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Joseph Caldwell

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The Pig Did It: A Novel (The Pig Trilogy Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Joseph Caldwell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

3.5 284 ratings

Book 1 of 3: The Pig Trilogy

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An American in Ireland encounters mystery, romance—and an extremely disruptive pig: “Very funny . . . a payoff that is as unexpected as it is satisfying” (Publishers Weekly).

Possibly the most obstreperous character in literature since Buck Mulligan in James Joyce’s Ulysses, Mr. Caldwell’s pig distracts everyone from his or her chosen mission. Aaron McCloud has come to Ireland from New York City to walk the beach and pity himself for the cold indifference of the young lady in his writing class he had chosen to be his love. The pig will have none of that.

Aaron’s aunt Kitty McCloud, a novelist, wants to get on with her bestselling business of correcting the classics, at the moment Jane Eyre, which in Kitty’s version will end with Rochester’s throwing himself from the tower, not the madwoman’s. The pig will have not a bit of that. What the pig eventually does is root up in Aunt Kitty’s vegetable garden evidence of a possible transgression that each of the novel’s three Irish characters is convinced the other probably benefited from. How this hilarious mystery is resolved in The Pig Did It—the first entry in Mr. Caldwell’s forthcoming Pig Trilogy—inspires both comic eloquence and a theatrically colorful canvas depicting the brooding Irish land and seascape.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Unhappy in love, New York creative writing instructor Aaron McCloud, 32, arrives in Western Ireland's County Kerry to suffer amid its natural beauty in this very funny sixth novel from Caldwell (The Uncle from Rome). Aaron stays with his aunt Kitty, who makes a living rewriting the classics (her version of Oliver Twist features lots of repentance), but Aaron's wallow in self-pity is interrupted by a lost pig that attaches itself to him. When the pig digs up a human skeleton buried in the backyard, Kitty identifies the remains as the missing Declan Tovey and blames the pig's mischievous owner, Lolly McKeever. But Lolly won't admit to owning the pig, let alone killing Declan, and Aaron, for his part, is attracted to Lolly and suspicious of his aunt, who had her own reasons for wanting Declan dead. The stage is set for an Irish country comedy of manners in which darts, pints, pigs and burial plots all play a part. Caldwell's shaggy pig story, the first of a projected trilogy, puts farcical doings into lilting language and provides a payoff that is as unexpected as it is satisfying. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Joseph Caldwell has written an engaging and funny tale about a lovelorn Irish-American who revisits the Emerald Isle, and through a series of comic mishaps and odd surprises, learns how to embrace humanity and fall in love in a new way.” —A.R. Gurney“Caldwell’s rich but precise prose, in itself, is a pleasure to read. His keen sense of setting, and a subtle humor that edges in to the absurd, join in to make this story of love and loves in modern Ireland a delight.” —Neil McMahon“Maybe it was the pig and maybe it wasn’t, but one thing is certain: Joseph Caldwell’s The Pig Did It is the most delightful and sharply crafted book I’ve read this year—a mischievous, even devious, wallow in a thoroughly Irish mire of love, loss, murder, and redemption, with a prescient porker, frothy pints, errant darts, and even a little plagiarism of the classics thrown in for good measure. And did I mention the sexy swineherd? Oh, just read the book yourself. You’ll love it!” —Bob Gray, Shelf Awareness“ . . . very funny . . . Caldwell’s shaggy pig story, the first of a projected trilogy, puts farcical doings into lilting language and provides a payoff that is as unexpected as it is satisfying.” —Publishers Weekly

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B009R6BA7A
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Delphinium Books (October 19, 2010)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 19, 2010
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 4521 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 248 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #582,414 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #377 in American Humorous Fiction
- #478 in Humorous American Literature
- #1,549 in Satire Fiction

Customer Reviews:
3.5 284 ratings

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Joseph Caldwell

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A playwright and novelist who has been awarded the Rome Prize for Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Joseph Caldwell has been praised by critics for his "precise prose," and "subtle humor that edges in to the absurd." He is the author of five novels in addition to the Pig Trilogy including In Such Dark Places, The Uncle From Rome, and Bread for the Baker's Child. Caldwell currently lives New York City and is working on various post-Pig writing projects.

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3.5 out of 5

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T. Bundrick

A great shaggy pig tale......

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2011

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This book carries on the tradition of great pigs in literature. But which other tales had a pig that was able to bring two warring people together, or a pig that helps uncover dead bodies? This tale, set in a small village in County Kerry, Ireland, this wonderful novel revolves around the lives of five main characters: Aaron, a writer who has returned to Ireland from the States: his aunt Kitty, also a writer, but of very unusual tales which are so funny I don't want to give anything away by telling you about them. Then there is Lolly, a local sheep herder who catches Aaron's eye; Sweeney, a local trades person, and sworn enemy of all-things Kitty; then there is the pig, who at times seems to know the destiny of each character. Well, there is also the skeleton....but that is a different story. Anyway, this is a wonderful, rich, big-hearted, funny Irish tale. I am DELIGHTED that there are two more books in the series, because the pig is too big a character for just one book.

8 people found this helpful

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Austen Fan

A bit disappointing

Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2011

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I got this thinking I'd read the other books in the series, but now I'm not sure. There are some funny characters and situations in the story, but they're funnier in concept than in execution. For me, the story got bogged down repeatedly in the author's love of words...sometimes just for words' sake. I realize that's an Irish thing, but it resulted in a slow-moving story and an ending that doesn't resolve much. The characters were also not fully developed, but maybe that is addressed in the subsequent books. Just not sure I care enough to continue.

2 people found this helpful

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Lisa A. Nicholas

Affectionate homage to the Irish character

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2012

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My book club's selection for February, this little novel (if it can be called such) captures the romantic & poetic character of the Irish and presents it as a delicious relic that co-exists only uneasily with the sterility of the modern world (which is represented only through the memories of the Irish-American protagonist's life in New York). The portrayal is satirical, yes, but affectionate as well. Whether to story will give the reader a belly-laugh or a bellyache depends largely upon the individual's sympathy for the romantic temperament of its Irish characters, the capacity to follow a narrative that makes frequent and unannounced swerves between the protagonist's interior fantasies and the external action, and the ability to distinguish between the two. Don't be deceived into thinking this is a murder mystery -- although a dead man lies at the center of the tale, the story is not about discovering his murderer (it seems that everybody claims to have done it, and none of them is to be believed). The circumstances of the dead man's demise are almost entirely beside the point.

8 people found this helpful

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David M. Giltinan

Blarney quaint.

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2010

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Your enjoyment of "The Pig Did It" can probably be predicted by your reaction to the following (relatively typical) paragraph:

"Remember the day he saved the four sons of Maggie Kerwin and the two sons of Sally Fitzgibbon, with their boat going down in the storm sent from the north. ... Lost in the waves and found and lost again, with the mountains falling right on top of him. Remember the seething water hissing at his valor, raging that he should defy them all -- the waves, the rocks, and all the nibbling fishes below. This was the day he dived down and brought up the four sons of Maggie Kerwin and the two sons of Sally Fitzgibbon, and only him still able to holler. And remember the rescue of Hanrahan's goat with the barn burning, and Kate's cat plucked from the high branches of the oak, and his clothes ripped open for all to see. Forget that his words were made of the night air and that he had the gift of transport like none other before him or since, that his closed eyes and open mouth were the surrender of all this world.... Remember what's there to remember and forget what's there to be forgot.

Kitty's face had turned from flesh to stone. "

This style of writing might reasonably be termed "Blarney quaint". In my experience, most native Irish people find it ridiculous, borderline offensive, and incredibly annoying, while a surprisingly high proportion of non-Irish readers react positively (the word "charming" is often invoked). This probably explains why I'm in the minority on this book. Other readers describe it as a hilarious sendup; for me it had about as much wit as a lobotomized goldfish and larded on the blarney factor to nauseating excess. Other defects included: glacial plotting, grievously bloviated prose and characters that didn't even achieve the status of caricature.

I loathed this book. But that doesn't necessarily mean you won't like it.

118 people found this helpful

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Robert Adair

Boring

Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2024

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Doesn’t hold my interest

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Jili Power

Strange, different, wonderfully funny!

Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2020

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Never have I read anything remotely like this! It is so much fun to read. And what characters! Everyone is delightfully quirky, the main character an absolutely lovable neurotic. I simply couldn’t put it down and can’t wait to read the sequels. It is so very Irish!

3 people found this helpful

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flgma

a Bit of the Blarney

Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2022

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I loved the writing and the author really makes me feel I have a sense of the Irish. But there’s no solution! May try book two for the writing alone.

One person found this helpful

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J. Avellanet

Excellent Use of Language - Wonderful Read

Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2008

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Read out loud the first few sentences of this book and you'll hear perfect writing - crisp, almost like poetry. In fact, if you heard the Poet Laureate, Seamus Heaney reading his translation of Beowulf, his voice will echo (and not just because he's Irish).

The story is very inventive and very original, which is saying a lot these days, and quite good. I could've enjoyed another few chapters, but the ending came about rather suddenly, and so that why I only gave it 4 stars. If I could, I would've scored it 4.5.

I look forward to Caldwell's next book in this trilogy.

11 people found this helpful

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