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The Pig Comes to Dinner
The Irish Pig Trilogy, No 2
By Joseph Caldwell
Read by Chris Patton

April 5, 2011
Delphinium / ISBN 1611744172
Fiction / Satire /Audiobook - 6 CDs, 7½ hours
Amazon

Reviewed by Beth E. McKenzie

After I read The Pig Did It I started thinking about how much I enjoyed the words - not the story, which hilarious and insightful - but the words and how they were put together. And then it came to me how much more I would enjoy the poetry of it all if I listened to the audio book! I very nearly trembled with anticipation while I filled my Amazon shopping cart with the audio CDs for all 3 books. Imagine my shock to hear Narrator Chris Patton's "accentless" Midwestern American voice in an Irish drama. But when the proper moment occurs the Irish voices are lyrical; Lolly soft, Kieran slow, Aaron and Kittty arrogant, and the child, Peter, is in turns timid and exuberant. About 4 chapters passed before I realized that the contrast of the plain American voice is the key to transporting the listener to another place where pigs dig up treasure and can see ghosts.

Even before they settle down in Castle Kissane, the Pig, Kitty and Kieran can see the ghosts of Taddy and Brid, a fair young couple who were wrongly hanged by Lord Shaftoe over 200 years earlier when it was rumored that a Shaftoe Lord returning to the stolen family seat would be greeted with a bang from a hidden stockpile of gunpowder. Taddy and Brid were taken as hostages and hanged as traitors when no one stepped forward to unveil the location of the explosives. The ghosts wander the land and in the evening Taddy plays the unstrung harp and Brid weaves at the unwarped loom; forever wondering where the gunpowder is hidden or if there ever was any in the first place.

Kitty bought the castle at a tax sale, but when the courts rule in favor of the modern Lord Shaftoe's claim an eviction notice is delivered Kitty and Kieran. They decide to have a huge blow-out before they leave with all the neighbors in attendance. There would be dancing, singing, Guinness, Tullamore Dew, nettle soup and roast pig. But they both agree- not their pig- another pig. Did I mention there is a rumor of hidden gunpowder in the castle? Party!

Other Reviews in Trilogy:

#1- The Pig Did It   [review]
#2 - The Pig Comes to Dinner  [review]
#3 - The Pig Goes to Hog Heaven
 [review]

Reviewer's Note: The Pig Trilogy has been released in ebook form by Open Road Integrated Media.
Reviewed 2012
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