Fear and Loathing in Dublin, by Aodhan Madden, has again been chosen as one of the top books from 2009.

Aubrey Malone of The Irish Catholic had the following to say about Aodhan's critically acclaimed book:

"I was very taken with Aodhan Madden's Fear and Loathing in Dublin for its highly-charged depiction of a young man struggling with the twin demons of alcohol and a confused sexuality before literature saves him from himself. Most moving of all is the manner in which he writes about his father, a simple country man trying to cope with widowhood as his world falls apart and his son looks to be on a collision course with disaster."

Fear and Loathing was also chosen as one of The Irish Times' books of 2009 Diarmaid Ferriter as one of his books of 2009. Picked as "an absorbing and honest account of his experiences in the 1970s as an alcoholic journalist and contains a marvellous portrait of his father and their relationship"; Aodhan's book has enjoyed rave media review coverage, of which can be read below, and we are delighted that the book has been recognised in this manner.

Reviews for Fear and Loathing in Dublin

The Irish Times Book of the Day: This is a funny, affecting and chastening read.

Irish Independent: his candidly described struggles with drink, sexuality and other demons lend the narrative a depth it might otherwise have lacked. The book, though, has yet another and even more telling subject and that's his relationship with his widowed father, whose North Circular Road house he shared and who emerges gradually throughout these pages as a figure of grace, dignity and integrity. The author's loving depiction of this decent, concerned man, sometimes exasperated by his errant son but always tolerant of him, is what makes the memoir memorable.

Culture Northern Ireland: Aodhan Madden has a worthy and touching story to tell. This is a memoir about the ‘fear and loathing’ Catholic Ireland has for the love that cannot speak its name. It is also an examination of one man’s battle with the demon drink, set on that difficult fault-line between madness and reason. It is elegantly written, crisp, seamless and spare.

SBP: Anguished tale of jaundiced subs and gay pubs

Books Ireland: He gives us hilarious pen-pictures of fellow journos like Adrian McLoughlin (a rival in the writing stakes) and Harry O'Toole ("He was the sub who had spiked a breaking news report about the six-day war because he'd had to catch the four o'clock bus home to Bray, where he kept a guest house"). More importantly, he writes beautifully and poignantly about his relationship with his father, an old-fashioned man who lost his wife young but battled on as people did in that era, without a smidgeon of self-pity. Everybody who ever put pen to paper in this country seems to have a memoir in a shoebox under the bed. More often than not these fall into the category of 'misery lit' or just plain bad writing. That's why it's such a joy to come upon this terse tome dripping with quality and unpretentiousness. . I would like to see more from this very talented and underrated writer.

Gay Community News: His memoir is a story of transformation that brings an era in Dublin back to life and confronts the demons that brought low a generation of gay men.

RTÉ Guide: This is a funny, sad, and frankly scary tale of redemption.

U: If anyone ever had skeletons in the closet, Aodhan Madden is one. This book is a memoir to his former troubled life as an alcoholic, and a gay man in 1970s homophobic Dublin. Madden spares no detail as he describes his past, and the journey he took to become a celebrated playwright. Honest, gritty and enthralling.