Rating:
Summary: Lovely
Review: Roddy Doyle has created a beautifully lyrical account of a young Irish boy's maturation into adolescence. He manages to capture the inner life of a ten-year-old boy without reverting to sentimentality or allowing his narrative to descend into cuteness. The accuracy with which Doyle conveys Paddy's voice is perhaps the greatest achievement of the novel. Despite the lovely prose, this is not a book that is easy to get into. It lacks a traditional plot or narrative structure, instead being composed of brief vignettes of Paddy's life at home and out with his friends. These episodes seem random and unconnected at first, but as they accumulate they gain emotional significance. Although I found the first third of the book to be distinctly un-touching, by the time I got to the end it was heartbreaking. Doyle does a wonderfully subtle job of describing the gradual changes happening around Paddy, both in his home and in the town where he lives, and of describing the effect that these changes have on Paddy himself. He really manages to convey the feelings of confusion and powerlessness that Paddy experiences as he tries to make sense of his changing world and struggles futilely to hold on to the way things used to be. This book is worth the work that it takes to get into it. I found it a very moving experience, and recommend it highly.
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