The Onion Eaters

By J. P. Donleavy

On a cold day Clayton Claw Cleaver Clementine sets off westwards to take up residence in the vast haunted edifice of Charnel Castle. Clementine, a polite unkown unsung product of the new world and recently recovered by a miraculous cure from a long decline, alights at an empty crossroads. Standing lonely on its windswept hillside the great turrets and battlements rear in the sky ... The Onion Eaters is amongst Donleavy's best work.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Lilliput Press
• Release date: Feb 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781843512769

J. P. Donleavy

J.P. ‘Mike’ Donleavy has written more than twenty books since The Ginger Man, including The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B, Meet My Maker the Mad Molecule, A Fairy Tale of New York, The Onion Eaters and Schultz (all available as eBooks from Lilliput), along with several works of non-fiction such as The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival and Manners. He lives along the shores of Lough Owel near Mullingar in County Westmeath.

Reviews for The Onion Eaters

[j_blett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Unremittingly louche. Dazzlingly Rabelaisian. SEVEN STARS.

[hagelstein_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Clayton Claw Cleaver Clementine, direct descendant of Clementine of the Three Glands, arrives in Ireland from America after inheriting his rapidly deteriorating ancestral castle. Within hours he is invaded by an unruly and impoverished, yet entertaining, group of uninvited guests that show no intention of leaving as long as the stores continue flowing from the wine cellar and kitchen. Among them are a group of itinerant pseudo-scientists bearing highly poisonous mambas.One mark of The Onion Eaters, as in many of Donleavy’s books, is the sex. Almost everyone appears to be involved – early and often. Unless they’re being denied sex in some bizarre fashion. Clementine is often called away from an amorous encounter for some emergency, only to find a substitute has replaced him. And the sex is always leavened by humor – not to be taken too seriously. Some characters appear to have anagrammatic names. The head pseudo-scientist responsible for releasing deadly mambas in the countryside is called Erconwald (crawled on), while one of his more sexually active hangers on is Rose (sore).Another character, Lead Kindly Light - constantly rutting yet intolerant of the sexual activities of all others, appears to be named after an 1833 Christian hymn.Donleavy has a poetic, instantly identifiable prose style. The story – like the castle itself – never allows a dull moment.