Review: Absolutely Loved This Book!!!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 1, 2013
When I saw the words "Irish" and "memoir" in the same sentence, I immediately thought of Frank McCourt's memoir, a well-written but infinitely depressing story. Paul Dunne's book is titled "Life in the Funny Lane," and it's the title that gave me hope that this story would be more uplifting. It is. Much more so. But I could not even expect what a treat I was in as I started reading it. Sure, the story is heart-felt, sincere, and doesn't shy away from painful events, such as the death of the author's his baby sister Eileen, nostalgia for times gone by and his childhood.  Like Frank McCourt, Paul Dunne has a wonderful facility, fluency and ease with language, but Paul Dunne is also able to look at the past with a light-hearted attitude and a wonderfully clever sense of humor. And that wins major points with me. Paul Dunne tells stories that, in his own words, take real people, or "wretched souls ...from mundane oblivion to exhilarating immortalisation." Well-said indeed.Paul Dunne is funny, and his humor is what makes his stories, set in a different time and place than my childhood, so easy to relate to. I mean, can't most of us remember New Year's Eve celebrations involving "the forest of glasses pulsating in the fog to the unsteady beat of the countdown?" Well, maybe not exactly remember. But still.But it's not all fun and games in this book. There are some lessons to be learned, such as that a falling pickaxe could be a way to communicate with the dead -- or to become one of them? I have to check on that. Another lesson concerns magazines in a doctor's office -- and who could have thought that the waiting room in a doctor's office could become a perfect stage for comedy? Paul Dunne surely makes it that. But on to the lesson. When choosing a magazine, we need to pick the one "we can bear to look at and that we do not feel too embarrassed to be seen looking at."  And the wrong choices are fraught with dire circumstances, i.e. becoming a BAP. What's a BAP? Born Again Pervert, of course. Or is that common knowledge?I always thought "Forever Amber" was a romance novel set in 17th century England. Now that Paul Dunne enlightened me with the updated knowledge that it is actually a story about a broken traffic light, I am much more interested in reading it. And please don't call me a "neuron-deficient cognitively-challenged" reader. I now understand what that means as well, and I will get upset.On a more personal note, thank you, Mr. Dunne, for pointing out that marital thrombosis is a serious condition. Now I don't have to feel guilty about a previous failed marriage (or two, but who's counting!) in my life.What a fantastic book! In addition to the amazing humor, it paints a very vivid and realistic picture of Dublin in the 1950's, complete with references to everything: from history to linguistics to math concepts. All useful! Next time I'm stuck in a boring workplace meeting, I will be able to quickly "calculate the escape velocity necessary to leave the room." A rare but crucial skill. And all thanks to Paul Dunne. Great book! Highly recommended!