Rob Wherrett

Sordid and badly-written I was given this book to read by someone from the Gaelic world - on the expectation that I would find it interesting. The cover tells us to expect "in turn tragic and uplifting, devastating and hilarious". Tragic maybe. Uplifting definitely not. Devastating - no, just sordid and introspective. Finally, I smiled once - it is NOT a funny book. The only interesting bit was trying to understand where all the ramblings come from within the mind of the author. What the reader does get is a sordid view of life that is frankly often not credible. The writing is poor and there are too many glaringly obvious factual errors (like the date of the Mexico Olympics being shown as 1986) to make the timeline and places believable. What you also get is an alcoholic's view of his life, with a distorted vision and mis-comprehension. If this is at all real then he has had a poor time of it. What also comes across is the self-centredness of the writer. Overall the writing displays the opportunism that is narrated. Always looking for someone to bail him out and feed the habit(s). Maclean may have been a talented piper. He may have had a following among Gaeldom on the entertainment circuit. However his commentary on his own life and the interactions along the way isn't a great read. Maybe students of psychology and addiction can learn something from the discourse. I was left feeling disgusted. This is in no way an entertaining book nor does it give great insight into the field of entertainment or what it means to be from the Western Isles.