FRIDGES ON THE ROAD: ROUND IRELAND WITH A FRIDGE

Book review copyright 2001 by Nora M. Mulligan

My nomination for the funniest book I have read this year, and certainly a book in the running for the funniest book I have ever read, is now in. Tony Hawks' book, Round Ireland with a Fridge, is the sort of book you should not read in proximity to anyone else, because you will be hooting and guffawing so much that anyone near you will want to either (a) take the book away, (b) read the book him or herself, (c) have you locked up as a lunatic, or the ever popular (d), all of the above.

The premise of the book is simple enough.. The writer, after a night of excessive drinking, discovers that he's made a bet with a friend.. His friend has bet him one hundred pounds (he's English) that he cannot hitchhike the circumference of Ireland within a month, with a refrigerator in tow.

It takes an unusual kind of person, even drunk, to make a bet like that. It takes an even more unusual kind of person to go through with a bet like that. However, our author is that second sort of unusual person. Although his friend wouldn't have held him to the bet (it being the sort of thing you do when you're drunk that any sensible person would regret afterwards), so he would lose nothing in honor if he reneges, Tony decides that this lunatic enterprise is just the ticket. He tries to explain it, but really there is no rational explanation for undertaking this adventure. When he selects the fridge in question (a half sized one, the sort one finds in college dormitories and also in the first apartment in which I ever lived), and discovers that it will cost him one hundred thirty pounds, even that doesn't dissuade him, though any reasonable person would say, "Why should I spend 130 pounds to win 100 pounds?", or, to quote the response of more than one Irish person who hears this story, "what an eedjit."

Tony Hawks may well be an "eedjit," but he is certainly an entertaining one. His sense of humor is dry in the extreme, as he discovers that his fridge is getting more attention (and certainly more proposals for interesting adventures) than he is. He is immediately adopted by a radio program, which begins telling the tale of the Fridge Man, and he begins his hitchhike from Dublin. As he journeys around Ireland, sometimes being picked up with hardly any effort on his part and sometimes waiting for hours, something in the combination of his own silliness and the goofy nature of the people he encounters turns the whole trip magic. His fridge gets named, and autographed, and blessed and christened. It is even taken surfing (!!), and people suggest that it go skin diving (!!!) and even water skiing. Tony meets more eccentric people in his month of hitchhiking than anyone would encounter in a year in any other part of the world, and, while some of them come across as obnoxious or annoying, for the most part, Tony takes a lighthearted and tolerant view of his fellows, even formulating a sort of fridge philosophy, which is tested from time to time in his jaunt.

Reading this book was a pure delight. It made me want to go for an adventure with Tony Hawks, hitchhike around Ireland myself, or find something even more insane to do for fun. Read it and be prepared to laugh until your face hurts. But take my advice: try not to read it around other people.