Continues on in the same style as its predecessor, but as you read on differences appear. Angela's Ashes (which name, btw, finally gets its description in this book) covered a period of some 19 years, and didn't have any big holes. This one covers 36 years by my count and there are gaping holes everywhere. Years fly by with hardly a mention, things appear out of nowhere because we weren't told about the things leading up to them, and so on.

For example, I was very surprised when suddenly Emer is waiting for his return anxiously, as they'd only met once, briefly, before this in the book. So whole sections of his life are missing, and that detracts severely from the ambience.

Another thing is I don't think I'd like him very much. His approach to basically anything is "let's get drunk", he misses dates with his girlfriends all the time, can't say no to anything, and for some unexplained reason doesn't get his high school equivalency degree which would seem like the logical first thing to do.

It's entertaining reading, but nowhere near as good as Angela's Ashes.