Before I begin, let me say that I didn't finish this book. Therefore my review is not based on the whole book, only the part that I read.
This book was a Christmas present from three years ago. I sort of vaguely flipped through it then, but I was eleven and not terribly interested in reading nonfiction history that looked rather dull anyway. I picked it up again a year later and got through the first chapter before finding other things more interesting. A week or so ago, I decided to sally forth once more and read this book. It was, after all, a gift.
So dull. There was a reason I didn't finish it before. In fact, I think I enjoyed it even less this time than I did two years ago.
Basically an insignificant little puttering, the point of which is that, without Irish monks, classical literature would've been lost. Yeah, fab. I got that by reading the introduction.
Seriously, Cahill, if you want to write a book on the fall of the Roman Empire, go ahead. In this book about Ireland, I did not need 67 pages on that topic to understand the importance of classical literature (those 67 pages weren't much good for that purpose anyway).
Those chapters on Rome utterly burned me out. I'd nearly gotten to their end before giving up, but I really could not go on with Augustine. I thought about just skipping it, and who knows, maybe one day I'll want to read a bit about medieval Ireland and flip through the latter chapters. I did happen upon a poem about halfway through the book that Cahill may or may not have been attributing to Patrick that reminded me somewhat of the lyric structure of songs by Kíla (if you like Irish music or life CHECK OUT THESE GUYS), and that was a bit neat. But I considered this for a bit: Do I like Cahill's writing? (No.) Will I learn anything amazing from this book? (Probably not.) If I don't learn anything and I don't like the writing, will I enjoy myself reading this book? (No.) Are there better Ireland books out there that don't sound quite so outdated (a feature of Cahill's writing that marks it as bad--I can totally tell that this book is 21 years old, and that's not a good thing)? (Yes, there must be.) Would I rather be reading the Night Vale novel? (MOST DEFINITELY FRIENDS.)
And so I set aside How the Irish Saved Civilization.
In short, I would not recommend this book to anyone except those utterly bereft of all bookage for an extended period of time. It's rather inexcusably dreadful, boring, and badly structured. For a more comprehensive opinion, find a review by someone who managed to finish the book. Maybe it gets better. But I didn't have the patience to continue, and my friends and family can tell you how unnaturally patient I am with trying books.
Tá m'árthach foluaineach lán d'eascanna (thanks Ominglot); this book is not worth it.
(Coming soon... Or as soon as I have finished the book and have the time to review it... Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor... It will come to you when you least expect it...)