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Critical Mick

Reviews Free of Rules.

Reviews by the Clown that All Other Critics Want to Strangle with a Black Turtleneck

Heaven Lies About Us, by Eugene McCabe.  Just finished by Critical Mick.

Heaven Lies About Us
Eugene McCabe
Bloomsbury Publishing, 2004

 

Wholesome. Delicious.

Heaven Lies About Us originally appeared the Phoenix book of Irish Short Stories 1997.
Water. Malted Barley. Hops. *

Einstein's favorite pastime was chopping wood. Life's best things are often the simplest.

 

 

Sea Trout, Salt (3.0%), Smoke. *

This principle applies to art. Without clutter, only power remains. Elemental. The sharp intake of breath is a wind storm that knocks a body flat.

 

 

Buttermilk. Wholemeal flour. Vegetable oil. Oak flakes. Yeast, Salt. *

Eugene McCabe's fiction boils away what unnecessary shit weaker stories have piled against the great Irish truths of abuse, religion, repression, hope and famine. Simply and powerfully put, this is the real stuff.

 

 

Death and Nightingales, also by Eugene McCabe. Critical Mick's little sister-in-law liked it.
Cheddar. *

Those constantly recycled Irish themes used to bore me. "Been there, done that." Truth is, I had never really been there at all.

 

 

Traditional music. A Tin whistle. Punk Rock. *

Real pro's make it look easy.

 

Critical Mick recommends Heaven Lies About Us

And now for an important disclaimer from Critical Mick

Yo! This review and all content on the DFA Guide site are copyright 2005 Mick Halpin. All links to other sites and documents are copyright to whatever source wrote something cool enough for Mick to give it a referral. Try to claim them as your own work and bad karma will catch up with you, baby. Believe it.

Irate, huh? Managed to piss off another one? Direct your hatemail to mick @ mickhalpin dot com.


This Page Was Last Updated On 31 December, 2005.

What is Mick up to? | Who Is Mick? | See Why He's a Sap
Hire Him! | Or His Various Diatribes |
Or Some Things You Should Know About Dublin |

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Lager)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Irish brown soda bread)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Carrokeel Smoked Sea Trout)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Cheddar cheese)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(The Pogues, baby! The Pogues.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eugene McCabe's Heaven Lies About Us, prominently featured on the shelf.