Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

Written by Roddy Doyle

Narrated by Aidan Gillen

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is the most moving story about the humor and challenge of growing up since Catcher in the Rye.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HighBridge Audio
• Release date: Sep 17, 2008
• ISBN: 9781598877069

Roddy Doyle

Roddy Doyle is a bestselling author acclaimed across the world. He was born in Dublin in 1958 and still lives there today. He has won many awards for his writing, including the Booker Prize and a BAFTA for Best Screenplay. He has also won the Irish Children's Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the prestigious CILIP Carnegie Medal. His novel The Commitments was turned into a blockbuster film directed by Alan Parker and opened as a musical to rave reviews. Rover and the Big Fat Baby is his eighth novel for children and the fourth book in the series which began with The Giggler Treatment.

Reviews for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

[lyndainoregon · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Disjointed and meandering tale of an Irish boy in the mid-1960s.

Mostly he hangs out with his buddies, stealing things, setting fires, and tormenting his younger brother. There's a slow-developing subplot about the disintegration of his parents' marriage and his trying to cope with the event.

Booker prize winner, which should have warned me. I don't know their criteria, but am generally disappointed with their choices.

[quondame · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Why would you want to read a book that frames every adventurous episode in a childhood in a parents awareness of the danger instead of a child's feeling of power and magic? Patrick may relate the rather destructive romps through the suburbs developing around his, but the narrative never gets within his feeling of them, but retains an adult tone that forces the adult reader away from any fellow feeling arising from similar episodes. Patrick's brother has withdrawn for him and his awareness is overwhelmed by his parent's constant, singular, unresolving disagreement.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Doyle depicts the childhood adventures of Patrick "Paddy" Clarke, a ten-year-old living in the Dublin suburbs. As most boys, he gets into his share of mischief. He hangs out with a group of male friends. We come to know the boys, their parents, their teachers, and even the priest in the course of the novel. The writing style is unconventional, but critics liked it well enough to award it the Booker Prize. No chapters can be found although white space between certain episodes give the readers an opportunity for a break. While I really didn't care for the "brats" or their language at times, it does provide a great snapshot of Irish life in the 1960s.

[cappybear · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I gave up on the book at the halfway stage having had my fill of toilet humour and little lad jokes. I couldn't care for Paddy Clarke nor any of his family and friends.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book did not disappoint. Roddy Doyle has managed to inhabit a ten-year old boy's mind so completely that you could almost believe Patrick (Paddy) Clarke wrote this himself. Paddy is the oldest of 4 Clarke children growing up on the outskirts of Dublin. His best friend is Kevin and he hangs around in a group with Fluke, Liam, Aidan, James and his little brother, Francis (whom he calls Sinbad). They explore the neighbouring fields, light fires, build hideouts, swim in the ocean, run through the pipes being laid along their road and all the other little mischiefs that children get into. At the same time Paddy is bright, inquisitive, thoughtful and worried about the fights his parents keep having. There are no chapters in the book. The days follow one another just as they do in real life. Paddy is the type of boy that would be giggling in a corner with his friend over some naughty word one minute and wanting a hug from his mom the next. To use one of Paddy Clarke's favourite words, this book is brilliant. No wonder it won the Booker prize in 1993.

[mrlloydspandex · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's well written from the perspective of a 10 year old. It reminded me of little things I'd forgotten about how you view things as a child. There's no real plot, no chapters. It's written more like a diary. Easy read. Didn't have me captivated though. It was just easy to pick up and read whenever.

[yourotherleft_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha achieves the remarkable feat of both depicting a childhood at its most normal and humdrum while also drawing out something much more profound about being a kid and coming of age. While Paddy and his friends are lighting fires, stealing magazines, and torturing his younger brother in the most typical of lowgrade miscreant ways, Doyle does a remarkable job of capturing the casual cruelty of childhood, the bullying, the posturing. At times the book is so good at portraying these things that it's almost hard to read, despite its impressive quality. Doyle nails the random transitions of his child narrator's mind, the relationships that skirt the emotional depth that an adult can see but a child cannot, and the affliction of younger siblings that sits side by side with love. Most impressive of all, however, is Doyle's depiction of Paddy's confusion when adult situations have outpaced his understanding of them, but only by the slimmest of margins, so that while he knows something is amiss he can't grab ahold of what, if anything, he can do to fix it. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is one of those books that, for lack of any sort of linear plot, would seem to be about nothing, but in taking a snapshot of a life, it ends up being about a little of everything.

[vivl_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have a sense, indeed I'm certain, that had this been the first Roddy Doyle I'd ever read I would have given it five stars. Was it the shock of the new that prompted me to award five stars to The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, or is it genuinely the better novel? I find it hard to judge. And is it a bad thing that I find Roddy Doyle's writing so good in general that I can't give top marks to a book that I would nonetheless describe as stunningly good, just because it falls a shade short of some of his other writing? And does it really matter? (I somehow doubt Roddy Doyle is watching my LT reviews with baited breath and becoming downhearted at the missing 1/2 a star.)Through Paddy's wandering child's mind, the reader is drawn into small town/outer suburban late 60s Ireland. It's not a fun place, although fun ("ha ha ha") is to be had from time to time, and Paddy is certainly not a perfect little boy: he's downright horrid a lot of the time, but that's reality for you. I mention his character flaws only because some readers found they did not like this book because of them, but they are, to my mind, an integral part of the no-holds-barred honesty of which Roddy Doyle is a master. He is not a teller of fairy-tales. Despite this darkness, I feel genuine empathy for this strange, funny and sad little boy, desperate for his Ma and Da, both of whom he loves, not to split up. I wish him well.

[annwieland-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my very favorite books of all time...I wish I could give it more than 5 stars!!! Spectacular.

[theampersand · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It used to be said that children should be seen and not heard, and, as I've heard it, most pre-moderns assumed children were, after the age of seven or so, pretty much like adults, so it's good to remind ourselves that, in some ways, childhood was something that literature, and society as a whole, had to create and then discover. In "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha" Roddy Doyle places everyday experiences of an ordinary Irish nine-year-old at the center of a novel, and, in doing so, gets an absolutely unforgettable character and a really good novel out of a rather unlikely source. Oh, and the Booker Prize, too, I suppose. Doyle's always struck me as a very local writer -- he's not afraid to include the specifics of twentieth-century Irish life in his books and leave the reader to figure out the references, slang terms, and brand names -- but his take on childhood also seems wonderfully universal. Paddy's word is an energetic mixture of innocence and knowingness, bedrock certainty and amorphous fear, kindness and cruelty, feelings of helplessness and an urge for control. I'm sure that many readers will find themselves thinking, "I know this kid!" or even "I used to be this kid!" What I most enjoyed about "Paddy Clarke," though, was its willingness to present the adult world through a child's eyes. Paddy himself can observe that important changes are going on around him: his parents are fighting, the farms near his house are disappearing, and he and his brother are growing older. The terms he uses to describe these changes, and the details he notices about them, aren't the ones that the adults around him would notice, and in this way he's both more perceptive and less perceptive than they are. He provides startlingly clear descriptions of father's unhappiness, his mother's love, and his teacher's frustrations without being quite aware of the implications of what he's describing, or that he's describing anything noteworthy at all. "Paddy Clarke" is a wonderfully natural performance, and Doyle, to his credit, presents Paddy's viewpoint without providing an ironic counterpoint or contrasting it with a more authoritative adult account of these events. Paddy stands more or less on his own here, and this childhood-specific sense of loneliness and defenselessness suffuses the entire novel. This also means that, good as "Paddy Clarke" is, it's often sad, slow going; I found it an emotionally difficult read. I like to keep a good deal of distance from the characters between myself and the characters in the novels I read, and I seldom finish a novel with a specific like or dislike for a character. But I've met few literary characters that I've wanted help more than I wanted to help Paddy: the combination of his vulnerability and honesty is often hard to bear. This, of course, shouldn't be taken as a criticism, since it only goes to show what a marvelous job Doyle did with this novel. Recommended, but be warned: childhood may hurt even more than you remember.

[krizia_lazaro_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

At first I did not get this book. It was a disconnected narrative of a 10-year old boy who loves to beat up people. In fairness, the book improves toward the end but still I did not get the point. I don't know how people at the Booker choose their winners. Maybe because it has a different and unique writing style and format. 2 stars and additional 1 star for the effort.

[creynolds_808614 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved being inside the brain of a ten-year-old boy back in the day when boys (and girls) roamed freely. In many ways it was horrifying. Often it showed the cruelty of children, or perhaps a better way to describe it is the innocence of children that manifests itself in socially unacceptable ways. Paddy Clarke and his suffering family was very real to me.

[dbsovereign · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fun book about growing up told in the vernacular. Not sure I "got" all the regional references, but they were not essential to the story.

[lkernagh · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a surprisingly good read for me. Doyle main character, and narrator of his story, is young 10-year old Patrick Clarke of Barrytown, North Dublin. Patrick lives with his Ma, his Da, his younger brother Francis (aka "Sinbad") and his two much younger sisters Catherine and Deirdre in a clean but otherwise nondescript home on an ordinary street. In young Patrick, Doyle has captured the quintessential young boy living in a 1960's working class community. Like all young kids, he wants to be appreciated by his peers, lord it over his younger brother - when he isn't feeling protective of him - and struggles desperately to understand what is going in his family, in particular the raised voices he can hear between his parents late at night. Patrick grows up faster than any 10-year old should have to, and not by choice. Parts of the story are touchingly amusing. I loved how Patrick was listening to the news on the TV with his Da about Vietnam and marveling at the Americans being at war with 'gorillas' and how interesting that the 'gorillas' had their own country and everything..... not a surprising thought process since most 10-year olds of the time period would know about the ape family but weren't really up to speed on the concept of 'guerrillas' in the warfare sense. Good "A-ha" light-bulb moment when Da grasp the confusion in Patrick's understanding of the news. Many of the stories and events told here resonate with authenticity and give voice to some of the toughness and struggles children and families in these communities experienced during the 1960's. My other half grew up in a predominately blue collar community in North Glasgow, Scotland and some of Patrick's experiences are stories I already know and understand from him. The writing style and plot development take a little getting used to, although part of that could be my struggles to get inside the mind of a 10-year old and the language of Patrick and his friends, his "gang". It is a strong coming-of-age story that hit a chord with me of the antics of childhood and reminded me once again about the bullying that went on in the pre Social Media world of my own youth.Favorite quote: "But I didn't. When I asked myself why I hated him, the only reason was that he was my little brother and that was all; I didn't really hate him at all. Big brothers hated their little brothers. They had to. It was the rule. But they could like them as well. I liked Sinbad. I liked his size and his shape, the way his hair at the back went the wrong way; I like the way we all called him Sinbad and at home he was Francis. Sinbad was a secret." Overall, this one is well worth reading for its well written insights into family, community and peers from a young boy's point of view.

[drfuriosa · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was...different.

[davidroche_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In publishing terms, I am a relative newcomer to Roddy Doyle (if you don’t count the film of The Commitments) and having read his more recent books, I have been looking forward to catching up with his 1993 Booker Prize Winning Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (Vintage) for a long time. His ability to articulate how the world looks from the point of view of a 10 year old is remarkable and, being Roddy Doyle, he could write about anything and captivate me. I was lucky enough to go and see the play of his talking heads book Two Pints in Newcastle a couple of years ago and he really has a remarkable ear for dialogue and a gift for reproducing it on the page.

[bookconcierge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Patrick Clarke Jr is 10 years old, the oldest of four children. He spends most of his time hanging out with his mates (including his little brother Francis – a/k/a Sinbad), trying to stay out of trouble with his strict teacher Mr Hennesey (a/k/a Henno), and observing the changes in his Barrytown neighborhood in about 1968. Patrick and his friends find a lot of adventure exploring construction sites, shoplifting from various merchants (not because they need the item stolen, but because they need the thrill of stealing), and inventing various challenges or games inspired by television, sports figures and books.Doyle uses an unconventional stream-of consciousness style. There are no chapters, and the story isn’t necessarily linear. We start with a fire in the neighborhood and segue as that event brings other memories to the fore. The story is told as a child might observe and interpret – or misinterpret – events. (Re the News “I thought the Americans were fighting gorillas in Vietnam … It was nice that the gorillas had a country of their own, not like the zoo ... The gorillas in the zoo didn’t look like they’d be hard to beat in a war.”) But reality slowly dawns on Patrick, and as he realizes his parents may be headed for divorce he determines that only he can stop this from happening.I had a difficult time getting engaged in this book, though it is a relatively fast read. I just wasn’t able to connect with Patrick and his friends for much of the first half of the book. Maybe it’s a boy vs girl thing. I just didn’t find their focus on stealing and destroying things funny or entertaining. And I didn’t understand the “turf wars” with the newer (tougher) kids from “the Corporation houses.” However, the last third of the book, when Patrick’s dawning awareness of the troubles in his parents’ marriage comes into focus, was quite poignant, and tugged at my heart. I will probably be thinking about this for a while, and that is worth 3 stars.

[pilgrimjess · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“We parked our bikes on verges so they could graze.” SET in 1968 in the fictional Dublin suburb of Barrytown Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is a boy's own account of when he was 10. The tale is told not with the benefit of hindsight but in the present tense.The novel has no chapter divisions and Paddy Clarke has an infantile style matching his age. The story is told in fragments that appear to have no particular sequence but on closer inspection there is a definite thread as Paddy slowly matures as events in particular at home unfold.Many of Paddy's sentences are amusing and many of his dealings with his friends seem to involve daily acts of minor violence - dead legs, 'prunings'- as Paddy struggles to sustain his friendships yet he appears blind to adult violence. Yet they also play games which seem to stretch their verbal curiosity. In one, the boys each have to become a swear-word for the week. Paddy comes out with the word Fuck and becomes a kind of hero with his gang.Fuck also represents a growth of a sort, but also marks a change in Paddy as he becomes sensitive to the discord within his parents marriage but his immaturity means that he is unable to fathom its cause. When his 'da' eventually leaves home, Paddy can find no reason for it 'why he hated Ma', since 'She was lovely looking, though it was hard to tell for sure'.There is a also a separation between Paddy from his friends and in particular his former best friend and neighbour Kevin when Paddy becomes drawn to new boy and surly loner Charles Leavey. This culminates in a pretty vicious fight with Kevin which earns Paddy a general boycott: 'I had Kevin's blood on my trousers. I was on my own.' This then leads to the reason for the novels title as his former friends chant 'Paddy Clarke - / Paddy Clarke - / Has no da / Ha ha ha.'This is the first novel by the author that I've read and overall I enjoyed it, in particular how he never strayed from the child's voice despite the serious events that are unfolding. However, I find it hard to imagine that when this book won the Booker Prize in 1993 that it was really the best book written in English that year or perhaps I've just had an overdose of harsh growing up in Ireland. Worth a read all the same.

[dalzan_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Paddy Clarke is ten in 1968.Paddy and his friends stage a Viking funeral for a dead rat, run the Grand National over the neighbors' hedged gardens, set fires at building sites, rob ladies' magazines (because they were the easiest) from shops, and torment each other, forming fluid alliances and watching for weaknesses. They are funny and frightening and unaware of both. The early part of the book roams from hair-raising adventure to adventure, incorporating casual cruelties and unheeded dangers with Sinbad, Paddy's younger brother. Then the ever-simmering tensions between his parents intensify. The mysterious fights, his mother's tears, his father's black moods, move into Paddy's life and begin to take it over. Paddy begins to see his little brother with new eyes - a person who can share the burden of fear and maybe help stop it from happening. But Sinbad is uncooperative. Too young or too-long tormented by his older brother, he refuses to even listen. Paddy is left to turn the tide by himself. He stays awake all night because if he does it will stop them fighting; he watches them and interposes himself between them, learning how to turn their anger. The last third of the book is filled with uncertainty. The sense that anything can happen at any time keeps the reader on tenterhooks, hopeful, like Paddy, that normality will return.

[redheadish · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Paddy Clarke is definately totally screwed up kid who seems to right himself by the end of the book. I was totally inscensed by the wicked things he and his friends did, and of course Paddy thought it was Brilliant! Thank goodness he wasn't my kid! I was also very annoyed by the writing style as if it were childlike sentences all the way through the book written by someone with ADHD! I only finished it to see what actually happens to Paddy....but it was interesting to say the least and had quite a few laughs. It took longer to read because my heart wasn't in it like others I have read so I went back and forth wishing I could sit long enough to finish it.

[dylanwolf · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Roddy Doyle doing what he does best - evoking place and memory through the incisive rendering of naturalistic dialogue. Here, Doyle gives us the voice of 10-year-old Paddy Clarke, who fills the novel with the sensibilities and experiences of a young boy growing up in Dublin during the 1960s. There are no chapters, but this is no barrier to an enjoyment of this rich, luscious book. Although the novel deals with violence it is a darkness that is well embedded in the every day - all the more frightening perhaps because of our acceptance of it as the normal state of affairs. In the end this is a sad book but far from a sentimental one.

[whisper1_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

If anyone can answer my question, I'd love to know the answer. Why is it that books written by Irish authors or told about the Irish seem to consistently focus on a) drinking b) abuse c) poverty d) dysfunction???? Is there joy in Ireland?While reviews are primarily positive about this book, for many reasons, I simply reacted to the fact that it was yet another angst filled tale of an Irish child witnessing cruelty, and acting out with cruelty, harming those around him, including his younger sibling.It is 1968 and Paddy is ten years old, his father is drinking heavily, his mother is abused, his brother is a royal pain.He and his band of friends roam the small town setting fires at building sites, entering forbidden areas while performing various and sundry cruel beatings and taunts to each other.Written in a hard to follow stream of consciousness style, I had a difficult time absorbing the story line.Simply stated, I didn't like this book and cannot recommend it.

[kristenn_43 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Read this on an airplane 3 months ago and then forgot about it, so I don't recall many details. What I do recall is that I didn't care for it and was very disappointed. I've enjoyed quite a bit of Doyle's short stories and this one has a great reputation. On the other hand, I'd tried reading it once before and set it down for about five years. Mainly, this book made me really dislike young boys and want nothing to do with them. Which is a new feeling for me. But they were just horrible. So Doyle was vivid -- I'll give him that. But separate from disliking the main characters so much, the plot tended to drag and repeat itself and regularly lose my interest. It also didn't help that I loathe bathroom humor and you can't have a realistic 10-year old without it. That part obviously isn't the book's fault. Oh well.

[richardderus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ugh.Books written in the voice of a child had best use that technique for a reason...the child's perspective becomes wearing unless there is some very, very compelling narrative reason to make us follow a kid around without wanting to scream blue murder after a while.I don't find any such compelling reason in this book. I don't find anything compelling at all in this book, as a matter of fact.Ireland sounds damned good and dreary, and I am rethinking my desire to visit. I hate priests, nuns, and the Catholic Church with a vibrating Day-Glo orange passion. I'm beginning to hate all the fools and cruels who dare to become parents in Ireland, too. All the cheery Irish that exist appear to have moved here and taken up writing about the badness of Irish childhoods.Blech. I don't want to talk about this book anymore. Read it at your peril. Why did I give it three stars? Because the writing, the descriptions, the sheer visual acuity of it makes anything less a dishonest rating, one based on my growing dislike of the country it's about, not a judgment of the book's merits.

[kidzdoc_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The winner of the 1993 Booker Prize, [Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha] is a novel narrated by Patrick "Paddy" Clarke, an 10 year old boy from Dublin, which is set in 1968. Paddy is tormented by his younger brother Francis, who he calls Sinbad due to his resemblance to the sailor, and is troubled by his strict school teacher, adult neighbors who do not appreciate his bawdy sense of humor or clever pranks (such as giving a dead rat a proper Viking funeral or stealing women's magazines from local stores), and especially his parents, whose fights are becoming more frequent and violent. Doyle expertly captures the voice, irrational beliefs, and attitudes of a young boy, who is always in minor trouble and engages in dangerous activities, but who is still a sympathetic and lovable character. I laughed at seemingly every other page throughout the first half of the book, as I remembered my childhood pranks and those of my friends (and enemies), and became choked up as the novel reached its inevitable conclusion. This novel will resonate deeply with anyone who grew up in the 1960s, but everyone will recognize a bit of their childhood, good and bad, in the lovable and irrepressible Paddy.

[oreillynsf_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Paddy's youthful devilish nature and his well developed sense of humor belie the emotional struggles he goes through as his parents divorce. Once again, Roddy Doyle was able to capture maginificently real dialogue and childhood thought processes in a story within a story that demonstrates his skill as a tremendous talent. You know the kid that says the f bomb and retains has urchin-like affable appeal? The one that commits petty crimes but is just too marvelous to be really angry with? That's Paddy, and you'll laugh and cry along with him throughout this short book. While Paddy is absolutely the star, I also loved his Mammy - in just a few words Doyle gives us a picture of a woman struggling to come into her own.

[katydid4it · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A view into the mind of a 10 year-old boy - all his hopes, adventures, friendships, and fears. In a world where the us vs them is kids vs adults, Paddy's voice will bring you back to what it was like to be a child on the verge of adolescence when it was far more important to be cool in front of your friends than in front of the opposite sex. His incites into the relationship dynamics of his neighbors, group of friends, with his brother, and of the dissolving marriage of his parents are sometimes skewed by his limited understanding due to being a kid. In this novel Roddy Doyle excels. As we grow up, it's often too easy to forget the pains and joys of childhood - Doyle brings them into sharp focus with Paddy Clarke.

[hemlokgang · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Marvelous read. Roddy Doyle takes us inside the mind of a ten year old Irish boy in the 1960s, and anyone who has raised or worked with boys will know how great his representation is. I laughed out loud, and felt a wide range of other emotions as the protagonist deals with the social rules of his peers, the problems at home, and how to feel about his brother. Wonderful read!

[lauralkeet · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The narrator and title character of this story, 10-year-old Patrick Clarke, is a fairly typical Irish boy. He runs with a pack of boys, playing football and finding ample opportunities for mischief. He tolerates his younger brother Francis (nicknamed Sinbad), and barely pays attention to his younger sisters. Adults -- teachers, friends' parents, and his own parents -- are mysterious creatures. He understands little about the adult world, and cares little about it as well. That is, until the small cracks in his family structure widen into fissures, and then chasms. As the oldest child, Patrick assumes responsibility for maintaining a cohesive family environment, and believes he can influence and redirect the growing emotional tension between his parents. For the first two-thirds of this book, Roddy Doyle places the reader right in the middle of Patrick and his friends, experiencing their hijinks, and seeing the world through their eyes. I found myself reliving my own childhood, when my friends & I explored the woods behind my house, and speculated (quite erroneously) about the actions of our neighbors. And then, Patrick becomes aware that his mother and father are not getting along. He doesn't understand why, and tries desperately to correct the situation. Because the story is told entirely from Patrick's point of view, many questions go unanswered and the reader is left similarly powerless. Doyle's technique was quite effective; I desperately wanted to take Patrick aside, explain what was happening in his life, and give him a big hug. This was a touching, poignant story.

[laytonwoman3rd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A delightful, moving story of childhood told in a narrative style that at times is almost stream of consciousness, and yet never bewildering; lyrical and lovely, not a bit sentimental; it touches the frightened child that still lurks in my subconsciousness somewhere engaged in the kind of magical thinking that promises "If I stay awake all night, it will keep this bad thing from happening". I thought the ending a bit weak, if inevitable. Highly recommended.