Product Description

John Boyle was born and raised in Scotland, but he could never feel Scottish. His parents were poor immigrants from the west of Ireland, who came to Scotland to find work and eventually settled in Paisley. This memoir captures the poverty and rough humour of the Boyle family's life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #603092 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 309 pages

Irish Times, March 2001 - Carlo Gebler
Very few writers have described the development of a psyche so acutely. Galloway Street is a work of art.

BBC Radio 4 Open Book programme - Charlie Lee-Potter, April 2001
Galloway Street is a delight to read. If John Boyle has any sense, he'll start working on (the sequel) now.

The Scotsman - Lesley McDowell, March 2001
Full of humour in the midst of grinding poverty

Customer Reviews

Elegant, humorous writing that touches the soul
I was recommended this book by a friend. I couldn't get through Angela's Ashes: the deaths and depression overwhelmed me. So I was wary about another Irish childhood saga of pain and misery. There is pain in this book, but with the lightest, gentlest touch; mostly there is the joy of being alive; humor suffuses everything. There is real poetry in this boy's perspective. Much better than the Ashes book. The reader sighs with pleasure as the pages get turned. The best recommendation I could give? I ordered some couples of this book from Amazon to give to friends. It's that kind of book.

This could be Scotland's "Angela's Ashes"
Having lived in Paisley, I instantly recognised Boyle's descriptions of streets, schools and other landmarks. As a child there, I played those games and had friends like these. I wallowed in nostalgia! As for the writer's craft, I especially liked how he dealt with early memories; they were written with just the amount of "haziness" one might expect when remembering from early childhood. The memories of his father's breath when drunk, his early sexual feelings, were described as though from a child's perspective; excellent. I really liked this book. Although it reminded me of "Angela's Ahes", I don't think he was jumping on a bandwagon. This felt exactly like he explained; he wrote it for himself and his family, as a kind of catharsis.I just wonder how the people named in the book feel; did he forewarn them?