content: I read "Paddy Clarke" soon after reading "Angela's Ashes." While I know that I'm comparing a novel to a memoir, Doyle's first person, "stream-of-consciousness" of a 10-year-old Irish boy was incredibly more powerful and moving for me.Doyle adroitly builds his story from the every-day to the specific. The novel derives its power from the slow dawning of adulthood on this young boy... that very soon, he may have to be the "man of the house."Doyle's ability to write realistically through the eyes of a 10-year-old is a triumph. My favorite book in the past two years.