Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
IRISH AUTHOR PAUL Howard had to scrap an entire Ross O’Carroll Kelly book earlier this year – because Donald Trump was elected US president.
The Dublin-based writer – who has been satirising the rugby-obsessed upper-class south Dublin set for almost 20 years – told TheJournal.ie that he likes his books to reflect what’s going on in the world. So when Trump was elected, he knew he had to examine this in his book.
His latest book, Operation Trumpsformation, follows his creation Ross O’Carroll Kelly (who first emerged in a Sunday Tribune column in 1998) as he watches his father, Charles O’Carroll Kelly, launch a political bid with his New Republic party. And a wig his father wears during public appearances has a certain resemblance to the hair of the US leader.
“I’ve always tried to keep it topical, I’ve always tried to reflect what’s happening in Ireland at any given time,” Howard says of his work. Indeed, Ross O’Carroll Kelly has been there to witness the boom and bust of Irish life.
Howard says that the election of Donald Trump last year means it “feels like the world has slipped on its axis a little bit”.
“I had almost finished the book when Donald Trump was elected, and it took me and it took lots of other people by surprise,” he recalls.
“But I felt after finishing the book that it was the first time in a long time where I didn’t feel I’d reflected the world as it was at that time. I thought I’d missed something.”
I felt I couldn’t put out a book which didn’t reflect a Trump era. Even though the book, it finishes in May, I think it’s May 2016, so it is before Trump is elected, I just felt that I couldn’t do it unless I mentioned this new world we’re living in, this scary new world.
Re-write
He went away on holiday after Christmas, and on his return: “I rang my editor and said ‘I want to rip up the book and start again’. And that’s what I did in January.”
It was almost an entire re-write. “There were aspects of the original book that could be saved, but I felt this election thing, it needed to be satirised,” says Howard.
At the end of his previous book, Charles O’Carroll Kelly had found a ‘magical wig’ in the attic.
“And once he put it on his head he had this sort of sense of himself that he was a powerful man and people started to behave very deferentially towards him,” says Howard.
An incident with a hand dryer in this latest book turns Charles O’Carroll Kelly into somewhat of a megalomaniacal figure.
“So he kind of looks a bit like Donald Trump. Donald Trump isn’t mentioned in the book, but it’s kind of clear,” says the author.
And once Charles stands on the platform, he starts to adopt some very extreme positions. “He thinks that women should be forced to resit their driving test every 12 months, he thinks we should build a wall around Cork, because Cork people who come to Dublin don’t want to properly integrate,” says Howard.
So the idea is he’s a politician who for his own selfish ends is making enemies with people who aren’t actually enemies, so that’s what I’m satirising there.
In order to make the necessary changes, Howard says he “tore [the book] apart, I started again”.
“It’s hard work and I spent about three months – long days and late nights – just reimagining the whole thing. But I’m happy with the finished product,” he says.
It was good fun – but making a change like that, six weeks after your deadline, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Read our full interview with Paul Howard tomorrow on TheJournal.ie.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Always look forward to a new one coming out.
Well done Paul.
Pity he didn’t scrap all his books . Utterscutter and that’s all I’ve to say about the matter
@nelly: I did once try to read one of the pieces in the newspaper but it was rubbish. Same I tried to read 50 shades but could not get beyond first page. As for books written by Celia Ahern!!
Dreadful. Better a good dictionary than a bad book.
@nelly: they are actually very good. I initially thought they were rubbish but tried them again and loved them. The characters are well constructed, they are very witty and has a social commentary about Ireland.
An author that can do all that, make his books accessible to everyone and publish a new one every year is a rare thing.
@Ronan McKeon: Also they are on English literature degree courses in Irish Universities . Required reading no less right alongside the likes of James Joyce.
@Catherine Sims: Are you joking???
@Ronan McKeon: I read one on the plane going to Australia I laughed all the way there
@Gillian Weir Scully: Pompous remarks.
@orestes1776: Nope I’m deadly serious . His books are on degree courses here
All this criticism from faceless people on what amounts to an Internet message board.
I’d say he cares.
It’s satire so of course it had to be rewritten. This isn’t a news story. It’s pr for the new book. Say it like it is.
@Marcia Craine: So what ???
@Marcia Craine: No flies on you.
Good to see all the happy folk on the comments section here as usual!
Jumping on the bandwagon.
Best books ever, not to be taken seriously or literally! But as per usual miserable gits commenting negatively…
Or trump had to become president to stop his book. Works both ways. Either way ‘ had to because of’ is a bit of a stretch there.
Just another ‘author ‘ throwing a rubbish book into the Christmas market to make a quick buck. It’ll be forgotten as quickly as the unwanted socks or cheap perfume.
Every cloud…
“couldn’t write a book that didn’t address”…, or “could write a book that did address…jaysus, me head.
Same happened with South Park, made a whole season hinging on Hilary getting elected, and it fell apart. Writers need to make an alternate draft in scenarios where the premise is based off something not guaranteed to happen.
@Paul Cunningham: Coming at Trump directly is toxic to satire. If Trey Parker can’t come up with anything it more or less can’t be done.
I thought his books wouldn’t be my thing but once I did finally read one I was hooked. He is very funny and the characters are really very well developed and the books are satire at its best. His books are required reading in some English lit degrees here in Ireland. His books are far from rubbish !!
Wish he’d compile the weekly columns into a book
Complete boll.x
A U2 album, a Ross O’Carroll Kelly book and possibly North Korea. When will Trump’s carnage end?
Good interview in a podcast with Eamonn dunphy done the other day. Check out the stand podcast.
Pathetic click bait headline. Sad stuff
God damn you Trump…. have you no heart..
His books are hilarious and I always look forward to the new ones. I have to say though I always assumed the wig was a reference to a certain DOB and never got that it was Trump .
What a trashy headline.
I would love to see his books adapted into a TV series. It would make for great entertainment on an Irish Winter’s night.
What an idiot. And as for the headline…also idiotic.
@Nick Drake: Takes one to know one.
So true. Looking forward to Trump the bully spending years in jail.
have your say