THE MURPHY - Tapa blanda

Murphy is Irish and poor. Even by the standards of the poorest of the poor in Ireland, Murphy is poor.
Set sometime between the first and second World Wars, somewhere in Ireland and sometimes everywhere else besides - at one point Murphy is kidnapped by Irish aliens who take him in a spaceship to see St Patrick choose his National Lottery numbers - Murphy's story serves only to prove that the luck of the Irish is not bestowed upon all the sons of the nation.
Unable to hold down his job on a building site he turns to robbery but is discovered trapped inside a suit of armour, almost drowns when he falls down a wishing well and catches a particularly revolting form of bronchitis whilst on religious retreat in a particularly revolting form of monastery.As you would expect, The Murphy is rude, irreverent and hugely funny. Classic, timeless Milligan.

'Murphy hadn't seen his parents for thirty years. They lived in Buncrana, in Donegal - that was two-hundred miles away, that's why he hadn't seen them. It was hard to see from that distance.'

Rude and irreverent, Spike Milligan gives full vent to his sense of the absurd in this hilarious novel.

Murphy is Irish and poor. Even by the standards of the poorest of the poor in Ireland, Murphy is poor. So when he wakes up one morning with the mother of all hangovers, the last thing he needs is a whack over the head with a frying pan from his long-suffering wife.

While he's knocked senseless, Murphy's mind trawls back through his misadventures in every area of his squandered life: family, health, religion, work, poverty, love and marriage.

Murphy is living proof that the luck of the Irish is not bestowed upon all the sons of the nation.