Book Review: Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks

Round Ireland with a Fridge
by Tony Hawks
Travel/Humour
Ebury Press
5 Stars
Reviewer's purchased copy.

Blurb:

On his only prior visit to Ireland, songwriter/comic Tony Hawks had seen a man hitchhiking with a refrigerator. For years, he was wont to tell the tale during late-night drinking matches, and after one particularly heavy-duty night of partying, he awoke to find a bet scrawled pillow-side: a friend wagered 100 pounds that Hawks wouldn't travel Ireland for a month with a refrigerator at his side.





I don't normally read travel books, but my husband is an avid devourer of same, and so when I gave him this as a gift, I was curious. He would read a few pages and then laugh. A lot. Out loud. I wondered what on earth could be so funny in a travel book. I had never read a book which made me laugh out loud. So after he had finished, I began reading the book.

I just couldn't put it down. It was hilarious, right from the ridiculous premise where the author agreed to a drunken bet to hitch-hike round Ireland with a fridge as a travelling companion. He meets a quite a few eccentric characters along the way, none of whom I knew (at least I don't think so, but you can never be quite sure. Nearly everyone in Ireland knows someone who's a cousin of someone else's cousin or brother, or aunt... you get the idea.)

My favourite line has got to be when asking for directions, the author got the reply, "You can't get there from here."

It's so funny because it's true, people do say that, I'm a culprit myself.

How did he manage it? Did people really let the madman with a fridge get into their cars and their lives? Read the book and find out, you won't be disappointed.

You'll be laughing out loud too.

Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of The Chosen