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  • Published: 2 July 2021
  • ISBN: 9780241992531
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 224
  • RRP: $27.99

OK, Let's Do Your Stupid Idea




Funny, gripping, and sometimes heartbreaking essays from a big new comic talent

Patrick Freyne has tried a lot of stupid ideas in his life. Now, in his scintillating debut, he is here to tell you about them: like the time (aged 5) he opened a gate and let a horse out of its field, just to see what would happen; or the time (aged 19) he jumped out of a plane for charity, even though he didn't much care about the charity and was sure he'd end up dead; or the time (aged old enough to know better) he used a magazine as a funnel for fuel when the petrol cap on his band's van broke.

He has also learned a few things: about the power of group song; about the beauty of physically caring for another human being; about childlessness; about losing friends far too young. Life as seen through the eyes of Patrick Freyne is stranger, funnier and a lot more interesting than life as we generally know it. Like David Sedaris or Nora Ephron, he creates an environment all his own - fundamentally comic, sometimes moving, always deeply humane. OK, Let's Do Your Stupid Idea is a joyous reading experience from an instantly essential new writer.

  • Published: 2 July 2021
  • ISBN: 9780241992531
  • Imprint: Penguin General UK
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 224
  • RRP: $27.99

Praise for OK, Let's Do Your Stupid Idea

Funny, smart, soulful and sometimes devastating, this book shows life in all its shades. It made me laugh and cry

Emilie Pine, author of Notes to Self

Patrick Freyne has a distinct and enviable gift for story-telling ... Full of humour and tenderness, this book is an absolute JOY

Sinéad Gleeson, author of Constellations

Whether he's writing about his childhood on a military base, working in a kebab shop with a nazi in his teens, playing in punk bands in his twenties, or grappling with the question of whether to have children, Patrick Freyne is a writer of rare humour, depth, and humanity. These essays are a delight

Mark O'Connell, author of To Be a Machine

Hilariously, painfully, Freynefully brilliant

Joseph O'Connor

I was reminded - very happily reminded - of Kurt Vonnegut. But Patrick Freyne is his own writer and this book is clever, lovely and great, great fun

Roddy Doyle

Patrick Freyne is a comic genius

Marian Keyes

No one makes me laugh like Patrick Freyne

Paul Howard

Superb ... The stories move from breathtakingly vulnerable to extraordinarily funny, and all with such skill and lightness of touch. I loved it

Louise O'Neill

One of the best-written, smartest and gosh-darn-it funniest books I've read in a very long while

Séamus O'Reilly

Guffaw-out-loud funny

Business Post

A riotous read from the get-go ... An absolute tonic for our times

RTÉ Guide

I don't know another writer who could balance poignancy and hilarity with such grace ... Goosebumps! Guffaws! It's got it all. I love this book

Doireann Ní Ghríofa, via Twitter

A cracking, sad, funny, honest, brave and hilarious read

Liz Nugent, via Twitter

F*cking fantastic. Patrick is a brilliant writer

Blindboy Boatclub, via Twitter

Lovely ... It's very worth reading

Dara Ó Briain, via Twitter

A wonderful book ... done with a gorgeous twist of humour and great emotional insight ... One of my books of the year

Ryan Tubridy, RTÉ Radio 1

Pixies were loud-quiet-loud. Patrick Freyne is funny-sad-funny. I really loved his new book

Ed O'Loughlin, via Twitter

Exquisite ... One of the funniest writers in Ireland

Irish Examiner

Readers are sure to find themselves touched by Freyne's writing ... Delightful

Journal.ie

Freyne's thoroughly entertaining debut is a flash of warmth and wit in the darkness

Totally Dublin

Genuinely moving ... [It] will evoke warmth in anyone who isn't totally sociopathic

Hot Press

So honest, so funny, and most importantly, 11/10 for self-deprecation

Sarah Breen

Warm, wry, charming, absorbing ... It's the most gorgeous and heartbreaking book about humans and why we need each other

Daisy Buchanan, via Twitter

Brilliant ... An absolute mind hug

Niall Breslin

Immensely readable, warm, human and very, very funny

Irish Daily Star

A delightful insight into the mind of the hilarious Patrick Freyne

Irish Country Magazine

Freyne's radar is precision-honed to find the madness within the mundane

Sunday Independent

Funny and adorable

Nina Stibbe

One of the year's funniest books ... witty, wise and worth returning to again and again

i Paper

More moving that I ever expected and somehow funnier than I assumed

Emer McLysaght, Irish Times, Best Books of 2020