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Title: Where's the Charm?
Review: The committee which awarded the prize for this book must have been in Ireland, under the influence, for this book certainly deserves no prize. Billy is not charming, but a user of people. His friends and relations are not forgiving, but co-dependents in his alcoholic stagger through life. Alice McDermott's prose, while occasionally pretty, is never deep. It's time to leave our fascination with the Irish and move on to another nationality.
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