I met the author in Dublin at his Book Launch: he had just won a prestigious Literary Prize:
Coming from the Falls Road Belfast and growing up during the worst of the Troubles, he was
caterpulted into success by being selected for Oxford University: at this University of
Great Merit he became an instant success and his Falls Rd., background proved a great
strength in his chosen literary field : in which he accomplished the great feat of writing this most
amusing book:
Ripley Bogle is a
tramp who sits on a
park bench within sight of Buckingham Palace the
Home of the Queen of England:
The book has a racy style and occasionally lapses into scripting and poetic
writings:
Rigley Bogle: I as once a student: I used to be a gent: I used to have a chequebook: And always pay my rent: But now I sleep on benches: I scounge from passers-by: I smell of cess and pisspot: And affront the general eye:
Its /Irish/ in character and has a charm that overstates its worth as a work of literature:
Ripley's goal in life would be to forsake: homelessness and buy a home: desert unemployment and get a job: runaway from dirt and have a bath! Need I say more!! Obviously I enjoyed the book enormously when I read it:
The daily diary approach is novel and I have selected:
SATURDAY:
Me and my selfishness: Go tripping down the lane: The loveliest of couples: The ball without the chain:
The author then continues in this
narrative creating some sticky wickets: and references to the now
disbanded RUC recur: /four RUC men picked up a young tramp trying to break into an off-licence on the Lisburn Road:: they drove him to St. Malcolm's and knocked old Paddy Sniff out of bed/the story of the tramp/
chappy - highly entertaining, left back in the
troubled world of British-Irish conflict
dialogue, narrative, and last but not least Irish Prose sitting down together with Irish Poetry!
Its a socialist presentation where we all believe that the moral of the tale is
Full Employment for All: Excellent Housing: Pay with the Pay Cheque, well, naturally, monthly!
A GREAT READ!
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