“If someone hits you, you hit him back harder. It felt satisfying and powerful, but I knew this way solved absolutely nothing. I saw it every day in Belfast. Tit-for-tat for tit-for-tat. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a Catholic for a Protestant. Men excusing heinous acts of inhumanity to protect or liberate ‘their’ people, belligerently sowing pain and bitterness for generations to come. I suppose it made them feel powerful too. I got a little taste of it that night with my father and the wee hood, but I spat it out. It sickened me. There had to be another way. I resolved that I would be Belfast’s first pacifist paperboy.”

Verdict: The quote above is probably an unfair representation of this book. ‘Paperboy’ is first and foremost a hilarious memoir from Tonys days as a paperboy, secondly it a love letter to all that was good about 70′s Belfast, lastly it s a political commentary bout the troubles.

It is a must read for any child of the 70′s. If I had my way we would hand it out at airports with any ticket to Belfast.

Playlist:

Any Bay City Rollers album

Abba Gold

The Undertones Teenage Kicks

With Kris Kristofferson set to act in the big screen version it worth grabbing the book first!