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Roger Boylan
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The Great Pint-Pulling Olympiad: A Mostly Irish Farce Kindle Edition

by Roger Boylan (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
The hapless inhabitants of Killoyle, Ireland, face all manner of chaos in this comic novel from an author “capable of spinning a fabulous yarn” (Minnesota Daily).
 
After local lush Mick McCreek gets into a car crash with a cross-dressing church sexton, he enlists the help of a lawyer, Tom O’Mallet. As it turns out, the lawyer’s real gig is selling missiles to an IRA splinter group, 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, Roger Boylan’s pyrotechnic prose brings to life Ireland at its manic extremes, proving the author a dazzling and distinctive talent in American fiction.
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  1. Print length
    468 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Grove Press
  4. Publication date
    December 1, 2007
  5. File size
    3.8 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

The hilarious follow-up to "one of the most impressive novels written by an American in recent years"

About the Author

Roger Boylan's roots are in Ireland and the New York area. After attending the University of Ulster and the University of Edinburgh, he worked as a translator, computer technician, teacher, and book editor. His novel Killoyle was published in 1997. His stories and articles have appeared in various journals, including The Literary Review, The Recorder, and The Austin American-Statesman, and he is a regular contributor to Boston Review's New Fiction Forum. He lives in Texas with his wife and daughter.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B008RZK5TG
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grove Press; 1st edition (December 1, 2007)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 1, 2007
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.8 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 468 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 out of 5 stars 12 ratings

About the author

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Roger Boylan

Roger Boylan

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Roger Boylan is an American writer who was raised in Ireland, France, and Switzerland and attended the University of Ulster and the University of Edinburgh. His novel "Killoyle" was published in 1997 by Dalkey Archive Press and has been reprinted four times. In 2003, a sequel, "The Great Pint-Pulling Olympiad," was published by Grove Press, New York. German versions of both novels, translated by the award-winning German translator and author Harry Rowohlt, were critically and commercially successful. The third volume in the Killoyle trilogy, "The Maladjusted Terrorist," was published in Germany in 2006 and is forthcoming in English. The entire trilogy was reissued in German in 2007 by Kein & Aber, Zurich.

Boylan's latest novel, "The Adorations," in which a Swiss professor named Gustave, Adolf Hitler, Hitler's mistress, the Archangel Michael, and a journalistic sexpot meet at the intersection of history and fantasy, has been published as an e-book and is now available on Amazon.com and other online bookstores.

Boylan's light-hearted memoir, "Run Like Blazes," has also been published as a Kindle e-book and is also now available on Amazon.com.

Boylan is a regular contributor to Boston Review's "New Fiction Forum" and the online automotive review Autosavant. His stories and articles have appeared in many journals and reviews, including The New York Times Book Review, The Literary Review, The Economist, The Texas Observer, The Austin American-Statesman, and Scrivener. He is working on a novel and a memoir. Currently he lives near Austin, Texas.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
12 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Naval Gazer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fine writer, but.......
    Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Roger Boylan is a fine writer, but, as you read, you have to get used to his constant reference to esoterica that forces even, I suspect, the most erudite to refer to the old Oxford Dictionary. No doubt Roger's experience, either first or second hand, give him a world of references to just about every tiny detail of what humans and other creatures do in interacting with the World on a second by second basis. His footnotes are interesting but at times do go on to make you have to go back and wonder what you had been reading. In spite of these distractions, he can and does weave a tail that rivals that of other famous Irish writers. In his writing he is brutely honest at times and seems to pride himself at this honesty. However, in spite of great respect for him, I find it interesting that a description of him on the back cover indicates that, "he is now an American citizen". In his Memoir he clearly states he was born an American of American parents. His parents had parents from Ireland and it is clear that he thinks himself Irish. We, of second and third generation Irish, think of ourselves as Irish as well but know enough not to describe ourselves as "now American Citizens". For some reason this bothered me a bit, in light of his artistic forthrightness. I guess we all live in a fantasy world of our own making. Again, Roger Boylan is an exemplary author who I recommend any one read with an interest in Irish lore and history. He, more than most authors I read, forces me to expand my vocabulary and World view, for sure, and in doing so brings a richness to the vicissitudes and panorama of the Irish culture and history.
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  • Biebl Karl-Heinz
    5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious
    Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Another hiliarious book of Roger Boylan, telling a story about - wait - yes, about what? ireland, life, irish people, actually about everything??? - in a never before seen and almost uncomparable way, accompanied by countless footnotes of a grumpy old lad. It is so much fun reading this, just do it!
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  • C. Dolejs
    5.0 out of 5 stars Like an Irish farce, only funnier
    Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2009
    In his sophisticated-yet-funny The Great Pint-Pulling Olympiad: A Mostly Irish Farce, Roger Boylan proves that he listens well. It is not enough that he handles various and disparate dialects on nimble fingers (excuse the mixed-up metaphor, if you please); he invests each of his numerous characters with such well-formed, distinct patterns of speech (and thought) that adding "[name] said" and "[name] remarked" is really not necessary.

    The literate reader--this book is not written at the 10th-grade level--is rewarded with fully realized settings and personalities; one might even develop a crush on one of these characters (mine is Penny Burke). And the features! Lord warrant us, what features! But no one can accuse Roger Boylan of burying the reader in overwrought overwriting. To this reader's taste, the story is evenly brilliant throughout, never tedious, never boring, always entertaining. There is a sweet spot at which richness resides, somewhat this side of opulence, and the author rubs that spot expertly, to the reader's delight.

    The Great Pint-Pulling Olympiad: A Mostly Irish Farce is engaging, surprising, and exceptionally well written. It is, in short, a great novel by a master of the craft. I'm glad I read it.
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  • Paul Cohen
    5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely hilarious
    Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2004
    I teach comic fiction, and this is one of the funniest novels I know. It has been years since I was so sorry to see a book end. It is, however, far more than a collection of laughs. Like the work of other Irish masters from Swift and Sterne to Beckett, Flann O'Brien, Patrick McCabe, and Martin McDonagh, Boylan's novel continually blends the comic with the dark, revealing profound connections. He provides, for example, access into the minds of terrorists, from Irish ultranationalists to Basque separatists, yielding insights you will find nowhere else. His characterizations are masterful, and, like Sterne, Joyce, and Beckett, he is also a great formal innovator. I will never again consider teaching my Irish Comic Writers course without this marvelously rich novel.
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  • Colleen Devine
    5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious and smarter than you OR me - especially me.
    Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2004
    I am not quite finished this book - it's taking a while because I keep putting it down to laugh. The footnotes are a great addition and an entertaining read in and of themselves. Boylan's language is as fast and intriguingly unpredictable as Mick McCree's test drive. Don't know what that means? RYou'll have to read the first several pages to find out.
    If you have despaired of reading a book that is both hilarious and literary, despair no more. I also recommend that you drink a pint or two while reading.
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  • kurt
    5.0 out of 5 stars An outrageous humane comedy.
    Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2004
    Hilarious--Boylan has scored another comic triumph. The Great Pint-Pulling Olympiad keeps the reader reeling with dazzling displays of erudition, caustic commentary, and a constant barrage of laugh-out-loud episodes. But this is a farce with a heart; even at their most ridiculous, Boylan's characters are deftly drawn and fully human. If you think you'll finish this book without caring about the people within it, then the joke's on you.
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  • Alexa Intrator
    5.0 out of 5 stars Keep this by your bed if you don't want to sleep
    Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2004
    More captivating than Boylan's Killoyle. The Olympiad has characters that are rich in their actions, preoccupations and obssessions. Boylan is witty and erudite, and his book is a treasure-trove of deliciously clever details and footnotes. There are some hysterically funny scenes you shouldn't miss. A book unlike any other. Buy it!
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  • Steven Moore
    5.0 out of 5 stars He Do the Irish in Different Voices
    Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2003
    A splendid novel in every way: very funny, very inventive, and very insightful into Ireland's many problems. A variety of Irish "types" take part in a comically convoluted plot, with a biting commentator heckling from the footnotes. Perhaps even better than Boylan's first novel, "Killoyle," to which this is a sequel. Highly recommended.
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